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WVPB: Reviving Appalachian towns with local assets

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Image via Greensboro Art Cooperative Facebook page
BY CAITLIN TAN FOR WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC BROADCASTING

Walking down the streets of Greensboro, Pennsylvania, it feels a bit like a ghost town. There are houses, business signs, a post office, but only two cars drive by in 10 minutes and no one is walking the streets.

The small town in southern Pennsylvania is just across the West Virginia border. It sits on the banks of the Monongahela River, surrounded by small hills and patches of trees. In years past, the town has weathered the boom and bust of a pottery industry, river trade and coal. Lately, it has been more bust than boom.

But now, some artists are trying to stimulate the local economy using what they know best: creativity…

Read/listen to the full story on the WVPB site »

Tamarack Foundation looking for Emerging Artist Fellows

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At the Emerging Artist Fellows exhibition at Taylor Books (via Tamarack Foundation for the Arts Facebook page)
BY EMMA PEPPER, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS, THE HUB

The Tamarack Foundation for the Arts is looking for the next round of Emerging Artist Fellows to participate in this program to boost creative careers, develop leadership skills, and build a network with established artists from across the state.

Nominations are due June 14, 2019.

From the organizers:

“Emerging Artist Fellows are thriving early-career artists. They demonstrate not only a superior level of mastery in their craft, but also the aptitude to become successful professionals leading well-managed creative enterprises. Two fellows will be selected by an independent committee comprised of master-level artists and arts leaders from across the state of West Virginia.

You can self-nominate or have your college professor, mentor, colleague, or other individual nominate you based on your work in the arts. Fellows will be evaluated based upon the level of mastery they have achieved in their creative practice as well as their aptitude and/or desire to achieve professional success.”

To nominate an artist for this fellowship and to find more information, visit the Tamarack Foundation for the Arts site »


Daily Yonder: Thomas, WV – the town the arts (re)built

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Poster for Amanda Blake exhibition, to open soon at Lamplight Gallery in Thomas (via Lamplight Gallery’s Facebook page)
BY BRYCE OATES FOR THE DAILY YONDER

The city of Thomas, West Virginia, like a lot of municipalities in the Mountain State, owes its initial development to coal.

Today, however, the downtown of the small town in eastern West Virginia has redeveloped in response to another economic sector – arts and culture.

“All over West Virginia the arts and culture economy, coupled with outdoor recreation and tourism, are just growing,” said Emily Wilson-Hauger, program director of Woodlands Development Group.

The trend is national, according to a National Governor’s Association “action guide” that describes how rural communities can build on culture and art to renew distressed economies…

Read the full article on the Daily Yonder site »

Check out the West Virginia Forest Products Cooperative’s new space at this event

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BY ERIN BECKER, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, WV FOREST PRODUCTS COOPERATIVE

The West Virginia Forest Products Cooperative (WVFPC) will host an Open House to show of its brand new state-of-the-art manufacturing space and talk about its role in revitalizing Appalachia’s economy through developing the value-added forest products industry.

Event Details:

Dates: Friday, April 26 and Saturday, April 27
Times: 9am to 4pm
Location: 325 Hardwood Ln, Princeton, WV 24740

The event is open to the public and is especially geared toward those with interest in woodworking and wood manufacturing. Anyone who is interested can stop by at any time during the 2-day event to tour the space, meet the staff, see equipment demos, and enjoy refreshments.

The WVFPC is a nonprofit whose mission is to support artisanal forest products businesses by providing access to state-of-the art manufacturing equipment, ongoing technical training, business coaching, and product marketing through its website.

Environmental sustainability is also a large focus at the WVFPC, which takes care to use only wood sourced from sustainably managed Appalachian hardwood forests and to always look for ways to lower its environmental impact.

“Our goal is to establish West Virginia as a national center of expertise for sustainable hardwood forest management and innovative wood products manufacturing,” says CEO and Founder Joseph Howard.

The space is equipped with several CNC (Computer Numeric Controlled) machines, 3-D printer, Laser Cutter/Engraver, 6-head moulder, plus a variety of legacy woodworking tools. “Since we got started in October 2018, our small team has been working hard to order our machinery and get it up and running, and now we’re ready to show everyone what we can do,” says Chief Marketing Officer Erin Becker.

For more information about the WVFPC, visit them on the web at wvfpc.com and on Facebook @wvfpc. Also feel free to email at info@wvfpc.com or call at 304-716-4846.

