State hires two firms to plan and manage development of housing on former surface-mine sites
University of Kentucky Institute for Rural Journalism
The state has hired two engineering firms to plan and develop housing at two Eastern Kentucky sites for survivors from last summer’s devastating floods. Both are on former surface mines, and Gov. Andy Beshear indicated that others could be announced soon.
Beshear said Thursday that H.A. Spalding Engineers of Hazard will design infrastructure, including utilities, roads, bridges and sidewalks, at both sites. Bell Engineering, headquartered in Lexington, will design and manage development of homes, civic facilities and mixed-use residential buildings.
The two “high-ground communities” will be built on sites in Perry and Knott counties. The Knott County site is close to the Talcum community, near the Perry County line, and totals 75 acres. This property was donated by Shawn and Tammy Adams and could expand to nearly 300 acres. The Perry County site, 50 acres donated by the Ison family, is about five miles from downtown Hazard.
Beshear repeated that his administration is looking for more sites and said he hoped to have “a good update on that in the next week to two.”
Money from the Team Eastern Kentucky Fund will jump-start the project. The fund is also being used to partially finance small-project house construction with the help of local nonprofits. A Letcher County home was started in March, and four more are in the works.
Many victims are still in temporary housing; 114 households are still living in travel trailers, four are still living in hotels, and 14 are in state parks, according to the Commonwealth Sheltering Program.
The Spalding and Bell firms will coordinate with the state, Kentucky Housing Corp. and local nonprofits. Lisa Townes of H.A. Spalding said they look forward to the opportunity to be a part of building new communities for Eastern Kentuckians.
“All of us . . . know someone who lost their home and all their possessions, so this is very, very meaningful to us,” she said.
What kind of community?
Mark Arnold of Bell Engineering said his company is committed to building a residential community that “captures the spirit, heritage and history of Appalachia.”
“That’s where many of us were born, and where many of our families are from, and that’s what’s important to us,” Arnold said, adding that the firm doesn’t want to “build subdivisions where people live because they don’t have a choice [but] build places where people want to put down roots, build real community, and begin to really re-establish their lives.”
The state is “trying to build places where people want to relocate,” Public Protection Cabinet General Counsel Jacob Walbourn said at the East Kentucky Leadership Conference in Hazard on April 28. “Telling people in Eastern Kentucky they have to move is very dangerous, because it’ll create a lot of resentment.”
Though officials say no one will be forced to move into the developments, Anna Eldridge, one of the young people invited to speak on a panel at the conference, opposes the plan though her family is still living in a trailer while they rebuild.
The high-school senior said she feels like it will cause more problems than it will fix, that there won’t be enough room for everyone in her Letcher County community to move, and she fears a loss of jobs in the community if people leave.
More than anything, she’s afraid such developments will take away from people the very things that she thinks makes living in Eastern Kentucky worthwhile.
“Eastern Kentucky is not about having all kinds of city things. It's about being able to go out in nature and explore and be outside, and you won't be able to do this on a strip job,” she said. “I feel like they are trying to city-fy something that shouldn't be.”
Eldridge advocates rebuilding where individuals’ houses once were, in a creative way that incorporates approaches from other places where people have lived with and near flooding for generations.
However, state officials are focused on rebuilding homes out of floodplains, and this means moving to higher ground.
More money needed
Walbourn said at the conference that one of the biggest barriers is money. He said that for every dollar donated to the Team Western Kentucky Fund after that region’s 2021 tornadoes, only a quarter was donated to the Eastern Kentucky fund. There is about $13 million in the Eastern Kentucky fund, while the Western Kentucky fund has $52 million.
“I hope we as a state can come together to commit to Eastern Kentucky to do [rebuilding] right,” Walbourn said. “We need to stack and marshal resources.”
That’s why donations of land for housing projects are critical. They save the state money it would otherwise use to buy property and allows it to use those funds to hire engineering firms and others to manage development.
Arnold said he and his team are on the job as of Thursday’s announcement and are excited to get started. He was already thinking about new and different ways to design and build high-ground housing developments in Eastern Kentucky before the flood, so when Spalding reached out to bring in Bell as a partner, he leapt at the chance.
“We’re super excited and can’t wait to jump in,” Arnold said.
One of the first things Arnold said he wants to do is talk with flood survivors about what they want and need, so Bell can better understand their perspectives, and potentially implement those things in their designs. Arnold has worked with local partners in Mayfield for more than a year on plans for their downtown rebuild after a December 2021 tornado, and said working in Eastern Kentucky will likely be different because the flood is still recent in many minds.
“When you come into a community that’s been devastated, it’s a different process,” he said. “You have to understand they’re dealing with trauma, and they may not be willing to talk yet” about plans for the future.
He said the projects in Perry and Knott counties are already well on their way, and that Team Kentucky and the myriad state agencies who have worked on them are handing the projects over with everything necessary in place and well-organized.
“We’re moving forward at a really good pace,” he said. “even though it doesn’t feel like it if you live there.”
Young people from Eastern Kentucky share their flood stories, and their ideas and hopes for the future
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At the East Kentucky Leadership Conference, high-school students from
southeastern Kentucky discussed the impact of last summer’s flood. Left to
right: Mark Riley, Laken Napier, Shayla Riley, Jesse Stamper, Sawyer Noe,
Kelsey Goins, Anna Eldridge and Hannah Damron. The moderator, standing, is
Kelli Moore of Partners for Rural Impact. (Photo by Peter Hille) |
University of Kentucky
Young Eastern Kentuckians shared their stories, ideas and hopes for the future of their communities at the 35th annual East Kentucky Leadership Conference in Hazard April 27-28.
At a conference focused on the July 2022 flood that devastated communities in four counties, young voices rang crystal clear in the retelling of harrowing escapes as the waters rose, community care after they receded, and the lasting impacts on their lives – as high-school students returning to campuses after a global pandemic and a disaster attributed to climate change.
Each of the eight students on the first day’s panel were directly impacted by the flood.
Mark Riley and his sister, Shayla, of Buckhorn High School in Perry County, were at soccer practice when the rain started July 28. Their home quickly became an island. It was night and the power was out, so seeing how to rescue neighbors was nearly impossible.
Sawyer Noe’s stepfather used the light from lightning strikes to guide them toward people who needed help that night in Knott County, and Kelsey Goins’ family had to bust windows from her grandmother’s home to rescue her. Goins is a Jenkins High School student.
Anna Eldridge, a Jenkins senior, was home alone when the flood came. By the time she got her dog and came back into her living room, her house had three to four feet of water.
“It was surprising because our houses are actually higher up from the ground and the creek,” she said.
Eldridge, her mother and her sister lived in a home behind her grandmother’s on about an acre of land backing up to a mountain, with a small creek about 10 feet below average ground level flowing by.
“The fact that the water even got in [our houses] is crazy,” she said.
But the North Fork of the Kentucky River is about a mile away, so their home was in the direct path of the flood, she said, and it did get in. After Eldridge retrieved her dog and used a kayak to rescue her grandmother, they watched from the road above as their lives became consumed by floodwaters, helpless to prevent it.
But like so many in Eastern Kentucky after that night, Eldridge was anything but helpless when the waters receded. Communities came together to muck out homes and help distribute supplies. People who “never got out of their houses” came to help, she said, including young children and, of course, teenagers from Jenkins High School. They came together to do “whatever needed to be done.”
“Everyone in our community was affected for the most part,” she said. “They may not all have the same stories, but they were all affected in some way.”
Soon after the flood, Eldridge and her family moved into a temporary trailer where her house once stood and they are still living in the one-bedroom camper today. With three people and two dogs, the space is far from ideal.
But she said the family is rebuilding a house on the property “as we speak.” They hope to be back into a permanent home by the end of summer.
“Letcher County is home,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a house or not. The place is the home.”
All students featured at the conference continue to feel the impacts of the flood in their education. Several schools were flooded, including Buckhorn High, where the water reached the ceiling, and Knott County Central, which took on enough water to damage the floors throughout the building.
The school year was pushed back, starting in September instead of August, to allow time for mucking out and necessary repairs. Students from Buckhorn had to relocate 45 minutes away, to an old elementary school in Hazard, because the damage was so extensive. They share that space with students from Robinson Elementary School; its old building was destroyed in the flood of Troublesome Creek.
Letcher County Central High School took in an elementary school that was completely flooded. And in Knott County, the vocational and technical college was destroyed, forcing those students to move into the high school. The tight quarters have created tension among students and added stress in a time of almost constant worry.
“There is tremendous heartbreak in our students and teachers,” said Sawyer Noe, a student at Knott County Central.
Before July 28, many students, including Hunter Combs, a junior at Knott Central, were ready to experience their first “normal” year of school after not being able to attend for much of the past three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I have not known a high school year without issues,” Combs said.
He said he has always been “a big school kid” who loved going to school, but the last three years have left their mark.
“From the pandemic, and then the floods, people have been impacted mentally,” he said. “It’s been really hard to recover.”
Eldridge was looking forward to her senior year at Jenkins being normal after the pandemic. She hoped to finish her high-school softball career and get to spend plenty of time with her friends before graduating and leaving for college, but the flood changed everything.
Because school started late, the curriculum was truncated and sped up, making it hard to absorb, Eldridge said. Her mother lost her tax documents in the flood, which meant she couldn’t apply for federal student aid until mid-February, and she’s worried about the amount she might get because funds are allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Applying for college also had to wait until November and December – after some schools’ deadline had passed. Eldridge says she constantly feels the stress of it all. But mostly, she’s sad to have missed time with her friends.
“We’re fixing to be adults, and we’re missing all those interaction with our friends,” she said. They’re getting to make memories together now, she said, but they are all still impacted mentally by the flood and its aftermath.
Kelli Moore moderated both youth panels after working with the high schoolers for six months. She said their stories have “echoed in her head” since those first meetings last fall, and we need to listen to what they want and need.
“We've been in hurry as adults to get back to normal because we thought that's what [the students] wanted and needed, but maybe it's not. They are very resilient, our students, but we need to be mindful of what they’re asking for,” said Moore, who works for Partners for Rural Impact, a Berea-based nonprofit that says it specializes in place-based partnerships for student opportunity and success.
What the students are asking for is gathering places in their communities where they can be with friends; affordable housing for themselves and their neighbors’; well-paying jobs with good benefits; and a return to community togetherness. They see the tragedy of the flood as an opportunity to rebuild their communities for the better.
“There is no better time to build back better than when everything you have is gone,” Noe said. “We hear people say the community will never be the same, but just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s bad or it can’t be better.”
But many will need help to make that happen. Hannah Damron of Jenkins High School said community members don’t have money or time to fix or rebuild their houses – a concern shared by her fellow panelists. They also agreed that the jobs available to people in Eastern Kentucky don’t allow for much beyond living paycheck to paycheck.
Eldridge said most people in Letcher County who aren’t in education or health care are working in fast-food jobs or trade jobs that require them to travel outside the county.
“We can’t make a living here and make it feel like we’re making a difference,” she said. “We need good jobs with good benefits so people can live a good life.”
Most of the students said they would stay in Eastern Kentucky if they could access their dream jobs in their communities.
