From The Hub – Page 20

WV RebelFit – Fitness on the Fringe

08.23.16

Photo courtesy of wvrebelfit.com

This year a new alternative fitness network has arisen, and it has big plans for the future!

Under the premise that traditional gyms and modes of exercise are not for everyone, a group of women in Charleston has rallied together around their preferred mode of exercise. And they want to share it with the rest of the state.

So what are we talking about? AcroYoga, aerial silks, belly dance, bollywood, and burlesque, just to name a few!

Jennifer McQuerrey is taking the lead. She has helped coordinate the Samadhi performance dance troupe in Charleston for the past 12 years. Her studio provides instructional courses for beginners to learn more about the different modes of alternative fitness, practices for the Samadhi performance dance troupe, and everything in between.

So what are we talking about? AcroYoga, aerial silks, belly dance, bollywood, and burlesque…

Samadhi has sessions coming up on Hawaiian Hula and Belly Dance Choreography. You can also request private or special group sessions, or request a workshop in your location if you aren’t in the Charleston area.

And now Jennifer is launching a statewide network for alternative fitness options like hers, called WV RebelFit.

She is working to find other alternative fitness groups in the state, and to create a network to house information about them so that people can go and see what opportunities are in the state.

Are you, or someone you know, involved in these types of alternative fitness groups in West Virginia? We want to get you added to this growing network! Be a rebel and contact WV RebelFit to join.

WV RebelFit is also committing to creating “Extraordinary Movement Zones” at festivals throughout the state where they will have instructors and hoops present to encourage passersby to try it out.

Here’s a few upcoming events:

WV Rebel Fit & Samadhi Extraordinary Movement Zone at Power Park’s Get Healthy WV Night, August 26. (The game starts at 7:05 p.m.)
Samadhi Hula Troupe at the 13th Annual Culturefest September 8 – 11.
Samadhi at ShockaCon, Beni Kedem Shrine Center in Charleston at 9 p.m., October 1.

Keep up with their upcoming events and performances here.

WV RebelFit is funded by a Try This 2016-2017 mini-grant and the Kanawha Coalition for Community Health Improvement.

Happy dancing!

The Remarkable Rise and Rise of Freedom’s Run, West Virginia’s Largest Marathon.

08.18.16

All photos courtesy Freedom’s Run.

During the holiday season of 2008, Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, a Professor of Family Medicine, and Lois Turco, an advocate for a heritage area in Jefferson County, met by chance in Shepherdstown. Their conversation that day sparked an idea that would eventually catch alight and one day become West Virginia’s largest marathon, the Freedom’s Run.

Their goal was to promote healthy lifestyles, walking and biking paths, and more involvement in the nearby national parks.

Since the inaugural race new businesses have popped up to cater to tourists interested in running and cycling.

Eight years since the first Freedom’s Run and the event is now widely recognized as being one of the best marathons and half-marathons in the country.

Runners pass through a beautiful, and deeply historic, landscape: the battlefields, the towns, the river and the canal towpath. Running through this historical landscape the runners are prompted to think of the people who lived and died during Civil War. As one runner said after passing alongside Antietam Battlefield, “You can’t worry about your own suffering when you know what happened out there.”

The most unique feature of this race is that it takes runners through three National Parks that marked pivotal moments in the American Revolution and Civil War. Freedom’s Run, “the race for health and heritage,” is a living museum for runners who come from all over America, and military veterans who are ready to show their reverence for the battles fought on this hallowed ground.

The race has grown immensely in it’s short existence.

“There’s a lot of appeal to this area,” Turco said, explaining the rapid growth of Freedom’s Run. “You get to enjoy two states at once. There are five National Parks in this area.”

Eight years since the first Freedom’s Run and the event is now widely recognized as being one of the best marathons and half-marathons in the country.

She also noted Mark Cucuzzella’s connections in the running world.

“Word of mouth is a huge part of this,” she said. “We’ve gotten in running magazines across the country. We have an expo the night before which starts to create a sense of community among runners who have come from all over. It’s also a big draw for veterans.”

Also pivotal to the race’s success is coordinating with town officials and tourism, sponsors, like WVU Allied Health Education Center and Shepherd University, and the three national parks the race runs through: Harper’s Ferry NHP, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal NHP, and Antietam Battlefield NHP.

Since the inaugural race new businesses have popped up to cater to tourists interested in running and cycling, sustained by a definite spike in recreation and leisure tourism. Turco says that cyclists now come off of the C&O Canal to stay in Shepherdstown, which didn’t happen before.

