Richmond, VA – January 1, 2020
The Virginia Growth and Opportunity Board, the policy board responsible for several aspects of GO Virginia’s implementation, approved a grant of $500K to launch a new ChamberRVA college talent retention initiative with the working title of “CampusRVA.” The program’s overarching goal is to help facilitate students’ attachment to and participation in the Richmond region. By helping students fall in love with the region and start their career here after graduation, CampusRVA will help grow a skilled, diverse workforce for local businesses, which in turn will fuel economic growth and opportunity across our community.

“CampusRVA builds on the Chamber’s talent initiatives and provides us with an opportunity to meet GO Virginia’s goals by connecting students with high wage, high demand jobs in the region,” said Brian Anderson, new ChamberRVA president and CEO. “We’re grateful to our business, local government and higher education partners for their support and look forward to the positive impact our efforts will make on our regional economy.”

CampusRVA has four primary objectives. First, to promote Richmond as a welcoming, vibrant and accessible place for college graduates and young professionals to stay and make an impact. Then to develop a marketplace, both online and offline, of internships and open jobs to facilitate the matching of employers and potential employees. Once students make a choice to stay in the region, CampusRVA plans to help provide supports for students to move to and assimilate into the community. Finally, the initiative will focus on regionwide skills gaps in the workforce and partnering with organizations to address them.

“We know that human resource professionals in the region prefer to hire local, but they struggle to find and hire qualified workers. Meanwhile, data from our YRVA study revealed that students struggle to find jobs in Richmond. CampusRVA is designed to help address this disconnect,” said Rachel Burgess, a principal at SIR who consulted on the project.

About ChamberRVA: ChamberRVA is the chamber of commerce representing the entire greater Richmond region – one city, seven counties and one town – since 1867. The chamber’s mission is to build a thriving regional community by supporting the success of members, providing a strong business voice and developing RVA’s future leaders. Learn more about ChamberRVA at chamberrva.com.

About GO Virginia: GO Virginia is a bipartisan, business-led economic development initiative that supports programs to create more high-paying jobs through incentivized collaboration between business, education, and government to diversify and strengthen the economy in every region of the Commonwealth.

Want to stay up to date with ChamberRVA?

Chamber Members:

Log in to Manage Preferences
After logging in, navigate to Personal Info > Groups / Interests

919 E. Main St., Suite 1700, Richmond VA 23219 | ©2024 ChamberRVA. | Privacy Policy