The starting salary for a first-year teacher with a 10-month per year contract in Fredericksburg City Public Schools is $55,059. For a police officer certified by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, it’s $64,000.
Both salaries fall in the “low income” category for the area, defined as less than 80% of the area median income for a one-person family in the city, as set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
At the same time, the median home price in Fredericksburg is $454,649, according to the Fredericksburg Area Association of Realtors’ most recent report, and the median rent, according to Realtor.com, is $2,400 per month.
These costs might cause qualified employees to look elsewhere for work. And they’re the same employees that the Fredericksburg Economic Development Authority’s new Serve and Stay – Fredericksburg Fund is designed to help.
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To find out more about the Serve and Stay fund and how to support it, visit here.
The fund, which was announced this week and is administered through the Community Foundation of the Rappahannock River Region, aims to help the city recruit and retain teachers, first responders, and public servants by providing one-time housing assistance.
“We’ve been working on this for the better part of nine months,” said EDA chair Meredith Schatz. “It was born out of a conversation with city police officers, just an anecdotal conversation about recruitment and retention. One of them mentioned being aware of housing programs being used as recruitment and retention tools. We thought it was an interesting idea and wanted to run with it.”
“Economic development is ultimately about investing in people,” Schatz said in a press release about the new fund. “The communities that win the competition for talent will be the communities that thrive. Serve and Stay is Fredericksburg’s commitment to recruiting the people who educate our children, protect our neighborhoods, and deliver the public services that make this city an exceptional place to live and work.”
The fund will either cover the security deposit and first month’s rent, up to $4,500, or buy down a mortgage up to one point for home purchases, Schatz explained.
The assistance is designed for people making 80% of the area median income, said Schatz, and “I do believe that most of our first responders and teachers will fit within that category.”
A committee of the EDA will evaluate applications for assistance through the fund.
“We’ll evaluate applications on a real-time basis, because we are asking if possible for folks to have rental leases or purchase agreements in hand, so we then owe them a quick response,” Schatz said. “The goal is to respond ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to an application within two business weeks.”
According to the press release, awards will be prioritized using “a workforce-focused scoring framework that considers recruitment impact, retention value, relocation into Fredericksburg, and overall workforce benefit.”
The EDA has invested $30,000 in the fund, and Greenchip e-Waste also invested $10,000 through its Legacy Foundation.
“We are a Fredericksburg company, and these are our neighbors,” Bill Monteleone, CEO of Greenchip eWaste and ITAD Solutions, stated in the press release. “Helping folks find steady footing and a stable home is exactly what we set out to do. Serve and Stay helps the teachers and first responders who serve this city stay here, and we are proud to be part of it.”
The EDA is seeking additional support for the fund from the city’s businesses, nonprofits, and individual residents.
“The more we grow it, the more this recruitment and retention can continue,” Schatz said.
Meredith Schatz is a member of the Free Press board of directors. Board members do not influence newsroom operations.
