Keeping it LocalHow to keep kids, cash, and culture in the community

in three parts:Where and what we are

What people are doing about itWhat we can do next

Crystal Allene Cookcrystalacook@vt.edu

June 2011This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.

Where and what we are in Central Appalachia

(Southern West Virginia). Also relevantto other areas in economic decline.

Urban AppalachiaEmpty street, empty parking building, the City of Bluefield, WV, 2010Photo by Terry Rowe

We know

things change Business asUsual does not last…

Urban AppalachiaBluefield, WV, 2010Photo by Terry Rowe

Businesses do not

last forever

Urban AppalachiaHotel Matz/Hotel Milner collapses on its own, Downtown, Bluefield, WV, 2009Photo by Terry Rowe

Even beautiful things some day fall apart, even on their own…

Educate local…but we export globalBut where do our students end up after graduation?

“A 2010 report by the Lumina Foundation for Education listed West Virginia as the state with thefewest college graduates among residents between the ages of 25 and 64.

Only 11.7 percent of the working population holds a bachelor’s degree, 7 percent hold a graduateor professional degree and 6.8 percent hold an associates degree. This translates to only one outof every 4 residents, or 25.5 percent of the population, have post secondary education.

In West Virginia, 19.9 percent of the population attended college but did not graduate, and 54.4 percent of thepopulation has earned a high school degree or less.

The most educated counties in the state are Monongalia, Jefferson and Putnam, with residents with two orfour year degree rates of 43.4 percent, 37.3 percent and 34.1 percent. The least educated counties areMcDowell, Lincoln and Boone with rates of 10.3 percent, 14.1 percent and 14.1 percent.

Of the states that border West Virginia, only Kentucky, with a degree rate of 29.2 percent, ranks in the bottom10 states for education. Maryland ranks in the top 10 with 43.9 percent of adults with college degrees, andVirginia is 11th on the list with 43.4 percent of adults with college degrees.”

From: http://uwire.com/2010/10/04/report-shows-west-virginia-residents-have-lowest-percentage-of-college-graduates-in-the-nation/

Lots of folks also not from WV

Probably from WV

US Labor Stats, http://www.bls.gov/emp/home.htm#indtables

Expected job growth in mining is flat over the next

10 yrs

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills• Adobe Systems, Inc. • American Association of School Librarians • Apple • ASCD • Blackboard, Inc. • Cable in the Classroom• Crayola • Cisco Systems, Inc. • Corporation for Public Broadcasting • Dell, Inc. • EF Education • Education Networks of America • Educational Testing Service • Gale, Cengage Learning • Hewlett Packard • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt • Intel Corporation • JA Worldwide® • K12 • KnowledgeWorks Foundation • LEGO Group • Lenovo • Learning Point Associates • Leadership and Learning Center • McGraw-Hill • Measured Progress • Microsoft Corporation • National Education Association • National Academy Foundation • Nellie Mae Education Foundation • netTrekker • Oracle Education Foundation • Pearson • Project Management Institute Educational Foundation • Quarasan! • Scholastic Education • Sesame Workshop • Sun Microsystems, Inc. • The Walt Disney Company • Verizon from: (http://www.p21.org)

Nat’l focus o

f ed

& business

Big biz/not local

Gaps & Opportunities• Here in S. WV we are prepared mentally

to meet coming challenges of change whether economic, environmental, governmental, institutionalWe have “done been there” and “done done that” and are figuring out ways forward. We have been where other places may go. We value each other.

• Local and place—the people that have stayed despite it all have stayed; the non-graduates are assets. They are still here.

• Already at the forefront of a change from business as usual (BUA). We know BUA does not last. Refer back to the Bluefield slide.

• Gap in nat’l agenda and goals of local people? Gap in gov’t and big business agenda and goals of local people?