Moore said she learned many things from the students over the six months she worked with them, and one thing was clear: They love their communities and they want to stay in them.
“The number one thing that attracts them to Eastern Kentucky is community,” she said.
The students want the flood and the aftermath to be a lesson about the power of community in the region.
“Our community will be the glue that keeps us together,” Eldridge said, adding that this is especially true with young people. “We will pull us together and get us rebuilding better."
Ivy Brashear holds the Institute for Rural Journalism's David Hawpe Fellowship in Appalachian Reporting , named for the late Courier-Journal editor and reporter who was a native of Pike County. Brashear, a native of Perry County, is a Ph.D. student in the UK College of Communication and Information. She will be reporting in the region for the next several weeks, so if you have story ideas for her, you may email her here.
2016 reports
SOAR Innovation Summit showcases good things happening in Eastern Ky.
Led by UK, health-care interests contribute to SOAR, pledge work in prevention
This partnership expanded when Baptist Health agreed to
commit time, expertise, and funding to the SOAR initiative in late April to
help improve health conditions in Appalachian Kentucky. Baptist Health will
contribute $50,000 a year over the next three years, and was the first health
care provider to sign on as a SOAR founding partner. Its has three hospitals
serving Appalachia, in Lexington, Richmond and Corbin.
2015 reports
SOAR Advisory Council has first meeting; will focus on jobs
By Melissa Patrick
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues
University of Kentucky
SLADE, Ky. – The issue-oriented advisory council for the Shaping Our Appalachian Region initiative held its first meeting Monday, Aug. 10, at Natural Bridge State Park and collectively decided that each of their issue groups should focus on how it could contribute to bringing more jobs to the Kentucky's 54 Appalachian counties.
"What resonates and what everyone is in agreement with is the jobs," SOAR Executive Director Jared Arnett said. "That is what they think SOAR is, is creating jobs and economic opportunity and that (is the) expectation. . . . So at the end of the day, jobs is the goal, and everything else is how do we support that goal."
SOAR is a bipartisan effort to lift Appalachian Kentucky's economy. The nonprofit organization was created last year by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and Republican 5th District U.S. Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers of Somerset.
Arnett noted that SOAR is not the first group, nor the only group, to work toward improving the quality of life in Appalachia, but said that it is an organization that could serve as the connector of these groups.
"SOAR is not just an economic development organization, it is a change agent that connects all of these groups to get the work done," Arnett said. "Part of it is resources, but I think the bigger piece of it is connections."
The Advisory Council is scheduled to meet quarterly to discuss opportunities and challenges in the region; to make sure each of the groups are working in a spirit of collaboration and communication; and to offer advice to the executive board of directors.
The original working groups are: Agriculture, Community & Regional Foods; Broadband; Business Incubation; Business Recruitment; Education and Retraining; Health; Infrastructure; Leadership Development & Youth Engagement; Regional Collaboration & Identity; and Tourism, including Natural Resources, Arts & Heritage. Arnett referred to them as focus groups, no longer working groups.
"These 10 areas of focus are the building blocks, the foundation of how to change that map," he said, referring to an Appalachian Regional Commission map showing that Kentucky has far more economically distressed counties than any other Appalachian state.
Dr. William Hacker, the new chair of the health group, summed up how all of the focus groups must work together to create an economically vibrant and healthy region.
"Economic opportunity is the cornerstone of getting people jobs and employment," he said. "That then requires good education. Those two combined set the stage for people to pay more attention to their own health and the health of their community."
Community engagement was a common theme throughout the meeting, which is meant to be achieved through annual "roundtables" held by each of the focus group chairs.
These meetings will include invited guests specific to the topic at hand and will be open to the public to "capture and gather new ideas," Arnett said. The groups determined their main objectives last year, and through the roundtables will focus on how to best implement their objectives.
"Roundtables will re-engage the community and keep them interested in your area of focus," Arnett said.
The formats of these meetings will vary to best suit the needs of the group, including an online webinar. The SOAR website is also being updated to allow, among other things, a more obvious place for public comment.
Most of the group chairs voiced that they would like to see more involvement from young people. The council committed to exploring new ways to include this demographic that one member said was so important because they "are our future."
SOAR prepares to be a verb, not just a nounSOAR Innovation Summit showcases good things happening in Eastern Ky.
By Al Cross
Institute for Rural Journalism and
Community Issues
University of Kentucky
PIKEVILLE, Ky. –
The experiment and rescue mission that is Shaping Our Appalachian Region
entered a third phase Monday by hosting an inspiring showcase of good things
that are happening in Appalachian Kentucky.
The SOAR Innovation
Summit had its usual diet of Kentucky politicians and federal officials,
headlined by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler and Dr. Tom
Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But the real stars of
the show June 6 at the Eastern Kentucky Exposition Center were nonprofits, businesses,
educators and taxpayer-funded agencies that are advancing, or trying to
advance, the SOAR goal of diversifying the region’s economy when its leading
industry is in a historic slide.
The presenters
included a business where laid-off coal miners write computer code, a high-tech
entrepreneur who said he will hire 50 trainees from Eastern Kentucky, education
programs sparking student interest in science and technical fields, a nonprofit
trying to turn the region’s agriculture into a local food system, a foundation
that has leased a reclaimed strip mine to create a world-class wildlife park,
and a citizens’ group that is using faith-based approaches to fight a range of
community problems.
And that was just a
selection of the dozens of exhibitors who were “showcasing the solutions of our
region,” which SOAR defined as the subject matter of the meeting.
“Do you believe
more now than you did two hours ago?” Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, a sort of official
cheerleader, asked the crowd of more than 1,000 after the presentations. Most
seemed to indicate that they did.
Bevin drew special attention
because during his campaign last year he did not publicly embrace SOAR, a 2013 creation
of then- Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, and 5th District U.S. Rep.
Harold “Hal” Rogers (R-Somerset), chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
In their first
board meeting as SOAR co-chairs, Bevin made plain to Rogers that he would limit
to Eastern Kentucky the plan for a statewide broadband network – which Beshear
and Rogers had sold to the 2014 General Assembly as a vehicle to improve
high-speed Internet service in the region.
Rogers told the
crowd that he and others had wondered about Bevin’s attitude toward the effort,
but said the governor has “unvarnished enthusiasm for what we’re doing, and
called him over for a handshake. “He’s our buddy.”
With the effort now
headed by two Republicans, Rogers maintained that the effort would remain “non-partisan,”
and state Senate President Robert Stivers of Manchester cited bipartisan efforts
in the recent legislative session as proof.
His prime example
was the use of state coal-severance-tax funds to create an endowment for
programs in the region, an idea that had been suggested at the first SOAR
summit in December 2013, modeled after one in the Iron Range of Minnesota.
Bevin said, “It’s something,
frankly, I wish we had started 10 or 20 years ago.”
Stivers said the
endowment was a sign that SOAR is gradually creating “a world where people are
no longer worried about party affiliation or county lines.” In earlier
meetings, Rogers said overcoming county rivalries would be the effort’s main
obstacle.
Stivers was
followed by the stars of the show, the “innovation showcase” of presenters. Many if not most were active before
SOAR was created, but Rogers said in an interview that it deserves “a lot” of the
credit for the innovative activity because it has created an encouraging environment
for entrepreneurship in an area where the dominance of the coal industry
suppressed it for a century.
The presenters included:
·
Ankur Gopal, head of Interapt, who announced to
applause that his tech firm “is hiring in Eastern Kentucky,” with 50 slots for training
at Big Sandy Community and Technical College’s Paintsville campus.
·
Rusty Justice of BitSource, a Pikeville firm that
does web applications with code written by nine ex-miners. “The most valuable
resource in Eastern Kentucky is not its coal,” he said, “but the men and women
who work to produce that coal.” Lynn Parrish, the firm’s other co-founder, said
in an interview that writing code “is a trade, like mining coal.”
·
Jeff Hawkins, executive director of the Hazard-based
Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative, recipient of many state and federal grants
for innovative programs in schools and a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
collaboration. He also showed a video in which Paul Green, a leader of KVEC’s
Appalachian Renaissance Initiative, said the main export from Eastern Kentucky
has not been coal, but its people.
·
Brad Thomas of East Kentucky Power Cooperative,
which has mounted an effort to steer students into science, technology,
engineering and math and “create the largest STEM-based workforce in the United
States,” starting with national board certification for teachers of those
subjects.
·
Aleta Botts, executive director of the Kentucky
Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, which helps farmers with business
plans, marketing and so on. “We have enormous opportunities in this region,” a 21-county
area of southeastern Kentucky with 5,000 farms, she said.
·
David Ledford of the Appalachian Wildlife
Foundation, which wants to create a 12,000-acre wildlife park with elk, bear,
deer and 240 bird species on the reclaimed Mountain Drive Coal Co. surface mine
in Bell County. He said projections based on an elk park in Pennsylvania, are
that it would generate $124 million a year in tourism spending.
·
Eric Mills, an Inez lawyer who talked about
Martin County’s faith-based efforts to address its social and economic problems,
“not just an economic poverty but a spiritual deficit.”
·
Jeff Whitehead of Teleworks USA, which he said
has placed 250 Eastern Kentucky residents in telecommuting jobs. He said the
potential of that sort of work is limited only by “our imagination and our
Internet access.”
Wheeler, the FCC chair, said high-speed Internet “is
the most important commodity for the 21st Century.” Coal was “the
essential commodity” in the two previous centuries “because the economy ran on
it. The information economy of the 21st Century runs on high-speed
broadband, and if you don’t have that commodity you’re not part of the new
economy.”
Wheeler noted the efforts of Peoples Rural Telephone
Cooperative, which has extended high-speed fiber-optic cable to all its customers
(including 150 of the Teleworks clients) with the help of federal loans,
economic-stimulus grants and the FCC’s Universal Service Fund, which it
recently shifted to broadband from basic telephone service. He said the experience
proves “If you can do it here, you can do it anywhere.”
Led by UK, health-care interests contribute to SOAR, pledge work in prevention
By Boone Proffitt
University of Kentucky
How can bricks and mortar in Lexington address the health
problems in Appalachian Kentucky?
That’s what some people may have asked March 9, when Gov. Steve Beshear signed into law a bill authorizing $132.5 million in
bonds to finance half of a medical research building at the University of Kentucky.
Part of the answer may have come the next day, when UK signed on as the top sponsor of a nonprofit, bipartisan effort to help
Appalachian Kentucky’s failing economy. UK will pay Shaping Our Appalachian Region $100,000 a year for each of the next three years.
UK is best known as source of treatment for the health problems that SOAR has identified as an obstacle to the region’s development.
With the new research building and the SOAR partnership, it will be more involved in prevention, UK officials said.
UK President Eli Capilouto said the research facility would
emphasize translational science, in which discoveries in the building’s
laboratories would be applied to the communities where health issues are most
prevalent.
UK spokesman Jay Blanton said, “The idea behind
translational science, an area where UK is a leader, is to take discoveries
from the lab and get them into communities where they become solutions.”
Blanton added, “Sponsorship sends a statement that the
university wants to be actively engaged in the region. But, the larger goal of
this partnership and others in Appalachia is for the university to establish
the care needs, best practices, protocols for health care in the region.”