Partly inspired by this new asset and the subsequent spike in tourism, in 2011 the Canal Towns Partnership formed. The Canal Towns Partnership brings together nine towns in Maryland and West Virginia that border the C&O Canal National Historical Park to work together on generating mutually beneficial economic activity in their region. The goal is to create amenities and business to cater to visitors that are hiking or bicycling through on the towpath.

freedomsrun3 Since the first race in 2009, proceeds from the race go into the Freedom’s Run Community Grant Funds.

Some of the projects that have been funded through Freedom’s Run Community Grant Funds include:

Eastern Panhandle Indigo Children’s Blue Ribbon Recreation Program
For love of Children’s Leaders in Action Program
Antietam Battlefield’s Civil War Day Camp
James Hite Park Fitness Trail
North Martinsburg Middle School Trail
SNAP Double Value Coupon Farm Market Program (in progress)
T.A. Lowery Elementary School Green House Project
South Jefferson Elementary School Outdoor Classroom & Trail
Page Jackson Elementary School Trail
C&O Canal Classrooms Education Program
C.W. Shipley Elementary School Fitness Trail
Shepherdstown Cullison Fitness Park

“The most priceless component to all of this is the sense of pride in place that has happened in Jefferson County, West Virginia, and Washington County, Maryland,” Turco says. “In pulling together all of these components – the National Parks, the Freedom’s Run, and the Community Fund – the area has promoted its historic and cultural assets to support projects that bring an increased sense of pride and community health.”

Once you cultivate that sense of pride and passion, you turn the tide for the better and community health starts to look a lot brighter and more tangible.

freedomsrun2 There are a lot of moving pieces to the Freedom’s Run, but I think it’s important to note that in pulling all of these pieces together the outcomes are more impactful and multilayered.

Everything is working in synergy; health and wellness, economic development, creating a sense of pride in place.

Creating healthier communities can’t just be about the clinical setting. You have to pull everyone into an all hands on deck approach. Involve the department of transportation, the city, involve schools and small businesses. The challenges we face in creating a culture of health are multi-faceted, so our solutions need to be too.

Now go register for the 2016 Freedom’s Run and see what all the buzz is about! Race date is October 1, 2016. There is something for the whole family and all fitness levels. Races include a 1 mile Kids Fun Run, a 5K, a 10K, a half marathon, and a full marathon.

To learn more about the systematic/sectoral approach to increasing physical activity in West Virginia refer to the West Virginia Physical Activity Plan. If you have some fire under you to get things like this done in your community and would like assistance or someone to bounce ideas off of reach out to me.

And to learn more about the connection between fitness activity and economic development, check out the Try This, WV website.

Happy running, cycling, exploring!

Are You Ready to Ask Tough Questions? Join Us.

08.03.16

Photo by Kelby Carr/FlickrCC

The room filled in with the young, the old, and everything in between.

It was one of those mornings, where the rain is so heavy you’re drenched before your hand reaches the door knob. Inside, though, the day was looking up, as a diverse group of people gathered to gear up for the coming election season.

Last week I attended Our Children Our Future’s Civic Engagement workshop in Morgantown. After a day spent discussing the Our Children Our Future platform, get out the vote (GOTV) methods, voter registration drives and candidate forums – a day that will send a policy wonk like me to the moon and back – I learned of something so neat happening in Morgantown.

Pulling together a team of volunteers to host a question and answer forum for prospective candidates for the state legislature.

Led by Our Children Our Future’s fearless North Central Coordinator, Eddie Sloane, this group is pulling together a team of volunteers to host a question and answer forum for prospective candidates for the state legislature.

If you choose to join these rockstars, you can help determine really important things like what questions should be asked of the candidates? Who can best moderate the forum? What rules should the forum participants be asked to abide by? How can the community hold candidates accountable for their responses afterwards?

If these candidate forums are to happen in Morgantown and other cities in West Virginia, it will require people like you to get involved. People who are interested in influencing their community for the better, those keen to see their community and state grow, and those who have never joined a community group in their life but are ready to jump in and lend a hand now.

You might be thinking, ehh, there are more “important” things. But, simply put, our communities and our democracy work so much better when we’re all involved.

Civic engagement is not solely about the do-good feeling one might have upon attending a local fundraiser, nor is it about a boring civic duty tasked to you by a bunch of old men in the 1700s.

The benefits, both individual and collective, are endless.

