IAS

Lincoln County Bursting With Community Activity This Summer

05.18.17

Photo by Guyandotte Water Trail

People in Lincoln County have a great opportunity this Saturday to get out and enjoy this fantastic spring weather, and help their community!

From 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on Saturday, the Guyandotte Water Trail will host a Lower Guyandotte River Cleanup at Branchland Park. More info at www.facebook.com/guyandottewatertrail/

They are calling all volunteers to come join members of the Guyandotte Water Trail and the people of Lincoln County to help cleanup the beautiful Branchland Park and Guyandotte River to ready it for some great spring and summer activity.

And here’s some other events coming up:

June 3 – National Water Trails Dedication and River Float
Celebration of Lincoln County’s 150th Founding
10 a.m. Branchland Park
Info: www.facebook.com/guyandottewatertrail/

June 3 – Free Annual Kids Fishing Tournament
Mud River Lake WMA Boat Launch
Registration 9 – 9:30 a.m.
Info: mary_napier@aol.com / 304-824-3336 x 221

June 24 – Regatta Race and Float
11 a.m. Branchland Park
Registration on site that day.
Info: www.facebook.com/TheLincolnLogWV

July 15 – Going Off the Deep End
Homemade and Modified Floating Water Crafts
Various Categories and Prizes
11 a.m. check-in. Branchland Park.
Info: ckarr@coalfield-development.org / 304-951-8223

July 22 – Mt State Anglers Tournament on the Guyandotte
Location TBA
Info: mskawv@gmail.com / 304-942-1122
www.facebook.com/mskawv

August 5 – Special Family Kayak Float
10 am. Branchland Park
Bring your own kayak. Also limited kayaks for rent.
Info and kayak rental: ricmacdowell@gmail.com / 304-824-2643

All Summer
Free Wednesdays at Camp Lake View
June 7, 14, 21, 28.
July 5, 12, 19, 26.
August 2, 9.
Supervised swimming, kayaking, canoeing, and light lunch.
10 am – 2 pm. Left Fork of Mud River Lake
Info: ricmacdowell@gmail.com / 304-824-2643

Events on the Guyandotte River depend on water levels. Check in advance!

Get involved in Lincoln County this Saturday, and for the rest of the summer!

“Change Isn’t Easy,” But Still Jenny Totten Has a Huge Vision For McDowell County

05.10.17

A lot of people think that I’m absolutely nuts for wanting to work in such a remote area of Appalachia.

But McDowell County has felt like home since the first time I set foot on the grounds of the Five Loaves and Two Fishes Foodbank, more than 4 years ago.

Since then I’ve gotten myself into several projects, ranging from economic development and business creation to community agriculture projects.

In order to do work in McDowell County, you have to believe in community development principles that put residents first and individual egos last.

You have to whole heartedly realize it is important to make small towns resilient and economies diversified while also paying homage to the deep roots coal has in central Appalachia.

You have to 100 percent understand that every single person is doing the best they can, and the best they know how to do.

And you have to whole heartedly realize it is important to make small towns resilient and economies diversified while also paying homage to the deep roots coal has in central Appalachia. Change isn’t easy, and it’s even harder here.

I am a boomerang child of West Virginia – a term used for natives who left the state but found themselves back for whatever reason. I grew up right outside of Charleston, in a small, tight-knit community near Kanawha State Forest called Loudendale. Im a proud graduate of GW High School, a Virginia Tech Hokie and a rocket scientist, by degree and practice.

After spending some time in Haiti, I chose to work on development projects in my own state because the best way to affect change is to return to a place that you intimately know and love. I have always been devoted to West Virginia and am so excited to get my hands dirty doing work in a community that I have fallen madly in love with.

My vision for McDowell County’s future is huge. I see small vibrant downtown areas in Kimball and Welch, a blossoming small scale local food economy, and a world where Welch does not close at 5 p.m.

In my spare time I coach an all-girls Lego Robotics team, farm on a postage stamp size piece of property, explore the outdoors, and create things that border between craft and middle school attempts at an art project.

My vision for McDowell County’s future is huge. I see small vibrant downtown areas in Kimball and Welch, a blossoming small scale local food economy, and a world where Welch does not close at 5 p.m.

I see organizations coming together to help the people of McDowell design their own solutions. Music, visual arts, and theater all play a role in McDowell’s future. I see the natural resource economy blossoming with increased usage of the Hatfield McCoy trails, Berwind Lake, and Panther State Forest.