Top causes of preventable death, such as diabetes, obesity,
heart disease, and cancer, are high in Appalachian Kentucky.
In order to fully address these health disparities, some
university researchers say, they must go outside the labs in Lexington. That’s
where their commitment could turn into something more tangible: a partnership
that comes at a time when the health issues facing Appalachia are high profile.
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| Top of SOAR home page (partial view) |
Under the agreement,
Baptist Health will investigate “proactive strategies” to address prevention
issues, including distribution of pedometers to encourage more physical
activity, according to Baptist Health spokesman Cary Willis.
Other key players in Kentucky health have signed on to
support SOAR. The University of Louisville and KentuckyOne Health, which share
a hospital, have agreed to become joint presenting partners, each paying
$100,000 a year for each of the next three years. And as a result, they are
embracing a “public mandate to improve the lives of the people of Kentucky,”
said U of L President James Ramsey. “Working with SOAR is a significant opportunity for us to
partner with others throughout the state to achieve that mandate in a region of
the commonwealth that needs the most assistance.”
Ruth Brinkley, president and CEO of KentuckyOne Health,
said, “Through our hospitals and clinics in Martin, Berea, Mount Sterling and
London, we are closely tied to the unique health challenges and barriers to
care. Through our relationship with U of L, now by partnering together with
SOAR, we will expand our collaboration with Appalachian communities, utilizing
the breadth of our patient services, wellness programs and community resources
to truly make a difference.”
Pikeville Medical Center has also signed on as a presenting
partner, and two other health-related companies are founding partners: Aetna Inc.,
the health-insurance company that is seeking approval to buy Louisville-based
Humana Inc.; and Passport Health Plan, the Louisville-based Medicaid
managed-care firm, which recently expanded statewide.
Appalachian Kentucky residents have cited problems communicating with health-care professionals in regard to prevention efforts,
despite UK conducting much research in Appalachian Kentucky over the years.
Recently, though, UK has become a regional leader in focusing on the
neighborhoods, local support systems, and trusted networks of Appalachians to
promote screening and disease prevention, said Dr. Nancy Schoenberg, a UK
medical anthropologist and gerontologist who has worked with churches and local
leaders in Letcher County to improve cancer screening.
“If I can address a problem with a scientific basis, then
any policy or program could be replicated in response,” Schoenberg said. “It
can be applied to new communities, and it’s a cost-effective orientation. We
don’t have to constantly create new policies and programs and test them out –
we can just apply them.”
The sponsorship agreement between UK and SOAR does not
mention research, outreach, or even engagement in Appalachia. In the contract’s
most basic interpretation, UK and SOAR established “a funding commitment to continue
our mission in Appalachian Kentucky,” said Jared Arnett, SOAR’s executive
director. “Our partnerships are established as corporate partners, so it’s a
marketing relationship.”
The contract outlines usage and approval guidelines for
institutional logos: UK can use SOAR service marks and logos, and SOAR can use
UK service marks and logos. Each symbol can be used with names and marks of
other organizations that each partner is affiliated with, including hospital
partners serving the counties in the SOAR service area. This means that UK is
free to leverage the UK Healthcare brand in the region.
UK’s involvement with health centers and primary care
providers “gives SOAR grassroots connections to people who are on the ground
and see the issues every day,” Arnett said. “Having local hospitals and clinics
involved that understand the mix of local and community health issues and the
challenges they face every day informs us, so we can act on and put together
policy recommendations, partnerships, or have conversations about issues we can
further identify.”
SOAR’s policy recommendations have come through its working
groups, which held public forums last summer. The working group on health has
identified health problems as obstacles to the region’s economic development.
This group included four UK faculty members, and was chaired by Nikki Stone of
Hazard, a professor of dentistry and medicine.
“SOAR creates the venue for health-care organizations and
institutions to comes together around the table and take off their
institutional hats and put on their SOAR hats, their regional hats, their
community hats,” said Arnett. “We all work together to address some of these
systemic issues and the common challenges throughout the Appalachian Kentucky
region – issues that reach across county and development-district lines.”
Boone Proffitt is a
junior engineering major at the University of Kentucky. He is writing stories
about Appalachian Kentucky as part of a general-education requirement, under
direction of Associate Extension Professor Al Cross in the School of Journalism
and Telecommunications.
SOAR Advisory Council has first meeting; will focus on jobs
By Melissa Patrick
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues
University of Kentucky
SLADE, Ky. – The issue-oriented advisory council for the Shaping Our Appalachian Region initiative held its first meeting Monday, Aug. 10, at Natural Bridge State Park and collectively decided that each of their issue groups should focus on how it could contribute to bringing more jobs to the Kentucky's 54 Appalachian counties.
"What resonates and what everyone is in agreement with is the jobs," SOAR Executive Director Jared Arnett said. "That is what they think SOAR is, is creating jobs and economic opportunity and that (is the) expectation. . . . So at the end of the day, jobs is the goal, and everything else is how do we support that goal."
SOAR is a bipartisan effort to lift Appalachian Kentucky's economy. The nonprofit organization was created last year by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and Republican 5th District U.S. Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers of Somerset.
Arnett noted that SOAR is not the first group, nor the only group, to work toward improving the quality of life in Appalachia, but said that it is an organization that could serve as the connector of these groups.
"SOAR is not just an economic development organization, it is a change agent that connects all of these groups to get the work done," Arnett said. "Part of it is resources, but I think the bigger piece of it is connections."
The Advisory Council is scheduled to meet quarterly to discuss opportunities and challenges in the region; to make sure each of the groups are working in a spirit of collaboration and communication; and to offer advice to the executive board of directors.
The original working groups are: Agriculture, Community & Regional Foods; Broadband; Business Incubation; Business Recruitment; Education and Retraining; Health; Infrastructure; Leadership Development & Youth Engagement; Regional Collaboration & Identity; and Tourism, including Natural Resources, Arts & Heritage. Arnett referred to them as focus groups, no longer working groups.
Dr. William Hacker, the new chair of the health group, summed up how all of the focus groups must work together to create an economically vibrant and healthy region.
"Economic opportunity is the cornerstone of getting people jobs and employment," he said. "That then requires good education. Those two combined set the stage for people to pay more attention to their own health and the health of their community."
Community engagement was a common theme throughout the meeting, which is meant to be achieved through annual "roundtables" held by each of the focus group chairs.
These meetings will include invited guests specific to the topic at hand and will be open to the public to "capture and gather new ideas," Arnett said. The groups determined their main objectives last year, and through the roundtables will focus on how to best implement their objectives.
"Roundtables will re-engage the community and keep them interested in your area of focus," Arnett said.
The formats of these meetings will vary to best suit the needs of the group, including an online webinar. The SOAR website is also being updated to allow, among other things, a more obvious place for public comment.
Most of the group chairs voiced that they would like to see more involvement from young people. The council committed to exploring new ways to include this demographic that one member said was so important because they "are our future."
By Al Cross
Director, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
Director, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
ANNVILLE, Ky. – The bipartisan effort to lift
Appalachian Kentucky’s economy is moving from its organizational phase into its
first operational phase as it looks ahead to the departure of a co-founder.
Shaping Our Appalachian Region was created last year by
Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, who will leave office in December, and Republican
5th District U.S. Rep. Harold “Hal” Rogers of Somerset. Both major-party
nominees for governor say they will continue to support SOAR, but any such
effort has pitfalls to avoid and promises to keep.
There were hints of that at the July 21 meeting of the
SOAR Executive Committee, near Annville at the offices of Jackson Energy
Cooperative, as the committee:
·
welcomed a former state health commissioner to
the long-vacant position of SOAR’s leader for health, the specific topic that may
have generated the most controversy in the organizational phase;
·
approved SOAR’s first big contract, with a
Louisville public-relations firm that will “make this a movement of the people,”
as one associate of the firm put it; and
·
heard a member push for hiring of people from
the region as the state begins construction on a big project for high-speed
Internet service.
 |
| Dr. William Hacker (For a profile of him, click here) |
The new health chair and member of the SOAR Advisory Council
is Dr. William Hacker, a retired pediatrician who was named commissioner of the
state Department of Public Health under Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher and kept
the job under Beshear.
He succeeds Dr. Nikki Stone of Hazard, who left the
post after her Health Working Group made two major recommendations driven by
people who had attended its public forums: a coordinated health program in
schools, and a study of the health effects of large-scale surface mining, which
studies have suggested could be significant.
When the recommendations of the health group and working
groups addressing other issues were published last fall, the mining-study
recommendation wasn’t included in the
list, which was limited to shorter-term recommendations, but was mentioned
in the health group’s report.
Some other working groups continued to meet over the winter, but the health group did not.
SOAR Executive Director Jared Arnett said after the
SOAR Strategy Summit in May that a chief health adviser and working-group chair
would be named within two weeks, but Rogers and Beshear missed that deadline by
several weeks.
Introducing Hacker at
the meeting, Arnett said most of SOAR’s corporate partners “revolve around
health care.” Those include the University of Kentucky, the University of
Louisville and KentuckyOne Health, which are presenting partners at $300,000
each; and Pikeville Medical Center, Baptist Health, Passport Health Plan and
Aetna Inc., which is buying Humana Inc.
Hacker is a Clay County native who practiced in Corbin
and moved to Lexington as vice president of health services for Appalachian
Regional Healthcare. “My heart still stays in this part of the world,” he told
the executive committee.
He said that when committee member Jim Host asked him
to take the health post, “I really didn’t want to volunteer for another job,”
but “this is one I could not say no to.” He said he has always been active in
public health and economic development in the region.
The soft-spoken Hacker gave few hints about how he will approach the
task, other than to suggest he would move carefully and with partners: “If you
want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. I’m looking forward
to going far.”
Arnett said SOAR will have a grant-funded employee and
a federal Centers for Disease Control staffer to help Hacker in his work.
He also introduced another new Advisory Council
member, Rental Pro owner Doug Jones of Hazard, who will chair the business incubation
and entrepreneurship working group.
Communications contract
The executive committee approved the corporate
partners’ recommendation of C2 Strategic Communications to do SOAR’s public relations
and marketing for $125 an hour with a limit of $200,000, including expenses, for
two years.
Chad Carlton, president of the firm, said it is made
up of former journalists and focuses on “public affairs, community development
and making Kentucky a better place to live.” He noted it has a contract with the
state for the Mountain Parkway project.
Carlton introduced C2 Vice President Kerri Richardson,
who until recently was Beshear’s communications director; and “strategic
partner” Carla Blanton, an independent PR and marketing consultant who was
press secretary for Fletcher and is married to UK spokesman Jay Blanton.
“We want to sharpen and focus the message” and “make
this a movement of the people,” Blanton told the committee. “We believe SOAR is
ready to go from a noun to a verb.”
Richardson said the firm will take the message beyond
the region to the media centers of Louisville, Washington and New York; set up
a speakers’ bureau; and write speeches and talking points.
Broadband project
Beshear and Rogers announced that ground will be broken
Aug. 31 for the state-run broadband project to bring high-speed, high-capacity
Internet service within the reach of most communities in rural Kentucky. The Washington
Post recently ranked Kentucky last in broadband speed.
