Daily Mail editorial: We all can help create a new economy in WV – Charleston Gazette-Mail (subscription)

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Create West Virginia is an organization with the goal of developing innovative local economies throughout the state.

Youve heard it said and read it a thousand times: West Virginia must diversify its economy.

Whos job is it to do that, anyway? The governors? The Commerce Department? The Legislatures? The state and local chambers of commerce?

Well go out on a limb and say it is the job of every able West Virginian to do his or her best to grow the economy of West Virginia.

How so? By thinking differently, shopping differently and encouraging entrepreneurship.

Are you unemployed or feel underemployed in your present position? Then consider creating your own job using the skills and talents you have that you can market into a successful income.

Do you shop online or at the big chain stores and restaurants? Then consider seeking out locally owned establishments that employ West Virginians the people who own homes here and send their kids to school here.

Are you planning a vacation? Then look for all the great places you can visit in West Virginia away from home but still in our beautiful state and bring in family and friends from elsewhere.

People see it as someone elses role to diversify the economy without realizing how much power they have to do so themselves, individually and collectively. But some people do realize they have the power to create a new economy in West Virginia, and they are gathering Monday through Wednesday at the Charleston Civic Center to make it happen, one step at a time.

Celebrating its 10th year, Create West Virginia is working to develop creative communities, companies and centers of learning that thrive in an economy of global innovation.

To do so, they work to train local community leaders in innovation-economy principles. They support commercial and social entrepreneurship initiatives and reach out to recruit creative people who want to build interesting lives and careers that matter in a place brimming with raw opportunity: West Virginia.

They are taking a different approach in their conference this year, having partnered with specialists in universal design to bring some of the nations top builders, designers and policymakers together, wrote Create West Virginia President Sarah Halstead in a Daily Mail Opinion column last week.

Some people dont need to get a job: they create their own, Halstead wrote. And many are looking for a change of pace, lower cost of living and social and business connections in communities that value diversity and arts. And everyone needs a home that works.

With that in mind, this years conference is bringing different perspectives to address design, program and policy issues that impact everyones health, safety, independence and comfort, Halstead said.

Charleston native and User Design professional Carol Smith of IBMs Watson project will be a keynote speaker, addressing how next-generation technology will remove barriers and improve rural and small city life.

Richard Duncan, from the RL Mace Universal Design Institute will highlight why housing and design professionals can help the economy and sense of place by adopting universal design principles.

The people at Create West Virginia are not trying to create jobs the old-fashioned way, because that way of job creation in West Virginias traditional natural resource-based economy is no longer working.

They recognize an opportunity for a state where communities embrace creativity and innovation and use diversity, education, entrepreneurship, quality of place and technology to grow their local economies.

Its fresh thinking and a welcome change for a state that, when it comes to its economy, very much needs change.

Short takes (Daily Mail)

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Daily Mail editorial: We all can help create a new economy in WV - Charleston Gazette-Mail (subscription)