In recent days weve seen another tough economic blow for our friends and families in Southside Virginia. 

Stanley Furniture, a fixture in Henry County for nearly 90 years, announced it will shutter its factory near Martinsville and relocate more than 560 jobs overseas by the end of this year.

That tough news came on the heels of promising job announcements by two smaller employers just a few weeks earlier. In too many of our rural regions, it seems we take one step forward and then two steps back.
Company officials and local leaders worked quickly to submit the paperwork and documentation to the U.S. Department of Labor to allow enhanced retraining and re-employment benefits for these workers. 

And, as you already know, my interest in shoring-up Virginias traditional manufacturing communities dates back to my term as governor. We frequently worked with our local, regional, public and private sector partners to try to strengthen and diversify the economies of those regions of Virginia that were built on tobacco, textiles and furniture.

Yet despite the inevitable disappointment of Stanley Furnitures announcement, there are some hopeful signs of better days and new investments to come:

Earlier this year, I joined with Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Rep.Tom Perriello (D-5) to announce almost $40 million in stimulus grants to finish building-out the high-speed Internet network across the southern tier of Virginia. Greater broadband connectivity will help link schools, families and entrepreneurs to the global economy.

In April, I visited Blue Ridge AquaCulture in Henry County a remarkable success story that holds the promise of significant additional economic impact in years to come. And earlier this year, I met in Martinsville with local leaders and we brainstormed ideas for working together to promote the regions quality workforce and remarkable community initiative. 

I want to update you on two other proposals that should help boost small businesses and investment all across the Commonwealth:

For several months now, Ive been working with the Secretary of the Treasury on a targeted program to unclog frozen credit lines to small businesses that have struggled in this tough national economy. Earlier this month, the White House submitted legislation that includes many of our ideas, including a modest federal investment in existing capital access networks to provide a cushion for participating banks to extend credit to small businesses.

History shows that, when our country is emerging from a recession, its our small businesses that lead the way in job creation and renewed economic activity.

In addition, I continue to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate on our America Recruits Act, which would establish a first-time federal job incentive to encourage employers to bring back to the U.S. those manufacturing and IT jobs that have been relocated overseas in recent years.

 These federal loans up to $10,000 per job would be forgiven after two years, and this modest new incentive would provide one more recruitment tool for local and state governments to offer in todays global competition for jobs.

The cost of the program would be recaptured quickly by state and local income taxes and the additional hiring each new job would support.

Neither of these initiatives by themselves will create a silver bullet solution. Taken together, however, I believe they will help our struggling rural economies diversify and better compete.

And we are continuing to see evidence that our economy really is on the mend: The overall U.S. economy has consistently added jobs in recent months, the housing markets appear to be stabilizing and the Dow has rebounded 40 percent from historic losses a year ago.

None of that is any consolation if you still are looking for work, so we must continue to focus our efforts on creating jobs and shoring-up the economy. In coming weeks and months, I will keep you updated on the status of our efforts.

Warner, an Alexandria resident who served as Virginias governor between 2002 and 2006, was elected to the Senate in 2008 and serves on the Commerce, Banking and Budget committees.