The project is managed by Macquarie Capital, an
Australian firm with several partners. Its contract with the state calls for 60
percent of the employees on the project to come from Kentucky. Pikeville banker
Jean Hale told her fellow committee members that she would like to apply the
same minimum in the 54 counties of Appalachian Kentucky that make up the SOAR
region.
“That will go a long way in building SOAR’s image of
actually getting things done for them,” Hale said.
Host agreed. “If we bring people in to work without
giving them an opportunity for jobs,” he said of local people, “that would be a
negative.” He said subcontractors should follow the 60 percent rule, and
suggested telling Macquarie that the committee would appreciate its best
efforts to employ SOAR-area people for SOAR-area work. The committee approved a
motion by Hale to that effect.
Beshear, in response to a question, said the state could
track the residences of people employed on the project.
State broadband director Brian Kiser said webinars for
coal-county community leaders will be held from August through November to
build understanding and support for the project. It will not build high-speed
lines to customers, but construct the so-called “middle mile” to which local Internet
service providers can connect.
A Regional Vision For Eastern Kentucky
By Jason Belcher
The Shaping Our Appalachian Region program, known as SOAR, can’t provide a new regional vision for Eastern Kentucky’s economy; we have to provide it ourselves. Last week the second SOAR conference in Pikeville showcased many of the good programs and work being done to build a better economic future for our region. Inevitably, the second conference proved less exciting than the first, in part because no one offered a comprehensive vision for the future of Eastern Kentucky’s economy.
We did hear about plenty of hope, encouragement, and resources available to our region, and we need to recognize the value of those opportunities rather than focusing on disappointment with SOAR. Those opportunities make Eastern Kentucky a unique place.
There are literally dozens of ways for individuals to access resources to turn their ideas into reality. I’m one of them. Thanks to the Kentucky Innovation Network I’ve been able to start my own business, Appalachian Aerospace, looking to build the next generation of commercial unmanned aerial vehicles. Aerospace is a major growth industry, and commercial drones alone are projected to generate $9 billion in economic activity over the next decade.
Growth industries represent potential building blocks for a regional economy. Because the market segments are global, these industries are capable of sustaining a regional economy through large-scale job creation and revenue in-flows. Capturing a global market segment is a good way to build a strong regional economy capable of providing the jobs we need and the future we want. Morehead State University’s Space Science Center already has a toe hold in the Aerospace field, and our region can leverage that to gain a share of this global market segment.
Eastern Kentucky can position itself to compete for ownership of multiple global market segments if we make the right choices today. Health care is another global market area poised for massive growth. Baby boomers are beginning to retire, and the need for better health care solutions is already skyrocketing. With a major medical school at the University of Pikeville and a thriving aerospace program at Morehead, our region has the chance through regional partnership to build a first-of-its-kind exomedicine program. Medical research in zero gravity holds the potential to create new drugs and treatments for chronic illnesses, the development of which can generate a talent pool capable of spawning dozens of new businesses employing thousands of people in a trillion dollar market.
As a region, our economic future depends on our ability to think globally but act regionally. Aerospace and health care are but two examples of global industries looking for the next region in which to build a new home. If we steer more growth industries here, the result will be an influx of high-tech, high-paying jobs. Programs like SOAR can’t do that for us; but SOAR is a tool that can help us do it ourselves. That means we have a competitive resource advantage over other regions who don’t have SOAR or similar programs. If we use our new programs, resources, and opportunities to capture a share of global market segments, Eastern Kentucky can be an economic powerhouse. That’s a regional vision for our future.
Jason Belcher of Harold, Ky., is the author of Nexus of Innovation: The Promise of Eastern Kentucky.
SOAR Strategy Summit didn't offer much strategy on health
By Al Cross
Director, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues
PIKEVILLE, Ky. – Unless they're writing opinion pieces, journalists aren't supposed to take sides. But they do need to speak up when issues of broad community concern aren't being addressed, especially when those concerns have been solicited.
That's what happened Monday at the health session of the "strategy summit" of Shaping Our Appalachian Region, the bipartisan effort to revitalize and diversity Eastern Kentucky's economy, hit hard by loss of half the area's coal jobs.
The session was the first SOAR meeting on health since its Health Working Group, one of several issue-oriented groups, concluded its meetings last summer and made two major recommendations driven by people who had attended its public forums: a coordinated health program in schools, and a study of the health effects of large-scale surface mining, which several studies have suggested could be significant.
After the presentations at the session made no reference to the working group's recommendations, Dee Davis of the Whitesburg-based Center for Rural Strategies asked the moderator/presenter, Jennifer "Jenna" Seymour of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, what if anything was being done about the recommendation. Seymour said she wasn't aware of it.
That dismayed me, since the CDC had detailed Seymour to work on health issues in the region, at the behest of its congressman, Republican Harold "Hal" Rogers, who co-founded SOAR with Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear. So, as Seymour prepared to wrap up the session after a few other questions, I raised my hand and she recognized me.
I mentioned the working group's recommendations, and said it was "disconcerting and almost unbelievable" that she was unaware of the one on mountaintop mining. She replied that she had, in fact, heard about it. (As she noted to a working-group member later, the recommendation didn't make the published list of the groups; recommendations, which were limited to short-term suggestions.)
Noting that the Pike County Fiscal Court Room was nearly full, I told Seymour that a lot of people had attended meetings and made their concerns known, and that even though this issue was "a hot potato," she needed to "go back to the powers that be, and tell them there's a room full of people who want answers."
The Health Working Group has been without a chair since last summer, when it made its recommendations. At least some other working groups continued to meet last fall and winter, SOAR Executive Director Jared Arnett told the closing plenary session. He told my colleague Al Smith over the weekend that a chair for the group would be named in the next two weeks.
Just to be clear: I'm not for or against a study of the health effects of mountaintop mining. It's not as forward-looking as most other working-group recommendations, but the people of the region made pretty clear that they do want answers. Even though the coal industry's influence makes this a hot potato, even Rogers said last summer, to Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader, “We need to know if there’s anything to it, certainly.”
For coverage of the strategy summit from Estep, who focused on the possibilities of computer coding and other high-tech opportunities, click here. Chris Kenning of The Courier-Journal drove from Louisville to make this report. The Pikeville newspaper, the Appalachian News-Express, has five stories on the event, albeit behind a paywall.
2014 reports
University of Kentucky is first 'corporate sponsor' of Shaping Our Appalachian Region
The University of Kentucky is paying $300,000 to become the first corporate sponsor of Shaping our Appalachian Region, an effort to improve Eastern Kentucky's economy started in 2013 by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers."According to the sponsorship agreement, UK will get branding rights and recognition as a SOAR partner, but will not perform any work directly for the group," Linda Blackford reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. "UK officials, however, said SOAR dovetails with numerous health-care initiatives underway in Eastern Kentucky led by UK faculty and staff. Currently, UK has some 125 research projects in Appalachia revolving around the five largest causes of preventable deaths: cancer, heart disease, pulmonary disease, stroke and unintentional deaths from accidents, drug abuse and other causes."
"We are not simply the University of Kentucky. We are the university for Kentucky," UK President Eli Capilouto said. "But we have a particularly close relationship and responsibility with and for communities throughout the Appalachian region."
ARC, at 50, has 'serious work to do,' federal co-chair says; especially in the central part, we say
The ARC's mission is to bring Appalachia to socioeconomic parity with the rest of the nation. It has a long way to go. While poverty rates in the region have fallen by about half, "researchers noted that other problems persist, including disproportionately high mortality rates and dependency on government checks," Drew writes. "The commission’s leaders acknowledge that even after half a century, the need for aid is as great as ever, a sentiment echoed by heads of charities in the region." Earl Gohl, the commission’s federal co-chair, told Drew, “We have serious work to do.”
Health remains a serious problem, and the region is "losing ground," the report says. Infant mortality rates in the region have dropped significantly, but overall mortality rates remained the same while mortality rates nationally have dropped. "The report cites higher rates of obesity and diabetes in Appalachia as possible contributors," Drew writes. (Click map for larger version)
"The report’s authors estimate that more jobs were created by the ARC in its early years when it received higher funding from the government," Drew writes. The Reagan administration wanted to abolish the agency, but Congress refused. However, "The funding levels changed dramatically, and with that the commission changed dramatically as well," Gohl told Drew. "We moved from large appropriations funding big public works projects. And it’s now, I would say, a leaner commission that focuses on developing strategic partnerships.” (Read more) For the full report, click here.
SOAR executive calls for 'a sustained change of culture and mindset' in Eastern Kentucky
By Al Cross
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
 |
| Jared Arnett |
Jared Arnett was questioned by KET’s “One to One” by Bill Goodman, in a broadcast timed to advance the SOAR Strategy Summit, to be held in Pikeville on Monday, Feb. 16. “We’re looking for the leaders, the army that will make this happen,” he said. UPDATE: Weather forced postponement of the Strategy Summit.
Goodman noted an op-ed piece that Arnett published in December, in which he advocated three or four regional chambers of commerce like the one that he headed – based in Pike County but laying claim to economic-development efforts in eight nearby counties.
“A county judge-executive claimed that the chamber was breaking the law by getting involved in economic development,” Arnett wrote. “We can't let local politics and turf wars hold us back any longer, if we want to create jobs that generate wealth.”
Arnett, a native of Salyersville, started at SOAR Jan. 1. He told Goodman that he lives in Floyd County, “but that’s just where I live. I’m an Eastern Kentuckian. That’s what SOAR is about, is a shift in the mindset and our culture.”
He said efforts to help the region as a whole are undercut by the competitive feeling among the region’s counties and towns. “We’re losing as a region, and need to be competing for jobs and economic growth,” he said. “What has to drive the future of Eastern Kentucky is a shared ownership of what we’re trying to do.”
Arnett said regional efforts would be helpful in developing tourism, which he noted has been discussed as a potential asset for Eastern Kentucky since 1959. Tourism promotion is done by the state or by local tourism commissions, using money from lodging and restaurant taxes, and Arnett suggested that isn’t the best approach. He said the local commissions “have done a good job,” but he goes on vacation, “Very rarely do I know what county I’m in.”
When it comes to recruiting industry, Arnett said, “We’ve not been proactive.” The region needs to decide what industries it wants and go get them, he said. He also endorsed the idea of a regional development fund using coal severance tax revenue “or whatever the state would decide to invest.”
Arnett said the success of SOAR will be measured by metrics such as health, unemployment rates, poverty rates, private investment and new business start-ups over the next five to 10 years. “If we’re not able to impact those numbers,” he said, “I’ll be tremendously disappointed.”
UPDATE, Feb. 11: In an op-ed in the Lexington Herald-Leader, Arnett decries "a lack of collective ownership by those who live and work in our communities." In a column in the same paper, the Herald-Leader's Tom Eblen says the SOAR Strategy Summit "could determine whether SOAR can build enough public credibility to make change. An early criticism of SOAR was that its leadership was drawn almost exclusively from Eastern Kentucky's power elite. There was little or no representation from coal industry critics or grass-roots groups such as Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. The question hanging over SOAR is whether leaders who have done well in Eastern Kentucky's status quo can be expected to change it."
