The Fifth can’t compete on yesterday’s connections. Families, farms, and businesses need modern systems that match the pace of their work and the scale of their ambitions. Broadband and rail are not extras. They decide whether families stay, students succeed, and local farms and small businesses keep up. Reliable internet lets kids do homework at the kitchen table instead of sitting in a fast-food parking lot just to get a signal. It helps farmers use precision equipment, real-time data, and smart tools to stay competitive and keep more profit here. It keeps local stores and small businesses running credit cards, reaching online customers, and standing a fair chance against bigger competitors.

Good healthcare should not depend on your zip code or whether you get every form right. Too many people in the Fifth already drive an hour or more for a check-up or get stuck battling paperwork while they wait for care. Now, new cuts and work requirements make it even easier for some families to lose coverage and harder for small hospitals and clinics to stay open. If we want people to build a life here, to raise families, work, and grow old with dignity, they need care that stays local, stays open, and makes sense.

Family farms and small businesses keep the Fifth working. Virginia agriculture brings in over eighty billion dollars and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs. Most farms here are family-run, producing cattle, poultry, hay, timber, fruit, flowers, and specialty crops. Local brands like Virginia Grown and Virginia Verified Beef show how strong our communities are when more profit stays close to home instead of landing in the pockets of big corporations. But too many local producers lose time and money dealing with delays, permits, inspections, and relief that comes too late, if it comes at all. When local processors are backlogged or shut out, farmers often have to send livestock and crops out of state just to reach buyers. Shortages of large animal vets add cost and risk. We need clear, simple rules, more local options for processing, and insurance and disaster aid that match how our farms really work instead of what Washington thinks they should look like.

Community colleges and schools are already doing important work. Faculty and staff give people the training they need to contribute in healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture, logistics, and the trades. Their efforts keep industries moving and families rooted. The challenge is that employer demand keeps growing, and people need more ways to prepare for those jobs without leaving their communities. Opportunities in fields like advanced manufacturing, equipment operation, farming, healthcare, and technical services are expanding, but training is not always within reach. Too often, students and working adults run into barriers—whether it’s cost, distance, or limited course availability. Without clear paths to training, people can end up in jobs that don’t provide a way forward.

Nuclear energy is one of the strongest cards this region holds. Companies in Lynchburg are nationally respected for the skill and expertise that keep reactors running and the grid reliable. That reputation has taken decades to build, and it is an advantage we should keep expanding. At the same time, new projects in battery production, advanced manufacturing, and data-driven industries are beginning to take shape. The question is not whether these industries will grow — it’s whether the growth happens here, in the Fifth, where families and local businesses can benefit. That means standing up for fair deals, making sure public dollars deliver local value, and giving counties the power to secure agreements that keep benefits close to home. Because once opportunities and investments pass us by, they are hard to win back.