Opportunities• Link K – higher ed. in WV to place. What

if the curriculum, in WV, of K – higher ed. focused deeply on local communities rather than preparing young people for export or for big biz? What if, to start, just one college or high school in WV took this on as a mission?

• What if we looked around our community and this was it?That is, the resources, people, assets (including $) we have now were all we had to work with? What skills or knowledge would be the most important? Who would suddenly be our community’s (communities’) most valuable members? How would you personally change?

One guiding principle of engineering:

Design a system, a product, etc. to withstand more weight than it can bear. Design a system, a product, etc. to withstand extremes to which it may never be subjected.

How much more extreme does it have to get?

Here in Southern WV, we have already been subjected to the extremes: our towns have left us, our people have left, our environment has some serious issues, the education pushed by a national agenda and a state-level agenda does not match up with the reality or even with maybe what a lot of people that have stayed want….

Cash

Community

JobsCulture

????

What do we want to keep local? Keep & store energy (people, resources, etc.) rather

than bleed them out….

The list below is from: http://www.livingeconomies.org/node/513#comment-48

20 Measures for a Successful Local Living EconomyBy Michael H. Shuman, Research & Economic Development Director, BALLEThis list elaborates what broadly could be measured to determine whether a community is progressing toward Local Living Economy goals. Admittedly,some of these indicators would be harder to construct than others, but none are beyond the measuring capabilities of most local governments.

• Local Ownership – What percentage of jobs in the local economy are in locally owned businesses?• Self-Reliance – To what extent is the community self-reliant, especially in the basics of food, shelter, energy, and water?• Socially Responsible Business — To what extent are businesses present across all sectors of the local economy that are achieving high levels of triple-bottom-line

success?• Youth – What’s the probability that young people stay in your community once they have graduated from high school (or return to the community after college)? A

related question: What’s the likelihood that a young person can have fun in your community without breaking the law?• Schools – What’s the probability that members of every age group in your community are increasing the amount of time they spend learning this year, compared to last

year.• Entrepreneurship – What’s the likelihood that an entrepreneur in your community, especially a young person, can find the capital, technical assistance, mentorship, and

other support that makes it possible for him or her form a small business that he/she is passionate about?• Relationships – What’s the likelihood that every resident knows the names of everyone on his or her block, and that the block throws block parties?• Arts – To what extent are artists, writers, musicians, and other cultural creative drawn to live in your community?• Safety Net – What’s the probability that the poorest members of the community find adequate food, shelter, and health care.• Diversity – To what extent does your community have a rich diversity of races, ethnicities, ages, religions, and political viewpoints?• Aging – To what extent has the concept of retirement been abolished and replaced by seniors embracing new personal and community missions as they age?• Volunteerism – What’s the probability that a resident has run for office, worked for a government program, or volunteered for a community initiative or an act of civic

governance?• Sustainability – What’s the degree to which your community meets its needs, present and future, without impairing the ability of other communities to meet their

needs, present and future?• Investment – What’s the percentage of your residents’ retirement savings that’s invested in local business?• Tourism – The degree to which outsiders come to visit in part because they regard you as a model community?• Walkability – What percentage of your residents can find most of what they need – for work, school, purchasing, and play – within a 10 minute walk from home? What

percent of people living in your community work there?• Subsidies – To what extent is every penny of city money linked to business development is invested exclusively in locally owned business?• 10% Shift – What percent of your community’s purchasing decisions – including those of consumers, businesses, and procurement agencies – are going to local goods

and services?• Celebrations – To what extent are your conferences (like this one) places where solutions to once hopeless problems are shared and celebrated?• Global Self-reliance – To what extent are you sharing your best practices in achieving all of the above with other communities globally? How much time and money are

you spending to help other communities worldwide to achieve the level of self-reliance you seek for yourself?

