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Looking for ways to earn extra money with your forestland? A daylong workshop for landowners and forestry professionals will be held on March 9th at the Robinson Center in Breathitt County, KY. Speakers from the University of Kentucky, Cooperative Extension and Rural Action will discuss woodland management, growing non-timber forest products like mushrooms and ginseng and even beekeeping. The event is free and lunch is provided. For more information, including an agenda and how to RSVP, click below.

Engaged and active residents of Floyd County, KY are meeting at the end of March for a strategic planning and visioning session around the potential for sustainable agriculture to bolster their community. The invitation describes the meeting as:

"a 2-day strategic planning process with community citizens, leaders and stakeholders to determine how we can build the capacity of Floyd County Kentucky through sustainable agriculture.  We are hoping to build a social, economic and environmental system that knits people together and cultivates a new relationship economy that favors local over distant in food production, buying and other transactions." 

This kind of active planning and discussion is of critical importance in Appalachia. Our communities have tremendous, unique assets that can be built upon, and grassroots, bottom-up planning creates buy-in, engagement and excitement. We are eager to hear what happens next!

If you'd like to attend the meeting, more information is below.

Cris Ritchie begins his Valentine's Day editorial in the Hazard Herald with a stark observation:

So, what does it mean for Eastern Kentucky, where coal jobs have been the backbone of our economy, when companies begin cutting jobs and closing mines? Twenty years ago it would have meant that the coal industry is simply in the midst of a slowdown, and we’ll have another boom in a few years. Now, I’m not so sure.

His editorial, published yesterday, asks "Where do we go without coal?" and readers of this blog won't be surprised that Ritchie doesn't have an easy answer to his own questions.  But taken in conjunction with last week's "E. Ky. needs more concern over job losses in coal" editorial in the same paper, these pieces articulate the same questions Appalachian Transition readers seek to answer.  Take a look at Ritchie's pieces and let us know what your thoughts are -- is this a problem of leadership? vision? economic policy? and, perhaps most importantly -- where do we go from here?

Our friends at Making Connections have a great radio interview about Appalachian Sustainable Development's "Goods from the Woods" program:

We wanted to pass on this mini-grant application opportunity from our friends at the Brushy Fork Institute.  For more information, contact Jane Higgins or attend the February 22nd information session at Berea College.

The Appalachian Rural Development Philanthropy Initiative (ARDPI) is a shared effort of the Kentucky Philanthropy Initiative, Endow Kentucky, the Blue Grass Community Foundation, the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, the Foundation for the Tri-State Community, The Center for Rural Development, and the Brushy Fork Institute. The organizations in this group share a wealth of knowledge related to philanthropy, community development and leadership development. The group is committed to promoting wealth creation and community transformation through a concerted effort that builds civic, human and financial capacity around local philanthropy. This work involves creating an infrastructure that engages local people in communities and builds the capacity of the region through prudent stewardship of resources, thus supporting the growth of local wealth through permanent community endowments.

The Center for Rural Development and The Brushy Fork Institute will offer a mini-grant option related to ARDPI for Prospect Communities.  Prospect Communities are those that are in the planning stage of philanthropy work and need to build capacity. 

Eligible counties for the January 2012 Mini-Grant cycle are: Adair, Bath, Breathitt, Carter,  Casey, Clinton, Cumberland, Estill, Fleming, Floyd, Green, Harlan, Hart, Jackson, Johnson, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Lewis, Lincoln, Martin, McCreary, Menifee, Metcalfe, Monroe, Morgan, Owsley, Perry, Powell, Robertson, Rockcastle, Russell, Wayne, and Wolfe. Qualified applicants may request a maximum $10,000 in ARC funds for an ARDPI community foundation capacity building mini-grant project.