Youth who chose to volunteer are substantially less likely than their peers to experience a disconnection from work or school. Volunteering can help individuals learn new skills and gain experience that can further their careers in meaningful ways. And places with higher rates of volunteerism tend to experience lower rates of income inequality. The benefits, both individual and collective, are endless.

So get out there and volunteer, do favors for your neighbors, or participate in any community organization. Join Eddie and his crew to ensure that your community gets the answers it needs to make informed decisions at the polls this November. Whatever you choose, have fun with it!

To get involved contact Eddie Sloane at eddie@ourfuturewv.org

Marissa-Russell

Temporary Jobs Available in Flood Response

07.25.16

West Virginia residents looking for temporary work following the June 22-29 severe storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides have an opportunity to learn firsthand about the recovery process.

Workforce West Virginia, in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is advertising open temporary positions in Kanawha, Greenbrier and Raleigh counties.

Interested applicants can visit the Workforce West Virginia website at workforcewv.org/. To find the available jobs, click on Job Seekers, then Find A Job, then complete the enrollment form.

The following positions are currently being advertised:

Environmental Specialist
Historic Preservation Specialist
Environmental Floodplain Specialist
Administrative Assistants
Training Specialist/Instructor
Voluntary Agency Liaison (Kanawha)
Voluntary Agency Liaison (Greenbrier)
Housing Support Specialist
Logistics Specialist (Beaver)
Logistics Specialist (Belle)
Mitigation Writer-Editor Specialist
Mitigation Community Planner
Administrative/Planning Specialist
GIS Specialist
External Affairs Writer
Public Assistance Debris Monitor

More positions may be posted on the website as disaster recovery continues.

Candidates must be U.S. citizens 18 years of age or older. They must have a valid government identification card, such as a driver’s license or military ID. Before hiring, selected candidates will be subject to a complete background investigation.

FEMA is committed to employing a highly qualified workforce that reflects the diversity of our nation. The federal government is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, political affiliation, non-disqualifying physical handicap, sexual orientation and any other non-merit factor.

If You Don’t Like It, Change It: Here’s How West Virginians Can Impact The Election This Year

07.21.16

Photo by Perry Bennett/West Virginia Legislative Photography

Would you like to learn about the top issues affecting children and families in West Virginia?

Do you want top-notch training on how to register, turn-out and educate voters in your community?

Are you interested in meeting other people and organizations who want to put children and families first in 2016?

If you answered yes to any of the above, then this is for you!

The Our Children, Our Future campaign will host Civic Engagement Workshops in Martinsburg, Morgantown, Oak Hill, and Huntington in the coming weeks. These trainings are your one-stop shop for election year know-how!

So, what exactly is Civic Engagement?

Civic engagement is working with your neighbors to solve a problem. It’s volunteering. It’s joining your local service, school, or civic organization. And it’s absolutely key in strengthening your community.

The workshop will cover the do’s and don’t of getting involved in an election, Election Law 101, how to organize candidate forums and voter registration drives, and much more!

Who are these trainings for?

Community members interested in getting out the vote, volunteers, and organizations interested in learning what they can do throughout the election process.

November will be here before we know it, folks. You don’t want to miss this chance to gear up your election game.

Learn more and register at: ocofwv.org/electoral

Marissa-Russell

Need Flood Assistance, Or Want to Help Flood Victims? Use This Website.

06.29.16

West Virginians throughout the state and beyond have responded to the June 23 flood devastation in overwhelming numbers.

To coordinate the numerous efforts to aid flood victims, the West Virginia Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, is working with volunteers to launch the website wvflood.com.

This site houses a compilation of drop-off sites for supplies, shelter locations, online fundraising efforts, and a comprehensive list of the items needed in flood-impacted communities.

The West Virginia Attorney General’s office has verified all resources posted to the wvflood.com. Triquetra Marketing is sponsoring the site, and encouraging volunteers to submit any information on flood recovery resources to the site.

We encourage anyone utilizing social media to pass along flood resources to include the #WVFLOOD, so that we may begin to connect the dots.

At this time, it is key that we listen to the needs of the individual communities, so that we may serve them in the most effective manner. To that end, an updated list of items needed specific to each community can be found on wvflood.com.

If you are aware of any resources that are not listed on the site, please feel free to contact me at m.russell@wvhub.org

In this tragic time, all of these incredible efforts are a shining reminder of the resiliency, and kindness of Mountaineers.