Curious about Opportunity Zones? Check out this event

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BY EMMA PEPPER, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS, THE HUB

WV Forward, the Office of U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, WV Department of Commerce, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation put out an open invitation to stakeholders to discuss how to accelerate deal formation within designated West Virginia Opportunity Zones at three events coming up in Morgantown, Shepherdstown, and Charleston.

The invitation states that investors, lenders, developers, property owners, entrepreneurs, business owners, lawyers, accountants, researchers, startups and community and economic development professionals are welcome to attend free of charge. The event organizers also encourage others to join.

Event details:

Morgantown, WV
Thursday, April 25, 2019
3:30pm – 5:30pm
Partnered with the WV Bioscience Summit.
Life Sciences Showcase and Reception immediately to follow panel discussion.
Marriott Hotel at Waterfront Place,
3 Waterfront Place, Morgantown, WV

Shepherdstown, WV
Friday, April 26, 2019
9:30am – 2:00pm
Shepherd University 
Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education (CHE), 
213 N. King St., Shepherdstown, WV
Lunch provided w/ RSVP

Charleston, WV
Monday, April 29, 2019
10:30am – 3:00pm
WV Regional Technology Park, Building 2000,
1740 Union Carbide Drive, South Charleston, WVLunch provided w/ RSVP

Head to the RSVP page »


Register-Herald: Couple sparking creative community in Hinton

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BY MATT COMBS FOR THE REGISTER-HERALD
From the R&R Galleria Facebook page

When Amanda Baker saw the antique tin ceiling past a displaced drop ceiling tile, she was surprised.

“I said, ‘Look at this,’” Baker said. “We started popping the panels out so that we could see it and shine a light up there. Except for one panel that was a little bent and discolored, it was in perfect condition.”

Baker was walking through an old building located on Temple Street in Hinton that she and her business partner, Curt Messer, would turn into R & R Galleria.

The building had sat empty for approximately seven years and the pair would work more than a year to slowly get it into shape.

A relative newcomer to Hinton, six years ago, Baker knew the very first day she came through the old railroad town that she saw potential…

Read the full story on the Register-Herald site »

WVPB: Out-of-work Appalachian coal miners train as beekeepers to earn extra cash

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BY EDITOR FOR WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC BROADCASTING

Just like his grandfather and father before him, James Scyphers spent almost two decades mining coal in West Virginia.

“These were the best jobs in the area; we depended on ’em,” he recalls.

But mining jobs started disappearing, declining from 132,000 in 1990 to 53,000 in 2018, devastating the area’s economy. In a state that now has the lowest labor-force participation rate in the nation, the long-term decline of coal mining has left West Virginia residents without new options to make a living.

Scyphers was fortunate to find a construction job, but it paid two-thirds less than what he earned underground. He often took odd jobs to make ends meet. One of those odd jobs included building hives and tending bees for the Appalachian Beekeeping Collective…

Read the full story on the West Virginia Public Broadcasting site »

Video: Stephanie Tyree on Community Connections

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BY EMMA PEPPER, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS, THE HUB

The team at The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation invited The Hub’s Executive Director Stephanie Tyree to be a featured guest on their program, Community Connections. Watch the foundation’s Communications Director Jane Powell interview Stephanie about The Hub’s work in communities across the state – and the importance of supporting the development of new leadership amongst West Virginian residents.

Watch the video…

…or click here to listen to the interview as a Podcast.

New ARC report defines what it takes to bounce back from ‘economic shock’

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FROM THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL COMMISSION
Harrison County was featured as a case study in the ARC report. View from rooftop of Palace on Main looking onto 2nd Street in Uptown Clarksburg. Photo by Dominique Spatafore for City of Clarksburg (from Facebook page).

“Economic resilience [is] the capacity of a local economy—town, county, or region—to recover or bounce back from an ‘economic shock.’ Economic shocks can come in many forms, such as the Great Recession of 2008 or a major employer shutting its doors. Understanding what makes a community resilient to an economic shock is very important and can help communities in the transitioning Appalachian economy.”

This is the central theme in Strengthening Economic Resilience in Appalachia, a new study published [last] week by ARC identifying factors common across communities experiencing persistent economic growth despite economic disruptions. The report includes a statistical analysis of key factors common to economic resilience, as well as a guidebook featuring ten communities that have rebounded after experiencing significant economic shocks. Using 35 measures of demographics/mobility; economics/industry; and community/health, each of Appalachia’s 420 counties was given a “resilience score.” From there, researchers conducted further analysis and field interviews to identify commonalities across counties with higher resilience scores.

