Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate

January 23, 2010 will bring a new and exciting social media event/convention to Virginia Beach. Social Media @ the Beach will be held at Peabody's and will feature a day packed with great information for both the social media novice and expert alike.

Keynote speaker Jeff Turner will headline the event. Jeff is an internationally known social media educator and we are so fortunate to have him coming from California for our event.

Of course, in the spirit of other notable social media events and conventions, we have a designated charity: Mothers Fighting for Others (MFFO).

So, mark your calendar and visit the website to register for THE social media event in Hampton Roads for 2010!

The Class of 2009 in Portsmouth received recognition that school officials would probably prefer to not see; they had the 2nd highest dropout rate in the State of Virginia.

The City had a 20.1% drop out rate. That is almost 3 times the State average of 7.9%.

In more promising news, the Portsmouth City Public Schools are all now fully accredited by the State. Also, the on-time graduation rate has continued to increase.

All of the Hampton Roads area school districts have at least one high school that has dropout rates higher than the State average. Virginia Beach City still has the lowest in the area at 6%, followed by Chesapeake. Suffolk and Norfolk both have dropout rates higher than the state average.

Portsmouth School officials say that reducing the number of required electives will help curb the dropout rate. Really? Seems to me that with over a fifth of the system's students dropping out, more serious measures need to be put into place. High dropout rates correlate with higher crime rates and lower community incomes. Students who dropout will cost the City more in services over the long term.

Thanks to Google maps, there is now a handy map that will show Virginia residents where they need to go to vote this Election Day. Simply enter your street address and your polling place will pop up along with directions you can print out, download, etc. as well as a list of the candidates who are running.

Isle of Wight County is about to lose a major employer. International Paper announced the closure of their plant in Franklin.

The layoffs will begin November 7th and continue through spring until the plant is permanently closed. The closure will effect 1100 employees.

Virginia is seeking aid for the workers under the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance Program. In addition to the 1100 workers, it is estimated that another 2400 workers could be hurt. Those workers include truckers, loggers, mechanics and other support service workers.

The current unemployment rate in Isle of Wight County is 7%. With the loss of these jobs, the rate may climb to 12% or higher, depending on the far reaching effects of the closure on the area's economy.

The Chesapeake Redevelopment and Housing Authority oversees the HOME Investors Partnership Program. This program assists qualified residents in the City of Chesapeake with the following:

• Down payment/closing cost assistance to qualified homebuyers for the purchase of affordable single family residences.

• Low interest/deferred loans, to qualified homeowners, for improvements to residential structures to correct violations of applicable housing codes and standards

• Low interest loans to qualified residential rental property owners for improvements to correct violations of applicable housing codes and standards

• Provide homeownership and credit counseling services to homeowners who participate in the Authority’s rehabilitation loan and homeownership programs

• Provided financial assistance to local Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDO’s) through a 15% set aside of the Authority’s annual HOME fund allocation

For more information on this program, contact the Community Development Loan/Fair Housing Officer at CRHA. 757-523-0401 or online: www.crhava.org.