Kids → →

Kids & cash → →

Kids & cash & culture→

Cash → →

Cash → →

What people are doing about it

Four successful Appalachian projects that are keeping kids, cash, and/or culture local: The RiffRaff Arts Collective

Grow AppalachiaUK’s Growing Local Economies

The Stay Project

Project Model:institutional initiative

partnering with local peoplehard-hit counties

focusing on very small businesses& people already in the county

Growing Local Economies at UK• When people think of economic development, they usually think about creating jobs by

attracting businesses to a region. Of course, job creation is important, but it is only part of the story. The Growing Local Economies initiative represents an alternative approach. It looks at the economy as a whole--where money and resources flow in and out of a community--and works to create conditions that build local prosperity.

• Growing Local Economies searches for ways to structure the local or regional economy to benefit the most people now, while reducing negative impacts on the quality of life of future generations. It concentrates on increasing the proportion of goods and services purchased locally by both consumers and by businesses. When a community buys goods and services from outside businesses rather than local businesses, money "leaks" out of the community. On the other hand, when a community uses more locally-produced goods and services, more money circulates inside the community. This extra money can be used to build prosperity.

• Local ownership is part of the story. Locally-owned businesses can make business decisions that benefit the community, and they are usually better at circulating money than businesses controlled by outside interests. Local businesses also spend more money locally.

Growing Local Economieshttp://www.appalachiancenter.org/GrowingLocalEconomies

Growing Local Economies builds on the existing resources within communities to improve their economic situations. Specific resources include current businesses, local people and their knowledge and skills, and supports for economic development like education, training, infrastructure, and policies.

This project specifically focuses on the power of locally owned, import-replacing businesses, a philosophy called LOIS. Local ownership matters because:

• Local businesses spend more money locally. • Businesses anchored locally produce wealth for many years, often many generations.• Communities can raise labor and environmental standards with confidence that its

businesses will adapt rather than leave the community.• It promotes smart growth and walkable communities, draws in tourists through

unique stores and attractions, and retains talented young people who could open businesses of their own.

• Local business economies tend to have more social stability, lower levels of welfare, and greater political participation.

Growing Local Economiesbuilds on the work of this man

and this book

Growing Local Economies Takeaways….• Small businesses don’t leave—they stay when people support them– not affected by

larger shareholder decisions• $$$ from small businesses stays in the community. • Small business can be micro-businesses and take much less capital to start• Small businesses need fewer resources: energy, space, etc.• Self-Reliance – To what extent is the community self-reliant, especially in the basics of

food, shelter, energy, and water? Small business increases community know-how and keeps skills in the community.• Saves the community cash…over the long run (keeps $ circulating in the community)• Reconnects people to one another• Entrepreneurship – What’s the likelihood that an entrepreneur in your community,

especially a young person, can find the capital, technical assistance, mentorship, and other support that makes it possible for him or her form a small business that he/she is passionate about?

• 10% Shift – What percent of your community’s purchasing decisions – including those of consumers, businesses, and procurement agencies – are going to local goods and services?

Project Model:outside $

local controlpartnership with an Institution

regional partners

Grow AppalachiaTo teach and support the people of Appalachia in addressing the tragedy of hunger in the region by learning to grow their own food to feed themselves.

From: http://www.paulmitchell.com/OurStory/CultureOfGiving/Pages/Home.aspx

May 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI5-CbnwTdc

Primary Benefits to the People of Central Appalachia

The primary benefits to the people of Central Appalachia will be:• Healthy local food options.• Increased self-esteem through agency and autonomy.• Enhanced sense of community, resiliency, and partnership through

rediscovery of Appalachian heritage and knowledge.• More personal income retained resulting from not having to pay high costs

of imported food.• Potential source of income from local farmers’ markets and cooperative

regional marketing.• Spreading of the knowledge and seeds of various ancient, heirloom varieties

of different vegetables which were a critical part of the mountaineers’ heritage but are now in danger of being lost.