Southeastern Ky. 'Promise Zone' says it attracted $109 million in funding in first year
Administrators of the federal "Promise Zone" in eight Southeastern Kentucky counties say it has attracted more than $109 million in funding becaquse of the extra advantages created by the designation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The zone in Bell, Harlan, Letcher, Perry, Leslie, Clay and Knox counties and part of Whitley County is one of only five in the nation and the only one in a rural area. The zones get advantages in seeking assistance from federal agencies.
"Investments already are being made in areas such as education; medical facilities; college and career readiness; online information technology degree and certificate programs; workforce training; health and anti-drug initiatives; and housing and energy-efficiency projects," said a news release from London-based Kentucky Highlands Investment Corp., which manages the zone. The release cited:
• More than $44 million in grants for education projects that support a college-going culture and mental health initiatives.
• $23 million for hospital improvements to the Knox County Hospital, which not only will improve medical care but save more than 200 jobs.
• An announcement that Kowa Kentucky Inc. will open a facility in Corbin to manufacture surface treatment for automotive suppliers and create 30 jobs. It is the first North American plant for Kowa and the first Japanese company to locate in the Promise Zone.
• Co-investment from the state and federal governments in local companies such as Phillips Diversified, based in Manchester. KHIC completed two loans last year with Phillips, one loan in partnership with the state Economic Development Cabinet and the other with USDA to create about 40 jobs.
“With input and effort from the entire community, we are well on our way to creating and implementing a sustainable, measurable strategy for the future,” Kentucky Highlands CEO Jerry Rickett said. “Our growing number of strong partnerships is a reflection of the commitment and an indication of our likelihood of success.”
CDC will send senior staffer to Eastern Kentucky to fight region's chronic health problems
SOAR working groups submit recommendations
The federal government's Southeastern Kentucky "Promise Zone" has been making progress, the White House said Sept. 19 in a news release announcing the next round of competition for Promise Zone creation: "The Kentucky Highlands Investment Corp. has held 16 listening sessions with residents across the area to identify 10 achievement goals for the Promise Zone region," including "building a sustainable regional economy; collaborating to increase communications; enhancing education opportunities; ensuring access to critical health services; increasing access to affordable and energy efficient housing; expanding access to transportation; revitalizing downtowns; increasing recreation, arts and community engagement and expanding the pool of community leaders."
The release said the Obama administration has invested more than $23 million through the Rural Development agency of the Department of Agriculture "to ensure access to critical health services by increasing hospital capacity, expanding health care services and creating continued economic opportunity for health care workers in the region," and the Labor Department has put more than $11 million into a program to held laid-off coal miners find jobs. The release said more than 2,000 former had enrolled in the program as of June, and "640 have received extended education services or on-the-job training, and 900 have found new employment."
Federal grant for Mountain Parkway is one of largest in latest round of special grants
The U.S. Department of Transportation is giving Kentucky a $24 million grant to expedite four-laning of the Mountain Parkway through Salyersville, the major bottleneck along the route that Gov. Steve Beshear wants to improve as part of the bipartisan effort to improve Eastern Kentucky's economy.
The Sept. 9 grant was the fourth largest in the latest round of TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grants, which totaled $584 million for 72 projects. The largest grants were $25 million each for a Maine-New Hampshire bridge and New York City street work to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety, and $24.9 million for a bus project in Richmond, Va.
The grant will allow the Salyersville work to be done two years earlier than scheduled. The project will extend the parkway to the junction of US 460 and KY 114, which is sometimes called the parkway extension to US 23 at Prestonsburg. The 2.4-mile segment has more than 80 entrances for businesses and other properties; the new road will have "controlled access points and back roads to maintain local access while improving a corridor for commercial and regional travel between Eastern and Central Kentucky," said a press release from Beshear and U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, founders of teh Shaping Our Appalachian Region economic initiative.
"Kentucky will cover the additional $15 million needed to complete the Salyersville segment, which has an estimated cost of $39 million," the releasecsaid. "Right-of-way acquisition is scheduled to begin by year’s end and pre-construction work will begin next year. Construction is expected to be underway in the first half of 2016."
Appalachian Ky. has much of what it needs to improve its health, key federal officials say
By Al Cross
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
Appalachian Kentucky has the enthusiasm, creativity, people and facilities needed to greatly improve its dismal health status, two high-ranking federal officials said after looking at the problem on a recent tour.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will place a full-time employee in Eastern Kentucky to help public health departments battle the region's serious, chronic health problems, the area's congressman said Sept. 23.
Republican Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers of Somerset, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden, who spent three days with him in his Fifth Congressional District last month, told him he would assign a senior staffer to the job.
Rogers made the announcement at a meeting of the executive committee of Shaping Our Appalachian Region, the economic-development effort he started with Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear. In a meeting at Natural Bridge State Resort Park, the panel heard reports from chairs of SOAR's working groups, which held "listening sessions" around the region this summer.
The Health Working Group "recommended pushing a statewide ban on smoking indoors in public; asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study poor health in the region and the emerging research on a correlation between mountaintop mining and health problems," Bill Estep reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The working group's PowerPoint slide said, "Invite the CDC to form a task force to accurately map the current state of health in Eastern Kentucky and to create a strategic health plan for the region; start the 'Healthy 5 for the 5th' campaign for individual health in an effort to promote wellness in the region; explore Coordinated School Health programs for our entire region; ramp up oral-health efforts to encourage school-based oral health services are underway in every school district in the region."
Republican Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers of Somerset, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden, who spent three days with him in his Fifth Congressional District last month, told him he would assign a senior staffer to the job.
 |
| Beshear, Rogers (Melissa Newman photo) |
The Health Working Group "recommended pushing a statewide ban on smoking indoors in public; asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study poor health in the region and the emerging research on a correlation between mountaintop mining and health problems," Bill Estep reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The working group's PowerPoint slide said, "Invite the CDC to form a task force to accurately map the current state of health in Eastern Kentucky and to create a strategic health plan for the region; start the 'Healthy 5 for the 5th' campaign for individual health in an effort to promote wellness in the region; explore Coordinated School Health programs for our entire region; ramp up oral-health efforts to encourage school-based oral health services are underway in every school district in the region."
SOAR working groups submit recommendations
After a summer of "listening sessions" around Appalachian Kentucky, the working groups of the Shaping Our Appalachian Region initiative made their recommendations to the organization's executive committee Sept. 23.
"Each group submitted a report with goals that could be reached in three separate time frames: within the next year, within one to three years, and within 10 years," said a news release from the offices of Gov. Steve Beshear at U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, who started the effort.
Following are the release's highlights of the shortest-term recommendations. All the recommendations are at www.soar-ky.org.
Agriculture/Community/Regional Foods
· Support local food system development through local education efforts, a national tourism campaign called Bon Appétit Appalachia, and allowing WIC and senior vouchers to be used at local farm stands.
· Compile information about agriculture, food, and natural resource asset mapping efforts.
· Create part-time position for agriculture liaison in SOAR administrative structure.
· Create low-interest loans for small and beginning farmers in Appalachian region.
· Consider tax incentives to lease reclaimed mine lands for agricultural purposes.
Broadband
· Fiber infrastructure should be an open access system to support government services, education, healthcare, and business development.
· Fiber infrastructure deployment should be a priority project for the SOAR region, followed by other regions in the state.
Business Recruitment
· Identify regional growth zones that have emerged around growth communities within the region, based upon statistical metrics.
· Identify emerging economic clusters throughout the region for focused development.
· Identify existing companies that are growing, and focus programs of the Eastern Kentucky Technical Assistance Providers Network on this group, via the development of regional business service teams.
· Develop and promote a web portal clearinghouse to better market resources currently available to potential entrepreneurs and existing small business owners.
· Begin to craft a multi-faceted campaign to tell the story of innovative entrepreneurship within the region, especially to our youth.
Business Incubation
· Begin formal studies with a consultant on several issues to include existing resources, properties inventory, workforce inventory and target industries analysis.
· Create new relationships among new and existing regional economic development agencies and engines, and provide funding for collaboration.
· Develop specific incentive programs for Eastern Kentucky.
· Improve critical infrastructure, including transportation, high-speed Internet, and industrial park properties.
· Establish permanent economic development funding tied to coal severance funds.
Education and Retraining
· Establish an employment and training program focused on low-wage workers and unemployed individuals who qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
· Develop an entrepreneurial training program at the community colleges that supports the region’s rich artisan culture and small business owners.
· Work with partners in healthcare, energy, telecommunications, and digital technology to guide creation of short- and long-term training programs to establish direct paths to employment in those sectors.
· Connect education to training for the workplace. Increase access to education through additional career counselors, uniform career portfolios, and partnerships with local businesses.
· Ensure educational and regional leadership through promoting leadership academies and access to professional development.
Health
· Endorse and promote the passage of a state-wide smoke-free legislation.
· Start a “Healthy 5 for the 5th” campaign to promote wellness in the region.
· Explore Coordinated School Health programs for our entire region.
· Ramp up oral health efforts to encourage school-based oral health services.
Infrastructure
· Complete a SOAR Transportation Planning Study for the region.
· Require participation in a regional planning process as a condition for funding in order to identify the most important and cost efficient solutions or projects.
· Promote utilization of MACED’s How$mart Program and other existing programs.
· Reform the financing, permitting, and policing of water and sewer systems within the SOAR region to improve service.
· Create a SOAR economic development organization.
Leadership Development and Youth Engagement
· Create county coalitions focused on the empowerment of young Eastern Kentucky workers, which will support training and professional development and create regional networking and social opportunities.
· Promote entrepreneurship, SOAR, and specific change strategies including angel investment and coding effort; engagement with schools; and early entrepreneurial education.
· Create a SOAR student voucher program for area cultural events for low income children and a parent or guardian to attend one event or attraction each semester.
· Create a positive awareness campaign for youth using area magazines, newspapers, radio, and television opportunities to help share positive eastern Kentucky stories.
· Sponsor local college and career fairs through area high schools.
Regional Collaboration and Identity
· Use Area Development Districts as supporting entities for development and administration of projects in ARC counties.
· Establish platform to insure that communication continues among work groups, local governments, private business, and interested citizens.
· Encourage existing economic development professionals and organizations to maximize their strength by collaborating on marketing and recruitment of relevant industry.
· Utilize existing resources to create the framework for regional foundations that mirror regions as defined by area development districts.
Tourism, including Natural Resources, Arts and Heritage
· Increase funding for aggressive advertising and media outreach, to include strategic marketing, public relations, and social media to effectively brand Kentucky and Appalachia and market the area nationally and internationally.
· Promote heritage and the arts of the region (visual, performing, and literary) through more artisan centers; restoration of “dying” traditions in heritage and the arts; offering business training for artists; and supporting more heritage tourism.
· Promote entrepreneurship through incubator support and mentoring programs.
· Promote SOAR region through smartphone apps, online promotion and social media.
· Chart existing festivals and cross-promote; provide festival training on how to maximize return on investment.
