Thursday, March 15, 2007
Kaine celebrates year of success for Galax center
The Coordinated Economic Relief Center was created to help displaced workers.
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roanoke.com/politics
GALAX -- Even before Gov. Tim Kaine took office last year, Galax Mayor C.M. Mitchell sent him a letter pleading for the state government's help.
The city of 6,800 was in the midst of a succession of announcements of plant closings that eventually would put 1,200 manufacturing workers out of jobs. Many displaced workers in the region would need hard-to-acquire services such as worker retraining, health care and financial assistance.
"I wrote him a letter to lay our plight out and request this facility," Mitchell said Wednesday, as he accompanied Kaine through the state's Coordinated Economic Relief Center in Galax.
The facility, which opened in April, provides displaced workers with one-stop access to an array of state and federal services. It is modeled on the Economic Crisis Strike Force established in Martinsville in 2002 to help workers from closed textile plants.
Kaine went to Galax a year ago to sign legislation making the strike force a permanent fixture, and returned Wednesday to promote the relief center's performance.
"It's been a great success," Mitchell said as the governor chatted with the facility's staff and clients. "But we've still got work to do."
The center has helped 388 people land jobs and another 158 enroll in federal Trade Adjustment Assistance job training. It has made more than 4,200 referrals for various services.
"Being able to come to a central point to get all of these services and get them quickly is just really important to all of these people," Mitchell said.
Kaine said the center has helped create "new employment opportunities, new educational opportunities, considering paths and options that they never would have thought of before."
The displaced workers Kaine met included Tonya Graber, who was one of 400 people left jobless by the closing of the Webb Furniture plant. With the center's help, Graber was able to enroll in respiratory therapy courses at Wytheville Community College and is looking toward a career in health care.
"It's better than working on a piece of wood," Graber told Kaine. "It has no feelings."
Graber, 32, said she had worked at Webb Furniture for nine years and felt hopeless when the plant closed.
"I was completely lost when I first lost my job," she said. "I had no idea what I was going to do with my life."
Graber said she had always had an interest in health care professions and said staffers at the center encouraged her to pursue that interest when she came to them for help. She said she has maintained a 4.0 grade point average while getting constant encouragement from the staffers at the center.
James Carr got help obtaining a car loan and a job in Wytheville after losing a Webb Furniture job he had held for 30 years. Carr, 62, said he appreciates the help, but said many older workers are having a difficult time.
"There's a lot of people; that's all they've done is work in a furniture factory," Carr said.
He said Galax "is still hurting, but I hope it's bouncing back."
Kaine told an audience of workers, relief center staffers and community leaders that the state will continue to assist the displaced workers while trying to attract new economic development to Galax.
"We're going to continue to be very diligent about making sure that services are provided, but also very, very diligent about looking for new opportunities," he said.
Kaine said transportation access is one of the major challenges Galax faces in recruiting new businesses. His Galax visit began a daylong swing through Southwest Virginia that included public discussions on transportation funding in Hillsville and Stuart.
Kaine said his administration will stay aggressive in trying to help Galax rebound.
"My goal is not to have a strike force," the governor said. "It's to have economic development."