From: http://www.berea.edu/appalachiancenter/growappalachia/primarybenefits.asp

Needs, Goals and OutcomesSome of the most pressing regional needs to be addressed by Grow Appalachia are:• Basic diet-related health concerns – obesity, diabetes, heart disease.• Limited availability of high-quality fresh produce.• Generational loss of knowledge of gardening, cooking, and food preservation skills.• Widespread economic dependency and lack of autonomy. Some of the planned outcomes will be:• Provide mountain families the resources and support to produce more of their own

food.• Develop systems to share surplus produce with elderly and disabled folks at little or no

cost.• Create systems to market surplus produce to local residents or, cooperatively, to a

wider regional market. • Families benefiting from this program will agree to help other families as they are

able to maximize the impact of the program

Cooke (paraphrased): We thought about creating a farmer’s market from what was produced through

Grow Appalachia, but people kept giving away their food! That is part of our Appalachian culture… When they can, to make sure everyone has enough to eat.

David Cooke ’82 is a southern West Virginia native whose maternal and paternal Appalachian roots go back over a century. He has a B.A. from Berea College & an MS from WVU. Served as a WVU county extension agent in the southern WV coal fields region. While primarily working with WV landholders and entrepreneurs in agroforestry and other natural resource-based small business enterprises, Cooke also has extensive experience in volunteer management, outreach education systems and grant writing. Cooke joins Berea College as EPG’s Program Coordinator and Director of the Appalachian Fund.

http://www.berea.edu/epg/people/davidcooke.asp

Grow Appalachia Takeaways….• People come together around food in our culture• Food is central in our lives in S. WV. Sharing food is central to our culture. We need

to preserve our knowledge of foods & food production.• Great way to get people in the community involved that might not be your “usual

suspects”• It produces a yield–you see results soon/quickly. People respond to results!• Lots of orgs to support getting food growing going– at least for now….• Self-Reliance – To what extent is the community self-reliant, especially in the basics

of food, shelter, energy, and water? GROWING FOOD increases community self-reliance, increases security & food security, brings people together, improves community health

• Saves people cash…over the long run (in food costs and healthcare costs)• If you grow it, you are more likely to eat it• Reconnects people to land• SOIL is essential for people health—smart tactics (like a type of regenerative

agriculture called “permaculture”) can help rebuild Appalachia’s soil

Project Model:investments

taking advantage of building resourcesfamily

selfyoung people

left then came back

RiffRaff Arts CollectivePrinceton, WV

The RiffRaff Arts Collective

http://www.ourmountainstate.org/stories.html

Other businesses now on Mercer Street

The RiffRaff Arts Collective Takeaways….• Create a space for creative people to come together• Youth want to stay if there is something to do• Great way to get people in the community involved that might not be your “usual suspects”—

not just politicians, but also creative types• Youth – What’s the probability that young people stay in your community once they have

graduated from high school (or return to the community after college)? A related question: What’s the likelihood that a young person can have fun in your community without breaking the law?

• Entrepreneurship – What’s the likelihood that an entrepreneur in your community, especially a young person, can find the capital, technical assistance, mentorship, and other support that makes it possible for him or her form a small business that he/she is passionate about?

• Arts – To what extent are artists, writers, musicians, and other cultural creative drawn to live in your community?

• 10% Shift – What percent of your community’s purchasing decisions – including those of consumers, businesses, and procurement agencies – are going to local goods and services?

• Other businesses will grow up around a successful arts-oriented business• We are rich in music, craft, and other skills traditions

Project Model:youth started

youth orientednot “general” leadership skills, but leadership skills toward

regional issuesleadership rooted in place/focused on placesought institutional support post formation

The Stay Project

• Came out of Appalachian Studies Conference– wanted a place/group for younger voices (2007)

• Youth participants expressed that they didn’t know how to participate in movements for social change, that there were few access points for them as young people, and few opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge that would allow them to contribute to social change efforts. These young participants created the STAY Project, a youth-led organization dedicated to ensuring a future for youth from the mountains who want to stay in Central Appalachia.

