Recent Entries

Kentucky leaders should...

New energy – wind, solar and efficiency – is a huge opportunity for eastern Kentucky right now. That is, if our leaders are willing to take advantage of it. Energy will be a hot topic during the Kentucky General Assembly, which is now getting into full swing. That’s...
Bill and Melinda Gates paid a visit to EKY

Bill and Melinda Gates ...

Making our eastern Kentucky youth feel like they can do anything is a very crucial part of transitioning the regional economy. It doesn’t hurt when Bill and Melinda Gates are telling them that, too, when they come to visit. The pair – who co-chair the Bill and Melinda Gates...
KSEC wants you for its Just Transition Working Group

KSEC wants you for its ...

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest blog post from a guest blogger. The views and opinions expressed in this guest blog do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Renew Appalachia or of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED). Over the past...
Mountain Music Exchange owners hope new model of trade-ins, online sales will usher in new era of doing business in EKY

Mountain Music Exchange...

Walking into Mountain Music Exchange in Pikeville, Ky., is a bit jarring. From the outside, the shop on Highway 23 looks nondescript enough. There’s an old radio-record player combo on one side of the lobby, next to a plush leather couch where parents wait on their children receiving...
Climate justice funder shares why his foundation supports, funds just transition

Climate justice funder ...

The role of philanthropy in any just transition is critical. Getting funding for a program can mean whether or not that program continues to exist, or is axed. Trouble is, organizations who are working on systems change in order to bring about a just transition often aren’t funded...
Appalachian Food Summit wins 2015 John Egerton Prize

Appalachian Food Summit...

Food is very important in Appalachia. Not that food isn’t important everywhere. But Appalachians are distinctly connected to their food as a cultural definition of who they are as a people – whether they themselves would say it in those words or not. The fact is that one of...

Of 36 newly announced P...

The Obama Administration announced yesterday new federal grants totaling more than $14 million for partnerships in 12 states and tribal nations. The money comes from the POWER Initiative, which the administration bills as the down-payment on the POWER+ Plan, and addresses immediate need...
IG2BYITM Conference reaffirms one Appalachian’s hope for the future

IG2BYITM Conference rea...

It’s been nearly two weeks since the It’s Good 2 Be Young in the Mountains conference in Harlan, Ky., and still it’s ripples are growing outward. (Photo courtesy of IG2BYITM Facebook) The “festival that breaks out into a conference,” as it was billed, was...
Local support for POWER+ Plan growing like wildfire

Local support for POWER...

Support for the POWER+ Plan is picking up steam in Central Appalachia, as several localities have now passed resolutions in support of the plan. The Norton, Va., City Council became the first in the nation to pass a resolution supporting the POWER+ Plan in July. They were joined shortly...
MACED’s statement about the U.S. Department of the Interior’s new stream protection rule

MACED’s statement...

The U.S. Department of the Interior released new rules for the protection of streams from the impact of surface mining – rules which haven’t been updated in three decades. We’re happy about this update because we know that in order to have economically thriving and...
People who are poor should be central in SOAR leadership

People who are poor sho...

Former War on Poverty anti-poverty worker, Robert W. Shaffer has some advice about how to improve upon past efforts at economic transition in eastern Kentucky: Let people who are poor have seats at all tables where decisions about the future of the region are being made. From Shaffer:...

Economic transition adv...

Gwenda Johnson has some advice for modern-day eastern Kentucky and Central Appalachia about how we move our economy forward, and she talked about it recently with Making Connections News. From MCN: Johnson grew up on a family farm in Elliot County, and has worked as a county extension...

AML white paper gives r...

UPDATE, 7-9-15: The full text of the AML white paper can now be downloaded at the link to the press release. Scroll to the bottom for the link to download.  The AML Policies Priority Group – a multi-stakeholder group examining the abandoned mine lands fund – released a white...
More news of local food success in Kentucky

More news of local food...

Kentucky leads the way in federally funded local foods projects at 1,659. That latest number comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, along with this one: local food sales topped $11.7 billion last year – that’s billion, with a “b.” That is a huge figure,...