And most importantly, I see a county where, when a high senior class is asked about their future, the easiest answer is not “Leave the area.”

Hello, Jenny

First Ever Open Mic Night Sparks a New Creative Community in McDowell County

05.09.17

Photo by Terry Bartley/The Hub

As I pulled into the lot, I could already hear music coming out of the building.

I walked in and saw a packed room, buzzing with positive energy. Everyone was there, at the Sterling Drive-In in Welch, West Virginia, to hear creative people express themselves.

This open mic night in McDowell County was one of several efforts in southern West Virginia to support a burgeoning local arts and cultural community funded through our Innovation Acceleration Strategy program, or IAS.

This first piece of their project involves a series of open mic nights as a way to pull artists together. Lori McKinney, of the Riff-Raff Arts Collective in Princeton, was pretty instrumental in putting this first event together. She strongly believes that open mic nights are essential in building a creative community.

“Creative people need to discover each other, and they need a reason to come together,” Lori says.

McKinney teamed up with McDowell County locals Craig Snow and Derek Tyson to pull it together. It was McKinney’s idea to use a place that people are familiar with, like the Sterling Drive-In, so that artists would feel more comfortable coming out.

I think this is a key reason this open mic was so successful – the environment was low-key, and everyone felt at ease.

Then it hit me. This really could work in basically any other community that wants to bring out creative folks.

In community development circles, we talk a lot about the idea of a “third space” – a location that isn’t work or home that the community can get together and casually talk about their community.

When I first started working with IAS, I thought that many of our communities didn’t really have a third space. I wouldn’t have even really thought of Sterling’s as one. The community seemed to think of it just as a place to grab food.

But the open mic night transformed a quiet little diner into an energetic third space. There is no reason this couldn’t happen in every other IAS community, or any other small town in Appalachia for that matter.

This first event cost them $100 for a sound engineer. That’s a small price to pay to provide a space for creatives to get together.

Now, I’m looking forward to attending another open mic night at the next small town in West Virginia that wants to follow Welch’s lead. Who’s up next?

You can keep up to date with the all the of news coming out of our IAS communities
at The Hub’s IAS blog feed!

In Alderson, Co-Op Artisans Gallery a Model for Community (and Commercial Sustainability)

04.27.17

Photos courtesy Alderson Artisans Gallery

One of the downsides of turning entrepreneurship into a career can be a sense of isolation.

This is especially true for working artists, who spend long hours in their workspace, alone, crafting art.

But in the small town of Alderson they’ve found a way for their artists to be a part of a larger community.

The Alderson Artisans Gallery functions like a co-op. They have seven working artists that showcase their work, and also spend time working behind the counter, sweeping the floor, keeping the books or managing its social media pages.

While they refer to themselves as a “shoestring operation,” they manage to keep the lights on without outside funding.

They also showcase the work of other local artists, that pay a slightly higher fee to be a part of the gallery.

The gallery was originally a project of Alderson Main Street, which provided funding for their first year of operation. Now the gallery is totally self-sufficient.

And while they still refer to themselves as a “shoestring operation,” they manage to keep the lights on without outside funding.

They integrate themselves more deeply into the community through partnerships with the local schools. The gallery provides space to showcase the work of local students throughout the year. The member artisans also pass on their knowledge through the form of classes.

The actual gallery space features regular gallery fare, like paintings, photography and sculptures. But they also feature works that are distinctively ‘Alderson.’ These pieces range from woodwork and stained glass to hooked rugs and clothing.

Alderson Artisans Gallery demonstrates that working together can really create something incredible. They’ve created a place to showcase the culture of Alderson while providing an income to local artists.

Can We Grow a Culture of Entrepreneurship in West Virginia’s Coalfields?

04.05.17

Entrepreneurship is the heartbeat of a small community. It defines the look and feel of downtown. In Madison, Renee’s School of Dance is a big part of that.

Since 1981, Renee Burgess Farmer (above) has been teaching dance to the people of Madison. She teaches everyone from as young as 3 years-old up to adults various forms of dance, including tap, ballet, jazz, clog theater and even workouts like Booty Barre.

For Farmer, her dance school is about more than business.

Later this year The Hub will be starting a new program in coalfield communities, such as Madison, to promote a culture of entrepreneurship.

“I’ve been fortunate, because if you can do what you love, it’s not really work, and I’ve never really felt like I had a job,” she says. “It’s just been my community and my family.”