http://www.thestayproject.org/

• Consortium supported by Appalshop’s Appalachian Media Institute in Whitesburg, Ky, High Rocks in Hillsboro, WV, and the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, TN

• Diverse regional network of young people throughout Central Appalachia• Work together to advocate for and actively participate in our home mountain communities• Work with young people as decision makers that design their own projects, build diverse coalitions, and

contribute solutions to community needs

The youth-led STAY Project is doing what few other organizations have done:• Youth ask each other what they want and need in order to stay and work in their home communities.• Youth are connected to the resources and skills they need to make their visions for Central Appalachia

come true.• Young leaders in the region who already creating change receive recognition. • Inclusive. Everyone deserves no matter where they live, their economic background, their race,

language, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or cultural background. ALL APPALACHIANS. Do not define who is and who is not “really” Appalachian. Particular outreach to LBGQT community and communities of color.

• Goal = to prepare to educate themselves, use their voices, and participate in political power.

LGBTQ Gathering in Charleston, WV

Feb 2011

YOUTH OF COLOR GatheringMay 20 - 22, 2011

Abingdon, Virginia (Location TBD)

The STAY Project is committed to having all voices and identities supported within Appalachia. We understand that people of color are often silenced and ignored within our organizations and communities. For this reason, we are bringing together youth of color from throughout the region for a two day workshop in order to discuss what it means to be a person of color living in the mountains and cities of Appalachia. We will also be visioning ways we can better solidify the unique support we want and need as a community and how we can support each other through the STAY PROJECT. We consider Southern and Central Appalachia to be West Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, East Tennessee, Western North Carolina and Northern Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama.

What is the STAY Project?We are a group of young leaders from ages 14-30 working to make it possible for young people to stay home in their Appalachian communities.

The Mission:Stay Together Appalachian Youth, The STAY Project, is a diverse regional network of young people working together to create, advocate for, and participate in safe, sustainable, engaging and inclusive communities throughout Appalachia and beyond.

The cost for this workshop is between $20-$40 and includes room and board. To request an application or for those needing reduced fees or more information, please contact Joe Tolbert at stayproject@gmail.com or 865-933-3443 or Elandria Williams at 865-973-1896/865-933-3443/ elandria@highlandercenter.org.

Applications Due April 22nd

The Stay Project Takeaways….• Create an online & occasional face-to-face space for young

people to come together• Youth want to stay if there is something to do• This ain’t your daddy’s Appalachia: reach out to not-your-usual

suspects• Can you afford to lose one young person from the community

because he/she does not feel welcome where she/he is from?• Youth – What’s the probability that young people stay in your

community once they graduate from high school (or return to the community after college)? A related question: What’s the likelihood that a young person can have fun in your community without breaking the law?

• Leadership focused on staying local

Group/s activity

• Each person share at least one thing in the presentation that could work in your community and why.What assets does your community already have that would make this work?

Urban AppalachiaEmpty street, empty parking building, the City of Bluefield, WV, 2010Photo by Terry Rowe

Problem into solution: We can be a

model forrethinking place &

communityafter deep change….

Educate local…export globalBut where do they end up after graduation?

“A 2010 report by the Lumina Foundation for Education listed West Virginia as the state with thefewest college graduates among residents between the ages of 25 and 64.

Only 11.7 percent of the working population holds a bachelor’s degree, 7 percent hold a graduateor professional degree and 6.8 percent hold an associates degree. This translates to only one outof every 4 residents, or 25.5 percent of the population, have post secondary education.

In West Virginia, 19.9 percent of the population attended college but did not graduate, and 54.4 percent of thepopulation has earned a high school degree or less.

The most educated counties in the state are Monongalia, Jefferson and Putnam, with residents with two orfour year degree rates of 43.4 percent, 37.3 percent and 34.1 percent. The least educated counties areMcDowell, Lincoln and Boone with rates of 10.3 percent, 14.1 percent and 14.1 percent.