Amidst Devastation, West Virginians Are Responding. Here’s How You Can Help.

06.27.16

Photo courtesy Coast Guard News/FlickrCC

The past five days have brought fresh challenges to West Virginia communities.

As West Virginians, we are still trying to comprehend the scope of the devastation and tragedy caused by the June 23 flood. As communities move from a space of rescue to recovery, we are seeing the best of West Virginia in a moment of darkness and difficulty for our state.

Every day since the flood, in every county impacted by rising waters, we have seen West Virginians stepping up to help. That motivation to serve is incredible to see.

It is vitally important that well-meaning folks do not self deploy. In order for the volunteer effort to be most useful, it must be coordinated.

They are helping their friends and neighbors. They are helping people they don’t know, families they have never met. They are making dry beds for tired, frightened strangers. They are hauling away rubble, sweeping up broken glass. They are driving from across the state to bring donations, to pick up a shovel and to help out. They are searching through wrecked houses. They are holding children, providing shelter, providing comfort.

They are going wherever they are needed, doing whatever needs to be done. They are volunteering, donating money, food, baby supplies. From the Eastern Panhandle to the Kentucky border and beyond, West Virginians are responding.

Staff at The Hub have signed up to be a part of that coordinated effort. We know you want to help too. If you are able to lend some time to volunteering in flood-impacted communities, you are urged to register at Volunteer West Virginia’s special flood response volunteer webpage.

The West Virginia National Guard has told us it is vitally important that well-meaning folks do not self deploy. In order for that volunteer effort to be most useful, it must be coordinated. If you really want to do your part to help your fellow West Virginians, please register at www.volunteerwv.org.

Donations are being coordinated through the West Virginia chapter of the American Red Cross. To give, visit www.redcross.org/local/west-virginia

If you are not able to help out physically, you can still do your part. Donations are being coordinated through the West Virginia chapter of the American Red Cross. To give, visit www.redcross.org/local/west-virginia

We have a saying that is at the core of a lot of the community development work we do: Do what you can. With what you have. Where you are. Now.

Never has that been so important as today.

From Wisconsin With Love: Sharing Placemaking Strategies That Work

06.05.16

Photo by Princeton Renaissance Project/facebook

Kaycie Stushek, a Masters candidate in the Urban and Regional Planning program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will be working with The Hub this summer. Here’s she explains what attracted her to West Virginia.

I value the tight-knit community I grew up in, and feel that same collective energy here in West Virginia.

In the stories I’ve read, and in each place I have visited here, there are hard-working people investing in, and building up, their communities. I feel lucky to join the West Virginia Community Development Hub at such an exciting time!

I came to The Hub with an interest in working with communities who are building their capacity in creative, innovative ways.

My background is in natural resources outreach and education, and I’ve spent the past eight years working with people to create lasting relationships with the natural environment.

My focus is in community development, environmental planning, and placemaking strategies. I came to The Hub with an interest in working with communities who are building their capacity in creative, innovative ways.

There is so much in West Virginia to explore by bike, and kayak, and tons of amazing local food, music and brews to enjoy.

I have already met some of the kindest people who are more than willing to share their stories and experiences with me, and can’t wait to meet more through The Hub.

Ashton Marra on How to Pitch Public Broadcasting

05.04.16

Ashton Marra at Hubapalooza. Photo by D.E. Raines

When you’re trying to get your local newspaper, radio or TV station to do a story about your project or organization, it really helps to be able to put yourself in their shoes.

You have to be able to think to yourself: “What is that journalist or editor looking for in a pitch? What’s going to appeal to them? And, what can I do to make it as easy as possible for them to produce the story I’m after?”

What is that journalist or editor looking for in a pitch? What’s going to appeal to them?

The best way to peer inside the mind of a journalist in this situation is to ask one!

So it was great to have Ashton Marra, the Assistant News Director at West Virginia Public Broadcasting, join us at Hubapalooza last week to talk turkey about how to grab her attention with a story pitch that works.

Here’s a recap of Ashton key pieces of advice:

• Know who you are pitching, and be conscious of their world!

“I cover the legislature, so don’t pitch me a story about a community garden in the middle of the legislative session, unless it has a really strong policy angle.”

Be aware of when your journalist might be really busy with other news (is there a huge festival that weekend, or perhaps it’s the day before a gubernatorial election?). For your local paper, find out when the press deadlines are so you aren’t bothering folks right at crunch time.

