Builders & Connectors: reilly robbins
By Jennifer Hafer
As a former journalist, Reilly Robbins is uniquely positioned to become a highly effective economic development director of the Clinch County Chamber of Commerce and the county’s Development Authority by blending storytelling, networking, and deep community knowledge.
Robbins took the helm last summer, returning to her hometown of Homerville to focus on local growth, business support, and community engagement.
She joined the chamber as a board member in January 2025, trading in her role of town crier informing the community about city council decisions, local events, and business openings, into that of an advocate who knows how to pitch her community to site selectors, businesses, and investors.
“At the newspaper, I covered hundreds of local government meetings and zoning hearings,” she says. “Understanding local government helped me to understand this job.”
Robbins compares her previous profession to the 1993 Bill Murray film “Groundhog Day,” in which a cynical television weatherman covering the annual event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, becomes trapped in a time loop.
“I love journalism,” Robbins says, “but every week was like the movie and I wanted to do something different.” Robbins says she enjoys the collaboration and spontaneity of her new role. “I love visiting our members on the chamber side. And on the development side, someone will say, ‘I’ve got this idea,’ and it’s like, ‘yeah, let’s try it.’ One idea can create an entire program and impact the community.”
In her role as editor of the Quitman Free Press, Reilly was a one-man band, planning each week’s edition, writing and editing articles, and guiding the paper’s overall editorial direction. Now she collaborates with colleagues across the county with the Grow Clinch Collaborative, which brings together leadership from local governments as well as the school system, hospital, Boys & Girls Club, libraries, Main Street Program, and other community
partners. The collaborative is open to any leaders who are invested in helping Clinch County grow and succeed.
“There’s a lot of ‘I can help you do this,’ and ‘I can help you do that,’’’ says Robbins, “and ideas grow from there. The collaboration is really positive.”
In the past, she says, the Grow Clinch Collaborative helped launch several impactful initiatives, including the area’s Rural Zone Tax Credit designation and the annual Clinch Leadership Academy, a program that gives participants insight into local leadership, economic development, public safety, education, healthcare, and community growth.
One of the things that makes Clinch County special, according to Robbins, is its ability to attract and retain hometown talent. “I hear other communities complain that they can’t get young people to come back,” she says. “We’ve got young people moving back and buying businesses. Recently, two girls I went to high school with bought a business here.”
As Baby Boomers continue retiring in droves, Reilly says recruiting the next generation is key to filling that void. “We want to let people know that yes, you can go off to college, but you can come back to your community for a career,” she says. “It’s important to invest in the community that built you.”
And Robbins looks forward to helping an existing industry expand or enticing a new industry to town, citing the county’s location as excellent for expansion. “We are perfectly set between two major highways (I-75 to the west and I-95 to the east); we’re 80 miles from the port in Brunswick; and Highway 441 from Pearson to Fargo is being four-laned,” she says.
“In this role, there are so many different aspects of the community that I can touch and make a difference.”