Our area had a flurry of visits earlier this year from high-ranking officials, Sen. Mark Warner and Gov. Terry McAuliffe being among the brightest stars to look at our facilities, oysters, etc. They made us feel as if Gloucester and Mathews matter on the state map.

Conversely, a recent meeting of the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission contained the bleak news, as our reporter wrote, “that the Middle Peninsula has the lowest average wages in the state—surprisingly even lower than the coal mines of the southwestern parts of the state. And Mathews County, they said, has the lowest average income in the state.”

A situation like this seems to demand … what? Laments? Committee meetings? Actions? What can be done to help rural areas prosper and thrive?

A Rural Jobs Council appointed by then-Gov. Bob McDonnell recommended some vague things such as “increasing access to and improving existing business development resources, fostering and incentivizin...