When Farmer says it is about family, she really means it. She said she has some students that have grown and now their children are enrolled in her class. She said some of the parents even come back for her adult classes. Farmer said giving this passion of dance to her students is why what she does is so important.

“With dance, with music, with arts, that lasts you your lifetime,” Farmer said.

Later this year The Hub will be starting a new program in coalfield communities, such as Madison, to promote a culture of entrepreneurship. Farmer admits that there will be challenges with this idea.

“I think that the confidence is lacking over here,” Farmer said, “Loving what you do is the whole thing and I think over here people are scared of that because they want the security.”

With that said, Farmer has successfully run a business in the area for many years now, and that has come with its advantages. She said that she made the transition from artist to small business owner when she realized she could make as much as a school teacher by running her own school. This has allowed her a more flexible lifestyle.

“I’ve been able to raise my kids and be my own boss,” Farmer says.

“I’ve been able to raise my kids and be my own boss,” Farmer says. “I’ve been able to enjoy their school and I’ve been able to rearrange my schedule to fit theirs.”

While she acknowledges there is still quite a bit of work to be done in Madison before it can be a thriving haven for artists, she does hope that she will one day be able to walk down a Main Street littered with performers.

And Farmer is looking to the future. At the moment she only teaches two days a week, but is open to anyone that would like to teach a class to reach out to her. She will teach anything a group of people want to take, and is open to new ideas.

The next recital for Renee’s School of Dance will be 7 p.m. on May 13th in the Madison Civic Center.

Stay tuned for more updates about our upcoming Energizing Entrepreneurial Communities program.

Free Webinar Explores What Tools Are Out There To Help Your Town Rebound

03.16.17

Photo by Antti/FlickrCC

Time for the last free community development webinar from the The Hub’s Innovation Acceleration Strategy program, in collaboration with the International Economic Development Council.

For this final webinar, we bring you:

Maximizing the use of Federal and State Tools for Economic Development
Thursday, March 23
10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m

Take advantage of assistance readily available to you, while also learning how to influence and shape projects in your region.

You’ll hear how to partner with regional, state and federal authorities to accomplish your goals. This webinar will show you how to use available technical assistance that can help you advance your objectives.

Speakers include:

Christine Butterfield – Senior Management Advisor
David Myers, CEcD – Executive Director of the Ponca City Development Authority

The Giving Tree: Pineville Students Launch Website To Support Their Friends In Need

03.13.17

Photo by Pineville Middle School

When a class at Pineville Middle School (above) started working on a project for the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest, they already knew what problems that wanted to solve.

It is no secret that southern West Virginia is struggling with a lack of jobs and access to basic necessities.

“Many families struggle, and their children suffer and often can’t concentrate in school because they are hungry, dirty or cold.”

“The biggest problem that we have is the number of students who do not have their basic needs met every day,” says teacher Amanda Mullins. “Many families struggle, and their children suffer and often can’t concentrate in school because they are hungry, dirty or cold.”

And so, her class imagined the Pineville Giving Tree, a student-built website, where kids can ask for the things that they lack. And they can do so anonymously.

Local community groups then work to provide those things, and deliver them to the student in need.

“We wanted to make sure that our friends have the food, clothes and supplies they need,” the class said in their entry video.

This system has really gone above and beyond. They created shortcuts to the Pineville Giving Tree website on every school device, and have created an app to keep track of what supplies they have in stock.

The school donated a room in the basement, which they refer to as the dungeon, where students keep the supplies.

The project has gathered a lot of attention. Not only did the class win the state round of the Solve for Tomorrow contest, which came with $50,000 worth of Samsung technology for their school, but they are also currently one of 10 national finalists in the running to win $150,000 of technology.

They created shortcuts to the Pineville Giving Tree website on every school device, and have created an app to keep track of what supplies they have in stock.

Two students and their teacher will be heading to New York City to present their project to Samsung executives!

And there is something you can do to help them out. Head over to twitter and let Samsung know you support them by shooting out a tweet featuring the #SamsungSolvePVMS tag.

If you want to make it even easier for yourself, you can click on this link to pre-fill your tweet! They’re currently in 3rd place, but we have until March 17 to push them to the top.

If they win the community vote, they’ll receive $20,000 worth of extra Samsung technology.

Go Pineville!

Alderson Explores Feasibility of Vintage-Themed Downtown

03.13.17

Photo by OZinOH/FlickrCC

The people of Alderson have a lot of pride and belief in their community, which has been a terrific starting point for our Innovation Acceleration Strategy (IAS) work there.

