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Nebraska Third Dis trict Congressman Tom Osborne says the key to keeping communities like Fairbury viable and thriving is to be proac tive, rather than reac tive. Osborne served as the keynote speaker on Monday at a five county business and manufac turing networking semi nar held at Fairbury Jnr., Sr. High School. The event, sponsored by the Jefferson County Eco nomic Development Corporation, was de signed to serve as a stag ing ground for busi nesses in a five county area. “Events like this are great,” Osborne said. “Diversity is the key to growth and when busi nesses such as yourself get together to commu nicate and see how they can help each other you will benefit through added jobs and in creased ee. That's what growth is.” According to Jefferson County Economic Devel opment Director Jim Frager, this year’s event was a huge success. “There were some ood contacts made and think those businesses who did show up thought it was a very positive experience,” he said. “This session was designed to help foster business development and I would say we achieved that goal.” Congressman Osborne pointed out to the group that Nebraska is poised for growth. But he stressed that it is go ing to take effort by our business leaders and economic development groups to make it hap pen. “Frankly, we need to do a better job of keep ing our young people in Nebraska,” he said. “One of our problems is venture capital. When venture capital is in vested in other states our young people tend to follow the money.” The Congressman cited as example, the case of alternative fuel plant development. He said Nebraska is woe fully behind all of Nebraska's neighboring states. “Right now we've left the gate open. Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Colorado; they're all working in the areas of bioscience,” he said. “We need to do bet ter in these areas. This can be the course of oz tech, good paying jobs that could be stay ing in Nebraska.” Frager said that while this year’s event was the first of its kind in Jeffer son County, his hopes are to build on it in com ing years. “The whole idea is to bring the business com munity together to pro mote economic suc cess,” he said. BUSINESS INTERACTION. Local and area businesses from a five county region were on hand at the networking seminar on Monday. Representatives from more than 20 companies were on hand at the event held at Fairbury Jr., Sr. High School. According to local economic development officials, the pro gram was deemed a huge success. (Journal-news photos by Fred Arnold Jr.) NEBRASKA CONGRESSMAN Tom Osborne served as the key note speaker for the event. Osborne noted the importance of continued local economic development efforts saying, “events like this are great”
Newspaper Details
Fairbury Journal News
Fairbury, Nebraska, US
Fri, Mar 31, 2006
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 23 Jul 2026
Other Publications Near Fairbury, Nebraska
Jefferson County Journal
The Fairbury News and The Fairbury Gazette
The Fairbury Daily News
The Fairbury Journal
Fairbury Journal News