In the accompanying Guidebook for Practitioners, case studies from counties in the Region and across the country offer additional insight into how communities have rebounded from the Recession and other dramatic economic changes in mining, manufacturing, hospitality, education, transportation or similar industries. These findings can successfully inform economic development strategies across Appalachia.

“This research highlights what we see every day at ARC—examples of Appalachian communities exhibiting resilience despite significant economic disruptions,” said ARC Federal Co-Chair Tim Thomas. “Communities which are thoughtfully investing in community infrastructure, capitalizing on cross-collaboration, and cultivating entrepreneurship are driving the Region’s economic future.”

The research was conducted by Downstream Strategies, Dialogue + Design and Associates, the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development, and West Virginia University with funding provided via ARC’s POWER Initiative.

Moorefield High School students dream up inspiring development project

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Moorefield High School students present at a recent Cultivate WV meeting
BY KATHRYN RYAN, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE, THE HUB

What does community development look like in action? Here’s a concrete example: inspiring residents of Moorefield and Cowen are hitting the streets through monthly participation in The Hub’s Cultivate WV program workshops. Meeting attendees include motivated residents like local elected officials, teachers, retirees, and so much more.

One of the groups of people regularly showing up are students. Moorefield High School students are working on a very exciting project – a micro-business and outdoor education center in their town. A community development project like this takes effort and planning, not to mention community support. In order to designate the space, to actually build the units, and to establish the partners that will utilize the space, these students are working hard toward gaining community buy-in and securing financial resources.

The students recently received a $50,000 grant to begin this work!

Check out this article, reprinted here with permission from the Moorefield Examiner, to learn more about this youth-led project that’s building up the Moorefield community toward a creative economic future:

Hardy County Schools Community Development Project Receives Grant
By Jean A. Flanagan
Moorefield Examiner

The empty lot at the corner of Main and Jefferson streets in Moorefield will soon be a flurry of activity. The long-awaited Hardy County Schools Community Development Project moved one step closer to reality with a $50,000 grant from the West Virginia Department of Education’s Division of Technical Education and the Governor’s Economic Initiatives.

Students from Moorefield High School’s Simulated Workplace representing a number of partners made a presentation in Charleston on Wednesday, Dec. 12. The Economic Projects Impacting Communities or EPIC was a competitive process wherein five student-initiated projects received $50,000 each.

The students from MHS included Ally Loften, Haylee Tompkins, Sydney Gribble, Dalton Sothen and KcKinley Keplinger.

“Ally and Haylee have directed a core group,” MHS Simulated Workplace Advisor Mary Catherine Slack said. “They investigated several economically viable projects. They reached out to various organizations and determined the critical needs.”

What the group found was the Potomac Highlands and Eastern West Virginia has no food hubs – no access for the distribution for small farmers or craft food developers.

“Their vision is for a USDA approved food processing facility where students and members of the community can develop recipes and sell locally produced products,” Slack said.

Hardy County’s project involves transforming the vacant lot into a series of five micro-businesses and an outdoor education center for both community and student use. The site will also include a greenhouse and high tunnel that will augment Hardy County Agricultural Education program.

The list of collaborators include the East Hardy High School Pro-Start program, the South Branch Career and Technical Center, the Rubenstein Center, Hampshire High School and Putnam County Career and Technical Center.

Loften and Tompkins were both proud and excited to bring home “the big check” for $50,000. They, along with others in the group, worked long and hard on the inch-thick grant application.

“Mr. Burch said he was surprised the application was completely done by high school students,” Tompkins said. “He had to take it home to read it.”

“We included anything we could think of that we thought would help us get the grant,” Loften said.

Clinton Burch is executive director of the Governor’s Economic Initiative, which partnered with the WVDE to challenge simulated workplace companies across the state to participate in the grant competition. The other winners were in Wetzel, Gilmer, Roane and Putnam counties.

In addition to the EPIC grant, the project has already received funding from the US Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. The Hardy County Commission and the town of Moorefield provided letters of support.

In addition to Slack, MHS Principal Patrick McGregor, Hardy County Schools Superintendent Sheena VanMeter and Secondary Curriculum and CTE Specialist Brad Simmons worked with the students on the project.

The EPIC project must be completed over the next two years and will require participation from local businesses and other organizations.

While Loften and Tompkins are seniors, there are underclassmen who are part of the team and will make sure the project is done. “I wish it could be finished before I graduate,” Loften said.