But those leading the IAS effort in Alderson also understand they have work to do to fill up the businesses on their main street. Both of the IAS mini-grants we awarded them hope to bring new life into downtown.

Small Business

When we started conducting IAS meetings in Alderson, we began hearing about Jim Russel’s idea to create a vintage-themed downtown.

Jim envisions a town with vintage murals on buildings, period lighting along the street and a restaurant housed in a train car.

Jim envisions a town with vintage murals on buildings, period lighting along the street and a restaurant housed in a train car. His team has challenged him on the feasibility of this, which leads us to their mini-grant.

We have awarded Alderson $2,000 to conduct a market feasibility study. They believe they can use this study to sell the idea of opening a new business downtown to potential entrepreneurs. The team hopes this can be the first step to attracting more people to live and play in Alderson.

Community Beautification

Fawn Valentine understands the importance of aesthetics. She has a B.A. in Art, works on the planning commission for Alderson and is the leader of the IAS Community Beautification team.

This may seem a little off-base for an economic diversification program. But creating a more attractive downtown is almost always an important piece of the broader economic development process.

Valentine’s team has been awarded $525 to paint the former Ashland station. This station is the first thing anyone sees when they enter Alderson.

As a part of this plan, they are going to paint a mural on one of the windows, featuring the river. They hope this will create a visual emphasis on the flora and fauna of Greenbrier River that flows through their town.

Learn more about what our other IAS communities are doing to diversify their local economies
at The Hub blog.

In McDowell County, the Princeton Renaissance a Natural Ally to Redevelopment Efforts

03.03.17

Photo by Princeton Renaissance Project

It has been really inspiring working in McDowell County and seeing the motivation of these active citizens to make a positive change in their community.

Through our Innovation Acceleration Strategy (IAS) program, we are pleased to fund two projects to help spur new economic opportunities in their economy.

Agriculture

Seth Coen has a background in Environmental Engineering. Like many that live in Appalachia, his skills led him to a job connected to the coal industry, with a consulting firm on the reclamation of mine sites.

Seth spent much of his time in Kentucky and West Virginia. As he traveled to mine sites, he was taken back at the drastic amount of job loss.

Seth saw thousands of acres of underutilized land on former mining sites, and knew this was an opportunity in these economically depressed areas.

About seven years ago, Seth realized there were many thousands of acres of underutilized land on these former mining sites, and knew this was an opportunity in these economically depressed areas. And so he decided to start a grassroots effort to help the community identify and create innovative post-mine uses for this land.

When we met Seth, he was working on turning a former mining site in McDowell County into a demonstrative project. He wants to explore the range of things these sites can be used for.

Seth plans to use the $2,000 award to create a flower garden, teach composting in five schools, and engage students in gardening. His hope is that this will spur economic development and entrepreneurship opportunities.

Arts and Culture

It’s no secret that Lori McKinney and the Riff-Raff Arts Collective has been doing amazing work in Princeton. Through focusing on arts, music and culture, they have basically created an economic sector from scratch. Why not try it in other places?

That’s a big reason Lori created the Create Your State concert series, traveling with her band to struggling communities around the state to teach them about creative placemaking through performance. Lori shows other communities that they can create amazing things as well.

Through focusing on arts, music and culture, they have created an economic sector from scratch. Why not try it in other places?

It was through this performance that Lori met Craig Snow of Warrior Creek Development, who has been renovating a blighted building in downtown Welch. Craig also has a passion for the arts.

Craig is working with Lori to develop an arts plan that can work for McDowell County. They were awarded a $2,000 mini-grant to start hosting regular open mic nights in town, create an Artist’s Alley mural series, and add a space to display art in the very building Craig is working to develop.

McDowell County has loads of creative and artistic people living there already – perhaps this project can pull them together.

In McDowell, McArts to Host Americana Music Showcase at Ya’Sou

02.28.17

Photo (cropped) by Premier Pictures

McArts, a nonprofit in McDowell County led by renowned playwright Jean Battlo, is putting together a free concert for the community on March 11 at the delicious Ya’Sou restaurant in Kimball.

This will feature Americana singer/songwriter Clint Collins, and multi-talented McDowell native Alan “Cathead” Johnston.

We have seen a resurgence of the already powerful arts scene in McDowell over the last year, and it is only one of many things that are driving the county forward, despite all the challenges they face.

So, if you are in the area, support local music and want to truly see McDowell shine, get down to Ya’Sou on March 11 at 7 p.m. for coffee with McArts!