Of the states that border West Virginia, only Kentucky, with a degree rate of 29.2 percent, ranks in the bottom10 states for education. Maryland ranks in the top 10 with 43.9 percent of adults with college degrees, andVirginia is 11th on the list with 43.4 percent of adults with college degrees.”

From: http://uwire.com/2010/10/04/report-shows-west-virginia-residents-have-lowest-percentage-of-college-graduates-in-the-nation/

Problem into solution: We can refocus

education K –

Higher ed on solving local problems

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills• Adobe Systems, Inc. • American Association of School Librarians • Apple • ASCD • Blackboard, Inc. • Cable in the Classroom• Crayola • Cisco Systems, Inc. • Corporation for Public Broadcasting • Dell, Inc. • EF Education • Education Networks of America • Educational Testing Service • Gale, Cengage Learning • Hewlett Packard • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt • Intel Corporation • JA Worldwide® • K12 • KnowledgeWorks Foundation • LEGO Group • Lenovo • Learning Point Associates • Leadership and Learning Center • McGraw-Hill • Measured Progress • Microsoft Corporation • National Education Association • National Academy Foundation • Nellie Mae Education Foundation • netTrekker • Oracle Education Foundation • Pearson • Project Management Institute Educational Foundation • Quarasan! • Scholastic Education • Sesame Workshop • Sun Microsystems, Inc. • The Walt Disney Company • Verizon from: (http://www.p21.org)

Problem into solution: We can refocus on small

businesses, educate people for those & to form those, and set

many of our own priorities for education.

Share your ideas at the web address above for what you think we should be learning…

http://www.allourideas.org/whatdoweneedtoknow

Round up of thoughts

• See local people as resources• Put them in charge of the things they know• Use their knowledge• Use the knowledge of young people• Give everyone something meaningful to do or

have them direct their own meaning

Please add to, take, and share the survey at:http://www.allourideas.org/whatdoweneedtoknow

Start/continue a conversation at:whatdoweneedtoknow@groups.facebook.com

Be interviewed for the coming website:www.whatdoweneedtoknow.com

My contact into for further discussion:c_allenecook@yahoo.com

crystalacook@vt.eduFacebook: facebook.com/crystalacook

Download this presentation athttp://www.slideshare.net/crystalallenecook

Contact me atcrystalacook@vt.edu

• Very interested in: What if the curriculumn of K – higher ed. focused deeply on local communities rather than preparing young people for export or for big biz? What if, to start, just one college or high school this on as a mission?

• What if we looked around our community and this was it?

Want to work with and do research in Southern WV counties in particular and other communities around these issues….

ResourcesThe RiffRaff Arts Collective869 Mercer St.P.O. Box 5482Princeton, WV 24740304-425-6425http://www.theriffraff.netFor General Inquiries: lori@theriffraff.netFor Booking: robert@option22.net Grow Appalachia: David Cooke, Berea College Appalachian Center cooked@berea.edu ; 859 985 3941http://www.berea.edu/appalachiancenter/growappalachia/default.asp The Stay Project: http://www.thestayproject.org/; 606 633 0108; stayproject@gmail.com UK Growing Local Economies Initiativehttp://www.appalachiancenter.org/GrowingLocalEconomies624 Maxwelton CourtLexington, KY 40506-0347859-257-4852 (office)www.appalachiancenter.org Small-Mart Revolution, http://small-mart.org/ Appalachian Studies ConferenceCreate WVGeneration Charleston

•

Essay on rethinking whom we want to attract to WVhttp://westvirginiaville.com/2011/05/west-virginia-david-byrne-appalachia/ West Virginiavillehttp://westvirginiaville.com/

