Newsroom

April 26, 2006  
For More Information, Contact:
Donna Morris, Hampton Roads Partnership
(757) 625-4696, dmorris@hrp.org

17 Hampton Roads Mayors and County Board Chairs Launch Year of Regional Citizenship at Fort Story


On the site where three ships landed 399 years earlier to begin establishment of the first English speaking settlement in the New World, Hampton Roads’ top local elected officials commenced the community’s first region-wide citizenship project.

On Wednesday, April 26, 2006, the mayors and board chairs of ten cities, one town and six counties gathered at the Cape Henry Memorial at Fort Story in Virginia Beach.  On parchment, they signed a joint document declaring the following 12 months to be the Year of Regional Citizenship.

Organized by the Hampton Roads Partnership (www.hrp.org), a public-private organization whose members include leaders of local governments, universities, media, military installations, and businesses, the Year of Regional Citizenship is an opportunity for the community to reflect on its common heritage and economic interdependence, to build upon existing partnerships and seek new alliances.

“When those first settlers set foot in Virginia Beach, then traveled up to Point Comfort in Hampton, through our rivers and eventually to Jamestown, they joined with native Americans and eventually Africans to become our first regional citizens,” says Dana Dickens, President of the Hampton Roads Partnership.  “It is appropriate therefore that we use the year leading up to the commemoration of the discovery of the New World to also focus attention on Hampton Roads, America’s First Region.”

The Year of Regional Citizenship follows an intensive, eight month long project of the Hampton Roads Partnership called the Listen and Learn Tour (www.listenandlearntour.com), during which moderators engaged more than 40 groups and 1,500 persons from Williamsburg to Virginia Beach in a dialogue about the future of Hampton Roads and the state of regional cooperation.

Organizations wishing to participate in the Year of Regional Citizenship by sponsoring events or signing a proclamation stating their support should contact the Hampton Roads Partnership at 757-625-4696.  “We intend to initiate programs throughout the year to keep the project in front of the public,” says Dickens, “but we are also looking to leaders and innovators throughout the community to consider ways to be part of this exciting period for Hampton Roads.”

The 17 participating communities and the government representatives who signed The Year of Regional Citizenship Proclamation are:

• The Honorable Dalton S. Edge, Mayor, City of Chesapeake
• The Honorable James P. Councill, Mayor, City of Franklin
• The Honorable Louise D. Theberge, Chair, Gloucester County
• The Honorable Ross A. Kearney, II, Mayor, City of Hampton
• The Honorable Stan D. Clark, Supervisor, Isle of Wight County
• The Honorable Bruce C. Goodson, Chairman, James City County
• The Honorable William F. Haskins, Jr., Councilman, City of Newport News
• The Honorable Paul D. Fraim, Mayor, City of Norfolk
• Ms. Judy Wiggins, Assistant City Manager, City of Poquoson
• The Honorable James W. Holley, III, Mayor, City of Portsmouth
• The Honorable James B. Chapman, Mayor, Town of Smithfield
• The Honorable Walter D. Brown, III, Supervisor, Southampton County and Chief of the Chereonhaka Nottoway Indian Tribe
• The Honorable Bobby L. Ralph, Mayor, City of Suffolk
• The Honorable Tyrone Franklin, County Administrator, Surry County
• The Honorable Meyera E. Oberndorf, Mayor, City of Virginia Beach
• The Honorable Jeanne Zeidler, Mayor, City of Williamsburg
• The Honorable Sheila S. Noll, Supervisor, York County



OTHER RESOURCES

Read Story
Read Proclamation and List of Signers
Read Remarks From Event
Download YORC Logo 
See Photos from Event