White House notes progress of Promise Zone, says 900 laid-off miners have found new jobsThe federal government's Southeastern Kentucky "Promise Zone" has been making progress, the White House said Sept. 19 in a news release announcing the next round of competition for Promise Zone creation: "The Kentucky Highlands Investment Corp. has held 16 listening sessions with residents across the area to identify 10 achievement goals for the Promise Zone region," including "building a sustainable regional economy; collaborating to increase communications; enhancing education opportunities; ensuring access to critical health services; increasing access to affordable and energy efficient housing; expanding access to transportation; revitalizing downtowns; increasing recreation, arts and community engagement and expanding the pool of community leaders."
The release said the Obama administration has invested more than $23 million through the Rural Development agency of the Department of Agriculture "to ensure access to critical health services by increasing hospital capacity, expanding health care services and creating continued economic opportunity for health care workers in the region," and the Labor Department has put more than $11 million into a program to held laid-off coal miners find jobs. The release said more than 2,000 former had enrolled in the program as of June, and "640 have received extended education services or on-the-job training, and 900 have found new employment."
Federal grant for Mountain Parkway is one of largest in latest round of special grants
The U.S. Department of Transportation is giving Kentucky a $24 million grant to expedite four-laning of the Mountain Parkway through Salyersville, the major bottleneck along the route that Gov. Steve Beshear wants to improve as part of the bipartisan effort to improve Eastern Kentucky's economy.
The Sept. 9 grant was the fourth largest in the latest round of TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grants, which totaled $584 million for 72 projects. The largest grants were $25 million each for a Maine-New Hampshire bridge and New York City street work to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety, and $24.9 million for a bus project in Richmond, Va.
The grant will allow the Salyersville work to be done two years earlier than scheduled. The project will extend the parkway to the junction of US 460 and KY 114, which is sometimes called the parkway extension to US 23 at Prestonsburg. The 2.4-mile segment has more than 80 entrances for businesses and other properties; the new road will have "controlled access points and back roads to maintain local access while improving a corridor for commercial and regional travel between Eastern and Central Kentucky," said a press release from Beshear and U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, founders of teh Shaping Our Appalachian Region economic initiative.
"Kentucky will cover the additional $15 million needed to complete the Salyersville segment, which has an estimated cost of $39 million," the releasecsaid. "Right-of-way acquisition is scheduled to begin by year’s end and pre-construction work will begin next year. Construction is expected to be underway in the first half of 2016."
Appalachian Ky. has much of what it needs to improve its health, key federal officials say
By Al Cross
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
Appalachian Kentucky has the enthusiasm, creativity, people and facilities needed to greatly improve its dismal health status, two high-ranking federal officials said after looking at the problem on a recent tour.
 |
| Dr. Thomas Frieden, Rep. Hal Rogers |
"I want to stir up our people to get involved in a grass-roots effort," U.S. Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers, R-Somerset, who hosted Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on a four-stop tour of his Fifth Congressional District in early August.
Rogers and Frieden were guests on KET's "One to One," in a program recorded right after they returned from their early-August trip, where Frieden said he saw much creativity and enthusiasm.
Using one of Rogers's favorite sayings, Frieden said, "If you plan your work and work your plan, you may very well have tremendous success."
Rogers said what struck him most about the trip was "the infrastructure we already have in place," including hospitals, health departments, doctors and other health providers, and he wants to "talk about enhancing them.
Rogers is in a position to do that with federal money, because he is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. He is also co-founder, with Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, of Shaping Our Appalachian Region, an initiative to improve the economy of Eastern Kentucky. Rogers pitched the tour as a SOAR event.
Asked by "One to One" moderator Bill Goodman where the role of government begins and personal responsibility for health begins, Frieden said, in an apparent reference to smoking bans, "You don't want to go to your job and get cancer as a result."
"We don't tell people what to do" at the CDC, he said, but offer communities choices from a list of proven programs. Earlier, he said smoke-free laws not only reduce smoking, but heart attacks among non-smokers.
Rogers said he asked Frieden what one thing he would recommend for improving personal health in the region, and the doctor replied, "Walk."
Frieden said walking is an especially good option for Kentuckians because they have such a beautiful state. However, many rural areas in the state lack sidewalks or other easily accessible places to walk.
"Physical activity is the closest thing we have to a wonder drug" for all sorts of ailments, Frieden said, "but you have to do something you love to do" in order to stick with it. He said it also helps children be good students: "The more physical activity they get, the better their minds will work."
That point was made a few days before the two men's trip, at the Kentucky Summit on Childhood Obesity and Physical Activity at the University of Kentucky.
Two questions from SOAR meetings: Is mining affecting health, and why have so few elected officials attended working-group sessions?
By Coriá Bowen
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
HAZARD, Ky. – Does surface mining harm the health of people in the East Kentucky Coal Field? And why haven’t more elected officials participated in this summer’s meetings to gather ideas to diversify and improve the economy of Appalachian Kentucky?
Those were the two biggest questions raised Friday as 18 leaders of the Shaping Our Appalachian Region initiative gathered in Hazard for a meeting of chairs of the SOAR working groups that have been holding “listening sessions” all over the region.
While many if not most working groups are still compiling their lists of recommendations, Dr. Nikki Stone, chair of the health working group, finalized her group’s list with a tie for number one: coordinated school health and environmental health.
The topic of environmental health, particularly health effects from mountaintop removal and other large-scale surface mining, was a top concern of listening session participants, Stone said in an interview.
“The main thing is that people are very curious about what the truth is,” said Stone, a pediatric dentist in Hazard. “There’s apparently a growing body of research papers on the effects . . . Everybody is curious how big of an impact that specifically is having on people’s health,” including birth defects and cancer rates.
Stone noted the research and reported her working group’s top priorities during a SOAR-related meeting in early August. The event was part of a tour by Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, arranged by U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Somerset, who co-founded SOAR with Gov. Steve Beshear.
A study published in the Journal of Environmental Research compared mountaintop-mining areas of Central Appalachia to non-mining areas and found a correlation of mining with birth defects.
Several studies have found other such correlations, but Stone said she and her working group want to know if there is causation – if
mining in fact does affect public health.
By Coriá Bowen
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
SLADE, Ky. – The political leaders who organized the bipartisan Shaping Our Appalachian Region initiative have long stressed that one key to success will be creation of a more cohesive regional identity, with more collaboration across county lines.
That has been the focus of SOAR's Regional Collaboration and Identity Working Group, which had its final meeting last week at Natural Bridge Resort Park. The meeting drew 21 people, who sat at a round table discussing the assets and challenges of their counties and a few solid ideas to enhance the collaboration and sense of regional identity in Eastern Kentucky.
Peter Hille, executive vice president of the Berea-based Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, said he also had “an outsider's perspective,” but of a different kind.
Bipartisan effort to reshape Appalachian Kentucky's economy seeks grass-roots input
By Al Cross
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
Do you have an idea for helping improve and diversify the economy of Appalachian Kentucky? Get ready to speak up.
The work groups of the Shaping our Appalachian Region effort plan to hold meetings in most parts of Eastern and Southern Kentucky this summer, to gather ideas for a strategic plan that will be written by the SOAR executive committee this fall.
The groups had their first meetings last week at the annual East Kentucky Leadership Conference in Somerset, a site that gave both the long-held conference and the months-old SOAR a broader geographic base, and wove together some of the region's contrasting political threads.
"I've never seen so much progress or bipartisan commitment from the political establishment," said Charles W. Fluharty, president of the Rural Policy Research Institute, who is acting as temporary staff leader for SOAR. "The challenge is to translate that to the grass roots."
One idea frequently heard during the two-day meeting at the Center for Rural Development was a need to overcome the divisions created by county lines.
"The only way we're going to get anything done is to come together as a region and do it," Mike Miller, executive director of the Kentucky River Area Development District and a former mayor of Jackson, told the Regional Collaboration and Identity work group, one of 10.
Lake Cumberland Area Development District Executive Director Donna Diaz generally agreed, and said those involved in the effort shouldn't use lack of government funding as an excuse for lack of action. "Building self-sufficiency is an important part of this," she said.
Tourism prospects got much discussion at the meeting, but progress could come from many small successes, not big projects, said Peter Hille of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, who heads the East Kentucky Leadership Foundation, sponsor of the conference.
Hille said a small restaurant, Miguel's, near Natural Bridge State Resort Park "is more famous worldwide than any of our state parks" because of its proximity to the Red River Gorge, which attracts hikers, rock climbers and outdoor enthusiasts from all over the globe. He said entrepreneurs can find opportunities in "things to do, places to stay and reasons to come back."
Ideas may be easy to conceive, but executing them is often hard. "Agriculture often gets overlooked as economic development," said Mark Reece, a former agriculture and natural resources agent. But he cautioned, "Growing it is just not enough. . . . if you don't handle it the way the market wants it to be handled, you get nothing."
The region's most widely distributed commercial resource is timber, but is not professionally managed by most private landowners. SOAR needs to look for ways to encourage them to do that, said David Ditsch of the University of Kentucky's Robinson Center for Appalachian Resource Sustainability. He added that there is also much potential in raising goats, sheep and even cattle on surface-mined land that has been reclaimed in grasses.
SOAR was launched in response to a steep decline in the region's coal industry, but Ron Crouch, a demographer with the state Workforce Development Cabinet, said in the conference's first presentation that the economy of the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield has been diversifying for many years, t the point that coal now ranks only sixth in employment, with health care ranking first, and such categories as education and retail trade in between.
SOAR is a bipartisan effort led by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and Republican 5th District U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers of Somerset. Some at the conference noted that a two-term governor from Pikeville, Democrat Paul Patton, created a Kentucky Appalachian Commission, only to see it abolished by his successor, Republican Ernie Fletcher.
Another governor will be elected in 2015. To protect the coming strategic plan from political change, "We've got to have structural changes that are institutionalized," said Hindman lawyer and businessman Bill Weinberg, who headed the foundation for eight years.
Beshear told the conference that he has tried to make clear that SOAR "will not be directed by Frankfort or Washington," but he said it "needs to overcome the skepticism that greets any government-generated idea," and that will come from "your insight, your ideas and your energy."
“I hope to see that we’ll get a definitive answer on the effects,” Stone said. “And maybe we’ll find a way to impact it.”
At the Aug. 5 meeting, Frieden told Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader that definitive conclusions are often difficult in such studies, but “If invited in, we could certainly look at it.” Rogers told Estep, “We need to know if there’s anything to it, certainly.”
Some of the Health Working Group’s other priorities, after coordinated school health and environmental health, are smoke-free initiatives, substance abuse and community wellness initiatives.
The eight working groups dealing with policy issues need to prioritize a total of 10 to 15 ideas for a “multi-year effort,” said Chuck Fluharty, president and CEO of the Rural Policy Research Institute, which is staffing SOAR until it can find a permanent executive director. During the middle of the meeting, there was a discussion of what Fluharty called the “elephant in the room”– the relative lack of elected officials at most of the listening sessions.
Several working-group chairs said their plans will require policy changes, and elected officials must be a part of the process in order for the changes to take place. Others cautioned that elected officials may not be so important.
