During my time in the Congress of the United States, I have worked on many different issues but there is always one focus that ties everything together. That focus is creating jobs in southern West Virginia. I have often spoken recently about what I call the "Three T's" - Transportation, Technology and Tourism - which I believe are the keys to economic development and job creation in the future of southern West Virginia. Today I am writing about a new entrepreneurial program that I helped bring to southern West Virginia, which will help our small business community.

I worked with the West Virginia High Technology Consortium (WVHTC) Foundation to bring the FastTrac Planning program to our area. FastTrac, of the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, provides business insights, leadership skills and professional networking connections to prepare participants to grow their businesses. This program is internationally recognized and has 100,000 graduates nationwide over the past ten years.

The bottom line here is that FastTrac will help our local entrepreneurs develop the skills and strategies needed to run a more successful business. Participants in the program will learn more about money sources, operations, management, finance, marketing, the entrepreneurial mindset and the legal aspects of running a business.

With the region full of entrepreneurs who have completed the FastTrac program, our business community in southern West Virginia will surely be strengthened. The program will help small businesses, which in turn will strengthen our local, regional and state economies. This is a very exciting program for southern West Virginia!

I commend the WVHTC Foundation for working with me to bring the FastTrac program to Beckley. I look forward to seeing the effect that such an important program will have on our community. While the results may not be occur instantly, I believe this program will strengthen the economy of southern West Virginia and create a better atmosphere for the businesses in our area.

WVHTC started offering FastTrac in northern West Virginia in 2004 and is now expanding to southern West Virginia. It is administered statewide by the WVHTC Foundation's INNOVA Commercialization Group. INNOVA has three components to its mission: to provide seed capital, to offer commercialization services to help get more products to the marketplace, and to provide entrepreneurial education.

FastTrac will be offered on Tuesday evenings at the Workforce Career Center Raleigh County, starting March 15th. Interested entrepreneurs and future business leaders are urged to contact Patrick Gregg at the WVHTC Foundation for more information. Mr. Gregg can be reached at plgregg@wvhtf.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or by calling (304) 366-2577 ext. 297. Information about the program can be found at http://www.fasttrac.org/

Local sponsors and contacts for this program are Bill Loope, who can be reached at (304) 253-3611 or wloope@r1workforcewv.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and Judy Radford reachable at (304) 254-8115 or jradford@4ceda.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it