Tonight was what may be that hurrah of the Grants Pass City Council election campaign. I think I speak for every one of the candidates in thanking the students of RCC for putting on this event (and serving the great sandwiches afterward). We need youth that votes and is engaged in it’s government.
And what can Grants Pass do for these young adults? I talked to one young man tonight who is going to RCC and will finish his degree at University of Oregon in business finance. His dream? To start a business in Grants Pass. Terrific! I am sure he is not the only young man or woman in Grants Pass who dreams of starting a business. How can we fail them?
We can’t. The City of Grants Pass and the Chamber of Commerce must work with Rogue Community College to develop a small business incubator so young, eager entrepreneurs can start new businesses focused on new technologies to produce products they can sell around the world. I am not talking about massive factories, but instead hundreds of small producers in the medical field, biotech, green technology, and other new industries creating products and jobs. And to do this, we must court local investors. Local investment in local business for local prosperity. That way, when RCC graduates students, they will have a place to work in their hometown.