“Leadership comes at a whole bunch of different levels and it seems from our region from time to time we expect too much from our elected officials,” said Jeff Whitehead, executive director of the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program in Hazard. “I get a sense people are sitting around waiting for one person to make all the change.”
Phil Osborne, a Lexington consultant and chair of the Tourism Working Group, said, “We don’t put too much emphasis on elected officials to get us out of our mess,” suggesting that some officials contribute to the “mess.”
Fluharty expressed the overall importance of having more resources behind communications, to elected officials and people of the region, as SOAR moves forward.
At the same time, Fluharty charged the chairs to ensure that their reporting gives voice to the people of the region and not to their own opinions or those of Rogers and Beshear.
“We would not have paddled up this stream without the leadership who have gotten us there,” Fluharty said. “We have to protect them to sustain the paddle.”
The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is providing independent coverage of SOAR activities with funding from the Rural Policy Research Institute, which is providing SOAR staff support. For more information: Al.Cross@uky.edu.
Group seeks regional collaboration and identity to help Eastern KentuckyAt the Aug. 5 meeting, Frieden told Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader that definitive conclusions are often difficult in such studies, but “If invited in, we could certainly look at it.” Rogers told Estep, “We need to know if there’s anything to it, certainly.”
Some of the Health Working Group’s other priorities, after coordinated school health and environmental health, are smoke-free initiatives, substance abuse and community wellness initiatives.
The eight working groups dealing with policy issues need to prioritize a total of 10 to 15 ideas for a “multi-year effort,” said Chuck Fluharty, president and CEO of the Rural Policy Research Institute, which is staffing SOAR until it can find a permanent executive director. During the middle of the meeting, there was a discussion of what Fluharty called the “elephant in the room”– the relative lack of elected officials at most of the listening sessions.
Several working-group chairs said their plans will require policy changes, and elected officials must be a part of the process in order for the changes to take place. Others cautioned that elected officials may not be so important.
“Leadership comes at a whole bunch of different levels and it seems from our region from time to time we expect too much from our elected officials,” said Jeff Whitehead, executive director of the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program in Hazard. “I get a sense people are sitting around waiting for one person to make all the change.”
Phil Osborne, a Lexington consultant and chair of the Tourism Working Group, said, “We don’t put too much emphasis on elected officials to get us out of our mess,” suggesting that some officials contribute to the “mess.”
Fluharty expressed the overall importance of having more resources behind communications, to elected officials and people of the region, as SOAR moves forward.
At the same time, Fluharty charged the chairs to ensure that their reporting gives voice to the people of the region and not to their own opinions or those of Rogers and Beshear.
“We would not have paddled up this stream without the leadership who have gotten us there,” Fluharty said. “We have to protect them to sustain the paddle.”
The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is providing independent coverage of SOAR activities with funding from the Rural Policy Research Institute, which is providing SOAR staff support. For more information: Al.Cross@uky.edu.
By Coriá Bowen
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
SLADE, Ky. – The political leaders who organized the bipartisan Shaping Our Appalachian Region initiative have long stressed that one key to success will be creation of a more cohesive regional identity, with more collaboration across county lines.
That has been the focus of SOAR's Regional Collaboration and Identity Working Group, which had its final meeting last week at Natural Bridge Resort Park. The meeting drew 21 people, who sat at a round table discussing the assets and challenges of their counties and a few solid ideas to enhance the collaboration and sense of regional identity in Eastern Kentucky.
As they introduced themselves, some participants endorsed the idea of blurring county lines, combining areas that share similar goals and interests and want to work together.
“Everyone identifies themselves by a county. … There is a lot of territorialism, I've found out,” said Ohio native Nancy Hamann, owner of Scenic Cabin Rentals and Daniel Boone Trading Post in Lee, Powell and Wolfe counties. “Lots of people want to be here … You need to go out and capitalize on that.”
“Everyone identifies themselves by a county. … There is a lot of territorialism, I've found out,” said Ohio native Nancy Hamann, owner of Scenic Cabin Rentals and Daniel Boone Trading Post in Lee, Powell and Wolfe counties. “Lots of people want to be here … You need to go out and capitalize on that.”
Peter Hille, executive vice president of the Berea-based Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, said he also had “an outsider's perspective,” but of a different kind.
“When we talk about identity, we usually hear of people from the outside talking bad about people from Eastern Kentucky,” Hiller said. “Some of the worst things I’ve
heard said about East Kentuckians is from the middle-class East Kentuckians. … We
have an internal identity problem.”
Hamann said some people think SOAR will fail, as other attempts to improve the region have, but Gerry Roll of Hazard, executive director of the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, told the group, “Never mind 'We've tried it before.' "Let’s try it again, together.”
Participants offered several ideas, such as capitalizing on the arts, tax reform, increasing entrepreneurial education, marketing for small-business job opportunities, reallocation of coal severance-tax funds, getting tourism initiatives recognized as economic development, improving the region's overall health.
The region and the state need laws banning smoking in workplaces and enclosed public spaces to reduce the number of people who smoke, said Clark County Health Director Scott Lockard, a Wolfe County resident. “We can appreciate the history of tobacco while at the same time acknowledging it’s the number one killer in the state.”
Participants offered several ideas, such as capitalizing on the arts, tax reform, increasing entrepreneurial education, marketing for small-business job opportunities, reallocation of coal severance-tax funds, getting tourism initiatives recognized as economic development, improving the region's overall health.
The region and the state need laws banning smoking in workplaces and enclosed public spaces to reduce the number of people who smoke, said Clark County Health Director Scott Lockard, a Wolfe County resident. “We can appreciate the history of tobacco while at the same time acknowledging it’s the number one killer in the state.”
Though this was the working group's last meeting, “Regional collaboration is an ongoing process,” said Sandy Runyon, the working group chair, who reports to the SOAR executive committee. “This topic will continue as the SOAR initiative continues and will be really important as we move on down the road.”
The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is providing independent coverage of SOAR activities with funding from the Rural Policy Research Institute, which is providing SOAR staff support. For more information: Al.Cross@uky.edu.
The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is providing independent coverage of SOAR activities with funding from the Rural Policy Research Institute, which is providing SOAR staff support. For more information: Al.Cross@uky.edu.
Appalachian Kentucky must cooperate to capitalize on tourism, experts say
By Coriá Bowen
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
PIKEVILLE, Ky. – Can Eastern Kentucky capitalize on its distinct culture to attract more tourists and diversify its economy? Yes, if people work together across county lines, experts agreed at the “Capitalizing on Culture” conference in Pikeville Aug. 1-2.
“In order for us to have that synergy of tourism that’s satisfying to tourism and people, we have to partner,” Niki Nicholas, superintendent of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in McCreary County, said in an interview on the first day of conference, which attracted about 110 people to the East Kentucky Exposition Center.
Jim Mallory, vice chairman of the Lewis and Clark Trust, which wants to expand the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, said during a first-day panel discussion that people have to communicate for an area’s tourism to boom. “I think tourism is national or international,” he said. “You need to trade, you need to share info across counties and regions.”
When it comes to marketing tourism, identity is an important issue, said Don Wollenhaupt, chief of interpretation and education for the National Park Service in the Southeast, said in the conference’s keynote address. “We have identity issues sometimes,” he said. “Many people did not know the Statue of Liberty is a part of the national park system.”
Wallenhaupt said the Park Service tries to increase visitors’ understanding and appreciation of the significance of a park’s resources, and the histories of land and people are part of that education, so it’s important for people in nearby communities to be connected with parks and recreational areas. He suggested organizations talk to park managers and staff to discuss innovative ways to collaborate.
Cooperating across county lines is important because seemingly small, disconnected elements of history and culture can be combined for a rich experience for visitors, said Wayna Adams, archaeologist and heritage program manager for the Daniel Boone National Forest. “Sometimes they miss amazing opportunities to have a string-of-pearls of experience,” Adams said during a panel discussion, adding that the goal should be for people to have “an amazing experience itinerary.”
Tressa Brown, who coordinates Native and African American heritage for the Kentucky Heritage Council, said during the panel, “We can’t ignore our deep history here; it impacts all of us.” She added, “I often get calls from people wanting to tap into their family heritage. Heritage tourism with regards to genealogy and family history is huge.”
Overall, the panelists described practical marketing strategies for communities such as starting with investing in a new roof on a historic building, building strong volunteer teams and telling stories.
The second panel discussion, “Nonprofit Preservation Advocacy,” was aimed at providing ideas and resources for establishing a non-profit advocacy group. “Non-profit advocacy engages in community problems,” said Betsy Hatfield, executive director of Preservation Kentucky. “It does not have to be confrontation to get things done and it’s also a great way to form alliances and collaborations.”
Hatfield asked the audience how her organization could help their individual nonprofits. One idea was a better partnership between the University of Pikeville and other organizations through internships, for example; another was to help nonprofits find ways to work together for collective marketing, not just individual marketing.
Judi Patton of Pikeville, first lady of Kentucky from 1995 to 2003, shared her perception of Eastern Kentucky. “We’re all proud of our communities,” Patton said. “Yes, we have lost our brightest and our best because of lack of opportunities. Our children want to stay here, they love this land, they love the people, and we will have opportunity to grow.” Patton said the region has come a long way and that with the help of organizations like Preservation Kentucky, the area will have a lot to offer.
The conference was sponsored by the heritage council and its State Historic Preservation Office, the Shaping our Appalachian Region initiative and Community Trust Bancorp Inc. A video broadcast of a portion of day two of the conference will be available at http://preservationkentucky.org.
The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is providing independent coverage of SOAR activities with funding from the Rural Policy Research Institute, which is providing SOAR staff support. For more information: Al.Cross@uky.edu.
The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is providing independent coverage of SOAR activities with funding from the Rural Policy Research Institute, which is providing SOAR staff support. For more information: Al.Cross@uky.edu.
By Coriá Bowen
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
PIKEVILLE, Ky. – Can Eastern Kentucky capitalize on its distinct culture to attract more tourists and diversify its economy? Yes, if people work together across county lines, experts agreed at the “Capitalizing on Culture” conference in Pikeville Aug. 1-2.
“In order for us to have that synergy of tourism that’s satisfying to tourism and people, we have to partner,” Niki Nicholas, superintendent of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in McCreary County, said in an interview on the first day of conference, which attracted about 110 people to the East Kentucky Exposition Center.
Jim Mallory, vice chairman of the Lewis and Clark Trust, which wants to expand the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, said during a first-day panel discussion that people have to communicate for an area’s tourism to boom. “I think tourism is national or international,” he said. “You need to trade, you need to share info across counties and regions.”
When it comes to marketing tourism, identity is an important issue, said Don Wollenhaupt, chief of interpretation and education for the National Park Service in the Southeast, said in the conference’s keynote address. “We have identity issues sometimes,” he said. “Many people did not know the Statue of Liberty is a part of the national park system.”
Wallenhaupt said the Park Service tries to increase visitors’ understanding and appreciation of the significance of a park’s resources, and the histories of land and people are part of that education, so it’s important for people in nearby communities to be connected with parks and recreational areas. He suggested organizations talk to park managers and staff to discuss innovative ways to collaborate.