FoodFarm 2 U Collaborative, http://www.wvfarm2u.org/Central Appalachian Network, http://www.cannetwork.org/ Though their model focuses on communities that will decline, some of their models and projects are useful for communities that have already declined. Their projects serve as models for how to bring a community together around useful, needed projects to sustain a community as it moves forward.Transition Towns, http://www.transitionnetwork.org/ Transition Towns USA, http://www.transitionus.org/Some organizations also working on some aspect of education by and for the community:Place-based education:http://www.promiseofplace.org/ Appalachiahttp://www.appalachiantransition.net/ -- great list of essays on rethinking approaches in Appalachia.This list is from Appalachian Transition:http://www.theallianceforappalachia.org/ Alliance for Appalachia http://www.acenetworks.org/ Appalachian Center for Economic Networks http://www.appalachian-center.org/ Appalachian Center for the Economy and Environment http://www.appalachianlawcenter.org/ Appalachian Citizens Law Center http://www.appalachiancommunityfund.org Appalachian Community Fund http://www.a-spi.org/ Appalachia-Science in the Public Interest http://www.appalachianstudies.org/ Appalachian Studies Association http://www.asapconnections.org/ Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project http://www.asdevelop.org/ Appalachian Sustainable Development http://www.appalachianvoices.org/ Appalachian Voices http://www.appalachianwomen.org/ Appalachian Women’s Alliance http://appalshop.org/ Appalshop http://www.bigcreekpeopleinaction.org/index.htm Big Creek People in Action http://www.berea.edu/brushyforkinstitute/ Brushy Fork Institute http://www.centerforeconomicoptions.org/ Center for Economic Options http://www.ruralstrategies.org Center for Rural Strategies http://cannetwork.org/ Central Appalachian Network http://christiansforthemountains.org/ Christians for the Mountains http://www.wvccc.com/ Citizens Conservation Corps of West Virginia http://www.clinchcoalition.net/ Clinch Coalition http://www.crmw.net/ Coal River Mountain Watch http://cednet.us/index.php Community Economic Development Network of East Tennessee http://www.communityfarmalliance.org/ Community Farm Alliance http://www.commfoundation.org Community Foundation of Hazard and Perry County http://www.downstreamstrategies.com/ Downstream Strategies http://www.berea.edu/epg/ Entrepreneurship for the Public Good http://www.fahe.org/ Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises http://www.hpccm.org Hazard-Perry County Community Ministries http://www.heartwood.org/ Heartwood http://www.highlandercenter.org/ Highlander Research and Education Center http://www.inpraise.info/ In Praise of Mountain Women http://www.jobs-project.org/ JOBS Project http://jubileeproject.holston.org/ The Jubilee Project http://www.ferrum.edu/aca/justconnections/index.htm Just Connections http://mountainkeeper.org/ Keeper of the Mountains Foundation http://www.kftc.org/ Kentuckians For The Commonwealth http://www.khic.org/ Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation http://www.meadowviewfarmersguild.com Meadowview Farmers Guild http://www.maced.org Mountain Association for Community Economic Development http://www.mountain.org The Mountain Institute http://www.ncifund.org/ Natural Capital Investment Fund http://www.ohvec.org Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition http://www.owsleycountykentucky.org/actionteam.html Owsley County Action Team http://www.paac2.org/ Partnership of African American Churches http://www.peopleincorp.org/ People Incorporated of Southwest Virginia http://www.pinemountainsettlementschool.com/ Pine Mountain Settlement School http://www.ruralaction.org/ Rural Action http://www.ruralscale.com/ Sequestering Carbon, Accelerating Local Economies http://www.sierraclub.org/ej/programs/ap.aspx Sierra Club Environmental Justice http://www.socm.org Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (formerly, Save Our Cumberland Mountains) http://www.safc.org Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition

University of Kentucky

Next slides include a fantastic list of skills & a multipurpose skills assessment…. Very useful for:• Planning education in the community• Identifying skills leading to small business

development• Identifying skills to share• Identifying skills community members want to

learn

Thank you!

Stay in touch!