Create West Virginia

BERKELEY SPRINGS, WV ---- The Morgan Arts Council (MAC) recently released its latest web-based creation: the Berkeley Springs Virtual Creative Community portal. Designed by MAC board member, Michael Dennis, the single page is a combination of advertisement for Berkeley Springs as a creative community and a handy visual directory and direct link to important segments of that community.

For the seventy-five people or so who populated one of West Virginia's most high-tech buildings yesterday at the Create WV - Fairmont/Marion County Summit, the issue wasn't whether they wanted to grow their new economy, but what still needed to be done.

This event didn't seem to get promoted very thoroughly, but seems like a very relevant event happening this Friday in Charleston:

Friday: West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin III and Charleston Mayor to Join
Administration Officials at National Broadband Forum in West Virginia

When Create WV was formed approximately two years ago, a clear strategy was adopted to empower local communities to understand and adopt "creative community" principles that would lead to new economy growth. This couldn't be another state-mandated, top down strategy. Communities would have to get excited about the potential and decide for themselves whether they wanted to adopt key pillars such as diversity, technology, 21st century learning, qualty of place and entrepreneurship.

For two years, Create WV has gathered leaders and interested citizens from business, education, government, non-profit and arts/cultural worlds together to talk about this thing called the "new economy." To our surprise and delight, the response has been overwhelming, with 254 attendees at the first conference at Stonewall Jackson Resort and 395 last year at Snowshoe Mountain Resort.

The people of West Virginia are hungry for a new approach to growth.

I, too, sing West Virginia, sing America.

West Virginians have been dealing with unfair stereotypes and image issues for decades. Some of us don't care what others think, some of us are a bit defensive. But regardless of stereotypes, what do West Virginians really think about topics such as diversity, technology and education? Are our state's low new economy rankings a result of backwards beliefs and unwillingness to embrace change? 

Christina Ciocca, a PR professional from Connecticut, wrote a nice piece about her recent visit to Charleston. It's another wakeup call about the baggage that people bring to our state in terms of preconceived images, but it's a reminder that as people experience our state, there is much to celebrate and share.

Dr. Kenneth Kizer, a doctor, public health specialist and former undersecretary in the U.S.