And, for larger media like WVPB or the Charleston Gazette-Mail, learn “the beats” – which reporter covers the subject matter that your story concerns? (On the right is a map and listing of the WVPB newsroom and each reporter’s beat. You’re welcome.)

• Connect your pitch to a bigger, statewide story.

“Convince me that your story matters to people in other parts of the state.”

For example, if you are trying to promote a physical activity initiative at your local elementary school, connect it to the broader issue of the obesity epidemic in kids. Or, if you’re launching a new grocery store or food program, talk about the statewide problem with food deserts and inadequate access to healthy foods in many communities.

• Bring a compelling character.

“I want to hear someone that is affected.”

In her example about a story WVPB did about a job fair, Ashton spoke about a young teacher that had been laid off and was having a hard time finding work. Or, in a story about a proposal to cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, the unemployed mine worker that was having to chose between paying his electricity bill or feeding his daughter.

When you can bring a compelling character to your pitch, you elevate it to a compelling story that West Virginians all over the state can relate to.

• Bring an expert.

Provide the contact information and brief bio of an expert that can contribute to your story.

Pay attention to the stories you hear on the radio or read in the news. The longer-form, in-depth stories always include a quote or background information from an expert in the field. Make your reporter’s job easier and provide the contact information and brief bio of an expert that can contribute to your story.

• Bring facts.

See above.

• Bring contacts.

When your reporter is on a tight deadline, you need to give them a few options for folks to talk to. Maybe your first choice expert doesn’t return her call, or the editor wants the journalist to explore a different angle. Again, it’s about making your reporter’s life easy. Give them a list of people to talk to about your story, and up to date email addresses and phone numbers.

• Is there video? Is there audio?

Give your reporter sufficient lead time to record the video and audio that will be central to your story.

If you’re pitching your story to a TV station or media outlet that using video, what is that video going to be of? In the same sense, if you’re pitching a radio station, what can they record that will provide interest and relevant audio to the story? Make sure you give your reporter sufficient lead time to record the video and audio that will be central to your story, and make it easy for them to be there – whether it be a gathering of school kids, a public speech or a rally.

Are you interested in connecting with a reporter or media outlet in your area?
I can help. Email me.

Hub Expands Efforts to Grow New Economic Opportunities in Southern Coalfields

04.21.16

As someone from the region who has been gone for almost two years, I’m very excited to be back in Appalachia and to be able to do this amazing work.

There is a sense of community in West Virginia that you just don’t get elsewhere. A sense of openness and possibility as well, due to the strong community element. That is why I see so much potential, and so many new opportunities.

When communities get together and share their experience, their resources and their determination, so many things can happen and I look forward to being a part of facilitating these connections. The POWER + funding package to help coal-impacted communities create new economic opportunities has opened up a whole new world of potential and opportunities, and it’s exciting to be a part of that.

The POWER + funding package to help coal-impacted communities create new economic opportunities has opened up a whole new world of potential and opportunities.

The Hub’s Innovation Acceleration Strategy to help these communities identify their opportunities puts us right on the front lines of economic change in West Virginia. We are at a pivotal moment in history, and there is much at stake.

Before leaving West Virginia in 2014, I had worked for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) in Huntington, during which time I served as OVEC’s liaison to the Alliance for Appalachia’s Economic Transition team. The Alliance is a regional coalition of groups from numerous Appalachian states working on economic transition policy at the federal level around the POWER + plan, Abandon Mine Lands funding and Brownfields funding for communities.

I’m also a former board member of Create Huntington, a grassroots group in the city seeking to use the creativity of our people for economic revitalization work there, and a former VISTA at Marshall University for their Service Learning program, connecting nonprofit organizations and students for valuable service project to further the link between academics and community.

I have heard people say that to really do community based work you must pick a place and get to know that place if you are really to become part of the community and do the work right. This is what I hope to do once again in West Virginia.

There is a strong need here to make our economy more just, equitable and sustainable. I am a firm believer in community driven change…

There is a strong need here to make our economy more just, equitable and sustainable. I am a firm believer in community driven change and the power of organizing to help do this. We need to use the strength of community in the state to bring people together and make great things happen!

Having grown up in a town that has undergone significant economic change since the decline of large industry, I appreciate the need for communities to get out in front of accelerating economic opportunities when these big changes occur.

The involvement of citizens can be a game-changer when it comes to creating new opportunities and strengthening what is already there, and I look forward to helping make these connections happen across southern West Virginia.

Learn more about POWER + at www.wvhub.org/POWER