About RTR

Background Information

Return to Roots is a campaign aimed at the estimated 15,000 high school alumni who left the Southwest Virginia nine-county region of Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington and Wise and the cities of Bristol and Norton. The campaign seeks to match companies in the aforementioned area to those who want to return to the region or those who want to relocate.

Funded by a Special Projects grant from the Tobacco Commission, Return to Roots will reach out to former residents and companies through this web site, a direct mail campaign and the media to inform prospective employees about employment opportunities existing in the region today.

The project received its impetus from a series of events. Southwest Virginia is exploding with new job opportunities that need people willing to locate to the region. Companies in Southwest Virginia need to find consistent skilled workers for its job opportunities. Jobs such as computer programmers, network technicians, database administrators, as well as industrial, mechanical and electrical engineers, electricians and welders are just a few of skilled job opportunities needing to be filled. The Commonwealth of Virginia also received a commitment from Northrup Grumman and CGI to locate facilities in Lebanon, Va.

The Return to Roots committee has worked diligently to launch its web site, www.ReturnToRoots.org. With a highly dynamic and functional web site, Virginia’s Governor Tim Kaine launched the Return to Roots web site on Sept. 18 to a full house. The site launched its career search and job listing capability on Oct. 16.