Cooperating across county lines is important because seemingly small, disconnected elements of history and culture can be combined for a rich experience for visitors, said Wayna Adams, archaeologist and heritage program manager for the Daniel Boone National Forest. “Sometimes they miss amazing opportunities to have a string-of-pearls of experience,” Adams said during a panel discussion, adding that the goal should be for people to have “an amazing experience itinerary.”
Tressa Brown, who coordinates Native and African American heritage for the Kentucky Heritage Council, said during the panel, “We can’t ignore our deep history here; it impacts all of us.” She added, “I often get calls from people wanting to tap into their family heritage. Heritage tourism with regards to genealogy and family history is huge.”
Overall, the panelists described practical marketing strategies for communities such as starting with investing in a new roof on a historic building, building strong volunteer teams and telling stories.
The second panel discussion, “Nonprofit Preservation Advocacy,” was aimed at providing ideas and resources for establishing a non-profit advocacy group. “Non-profit advocacy engages in community problems,” said Betsy Hatfield, executive director of Preservation Kentucky. “It does not have to be confrontation to get things done and it’s also a great way to form alliances and collaborations.”
Hatfield asked the audience how her organization could help their individual nonprofits. One idea was a better partnership between the University of Pikeville and other organizations through internships, for example; another was to help nonprofits find ways to work together for collective marketing, not just individual marketing.
Judi Patton of Pikeville, first lady of Kentucky from 1995 to 2003, shared her perception of Eastern Kentucky. “We’re all proud of our communities,” Patton said. “Yes, we have lost our brightest and our best because of lack of opportunities. Our children want to stay here, they love this land, they love the people, and we will have opportunity to grow.” Patton said the region has come a long way and that with the help of organizations like Preservation Kentucky, the area will have a lot to offer.
The conference was sponsored by the heritage council and its State Historic Preservation Office, the Shaping our Appalachian Region initiative and Community Trust Bancorp Inc. A video broadcast of a portion of day two of the conference will be available at http://preservationkentucky.org.
The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is providing independent coverage of SOAR activities with funding from the Rural Policy Research Institute, which is providing SOAR staff support. For more information: Al.Cross@uky.edu.
Students need better counseling to contribute more to the region, working group thinks
By Coriá Bowen
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
MOREHEAD, Ky. – A group studying how education can lift the
economy of Appalachian Kentucky has several ideas, including a “counseling for
careers” approach that would
begin for students no later than middle school and continue through high
school.
The program
would be modeled after the Kentucky College Coach program that places mentors
in high schools for individual support and college coaching, according to
discussions in the Education and Retraining Working Group of the Shaping Our
Appalachian Region initiative.
During the group’s fifth meeting, last
Thursday at Morehead State University, Stephen Lange, associate dean of MSU’s
School of Public Affairs, said “one-on-one support” has been lacking at high
schools in the area. Counselors “do a good job of general coaching and testing
and things like that,” Lange said, “but when bringing in a student and looking
at careers, it doesn’t happen.”
Thursday’s listening session focused on discussing core
recommendations gathered from a survey created and launched by the group
members.
The 40 people present were invited to rate their top five
recommendations from a list of 18 recommendations – gathered from the survey
that can be accessed on the SOAR website (www.soar-ky.org).
Nine posters hung around the meeting room with two
recommendations on each one as people stuck five colored tabs underneath the recommendations
in their personal order of importance.
“I’m anxious to step back and look at all the
results from the surveys,” Jeff Whitehead, the chair of the group said in an
interview, “I think we’ll see some common themes across the region.”
This
method of rating recommendations has been used at each of the education and
retraining listening sessions, and consistently one of the “most important”
recommendations is the “counseling for careers” approach.
Other ideas brought up during Thursday’s
meeting included: Funding
should be made available for student internships for authentic workplace and
job site experience; and more emphasis should be placed on math and science
education, because skills from both disciplines are transferable in several
different industries and both subjects are benchmarks of intellectual rigor.
“When
they (students) graduate from high school, they should be ready to take college
classes,” said Joe
Odicta, an Army veteran and local soup-kitchen volunteer.
“They should be ready to go in and take real math classes instead of remedial
classes. That depends on the high school to get them ready for that.”
Each of SOAR’s 10
working groups will make a report to the SOAR Executive Committee, which will sport
through the ideas and draft a plan for implementing them.
Each Education and Retraining Working Group
listening session is conducted by several members of the group. For future meeting times,
locations and other group announcements, visit: http://www.soar-ky.org/ or the SOAR Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ShapingOurAppalachianRegion.
To change Appalachia’s health, change the culture, starting with youth, SOAR working group hears; CDC chief to visit
By Coriá Bowen
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
HAZARD, Ky. – The relatively poor health of Appalachian Kentucky is one of the major obstacles to its development, and changing that requires changing the culture, starting with youth. So said several people Wednesday, July 16, in Hazard, at a “listening session” of the Health Working Group of the Shaping Our Appalachian Region initiative, an effort to improve the region’s economy and quality of life.
“We have to change the children’s mindset first,” said Pam Cornett, a UK dental program outreach manager. “When you’re doing incentives for healthy eating, I think you should put your biggest concentration on children.”
Mary Beth Lacy, outreach coordinator for Coventry Cares of Kentucky, a Medicaid managed-care company, said children learn by watching and are taught through community. “Rediscovering our community and then teaching our kids … we learned by watching,” she said. “It’s free to invite someone to your house. Let’s open our homes again.”
Dr. Nikki Stone, chair of the working group, began the meeting with a presentation to an audience of about 20. She included chilling Kentucky health statistics and rankings at the state, regional and county levels. “Whether it’s poverty, whether it’s environmental, we don’t know,” said Stone, a University of Kentucky dentist based in Hazard. She also mentioned ways that have been proven to improve health and extend life, including eating healthy and using seat belts.
The health working group is one of 10 that are holding sessions around Appalachian Kentucky this summer to get ideas. Health care is the number one “economic engine” in the region, Stone said, but the role of the working group is to suggest plans for improving overall health outcomes in the region.
At each of the listening sessions, Stone designates a “crazy time” for audience members to share their most “crazy” and innovative ideas. One idea offered during “crazy” time was to vegetable drive-thru restaurants. Other ideas ranged from sending food trucks into hollows and other areas where healthy food is not easily accessed, to a tax on sugar and implementing sex education well before middle school.
Mae Humiston, an Appalachian transition fellow of the Community Farm Alliance, suggested more education for agriculture careers, such as “finding land, loans and training.”
The meeting ended with a discussion on the importance of spreading good news of the image of the region. Stone encouraged the group to create a Facebook page, illustrating their goals and ideas as well as posing healthy living challenges for people to participate in – such as hosting a canning party.
The Health Working Group’s next meeting is scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, July 24 in the UK Center for Health, Education and Research at 316 W. Second St., Morehead.
CDC head to make first Kentucky visit: SOAR will hold a “Health Impact Series” in early August featuring Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, marking the first time a CDC director of the CDC has visited Eastern Kentucky.
Meetings are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 4 at the Center for Rural Development in Somerset; 10 a.m. Aug. 5 at the Hazard Community and Technical College; 5:30 p.m. Aug. 5 the Ramada Paintsville Hotel; and 10 a.m. Aug. 6 at the Morehead Conference Center. Space is limited for the Health Impact Series, but individuals can reserve a seat by contacting Cheryl Keaton at 606-657-3218 or at ckeaton@centertech.com.
The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is providing independent coverage of SOAR activities with funding from the Rural Policy Research Institute, which is providing SOAR staff support. For more information: Al.Cross@uky.edu.
An RFP was released today by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in conjunction with the Center for Rural Development seeking private partners to build, operate and maintain a statewide open-access, high-speed broadband network. A complementary RFP seeking equity partners for the project will be released next week. The Commonwealth may establish one contract using either the equity or concessionaire model. (See story below.)
The Next Generation Kentucky Information
Highway will help Kentucky make tremendous strides toward being a leader both
in terms of speed and presence of high-speed Internet connectivity, Gov.
Beshear said.
“Infrastructure such as roads, sewers, water lines and classrooms are critical to our quality of life and economic vitality,” Gov. Beshear said. “Today, we also have to invest in another kind of infrastructure – the kind that will break down geographic and financial barriers to education and economic development.”
Rogers said, “This ‘Super I-Way’ will pave a high-tech future for Eastern Kentucky. It will launch our rural region into the global playing field, creating new job opportunities, innovative access to healthcare, enhanced educational opportunities, and much more. We are eager to move forward with this project to help grow Eastern Kentucky’s economy.”
The initial phase of the project is expected to take two years to build and will include more than 3,000 miles of fiber infrastructure, often referred to as the “middle mile.”
Currently, Kentucky ranks 46th in high-speed broadband Internet availability. Nearly a quarter of the state’s population – 23 percent – has no access to broadband. “Today, only about half of Kentucky’s households use broadband Internet service, and nearly one-quarter can’t access broadband at all,” Beshear said. “We’re going to fix that with an ambitious plan to extend broadband access, initially focusing on Eastern Kentucky.”
The push for reliable, accessible high-speed broadband is one recommendation that emerged from SOAR, the Shaping Our Appalachian Region initiative that seeks to move Kentucky’s Appalachian region forward. “Much like previous generations’ efforts to build sewer and water systems, the electric grid and paved highways, this broadband initiative will solidify Kentucky’s place in the new global economy,” Rogers said. “Our investment in it will pay dividends in the years ahead.”
The working group’s charge is “to address the opportunities for deploying improved and expanded broadband and Internet services, so-called ‘middle-mile’ core fiber optic cable, and public ‘last-mile’ networks to provide Eastern Kentucky homes, businesses, schools, hospitals, and governments world-class access for a globally competitive future.” For more information on the working group, see http://www.soar-ky.org/soar-committees/broadband-2/.
Hope for better cattle industry dominates first agriculture, food and natural resources ‘listening session’ of Appalachian initiative
By Coriá Bowen
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
HAZARD, Ky. – The relatively poor health of Appalachian Kentucky is one of the major obstacles to its development, and changing that requires changing the culture, starting with youth. So said several people Wednesday, July 16, in Hazard, at a “listening session” of the Health Working Group of the Shaping Our Appalachian Region initiative, an effort to improve the region’s economy and quality of life.
“We have to change the children’s mindset first,” said Pam Cornett, a UK dental program outreach manager. “When you’re doing incentives for healthy eating, I think you should put your biggest concentration on children.”
Mary Beth Lacy, outreach coordinator for Coventry Cares of Kentucky, a Medicaid managed-care company, said children learn by watching and are taught through community. “Rediscovering our community and then teaching our kids … we learned by watching,” she said. “It’s free to invite someone to your house. Let’s open our homes again.”
Dr. Nikki Stone, chair of the working group, began the meeting with a presentation to an audience of about 20. She included chilling Kentucky health statistics and rankings at the state, regional and county levels. “Whether it’s poverty, whether it’s environmental, we don’t know,” said Stone, a University of Kentucky dentist based in Hazard. She also mentioned ways that have been proven to improve health and extend life, including eating healthy and using seat belts.
The health working group is one of 10 that are holding sessions around Appalachian Kentucky this summer to get ideas. Health care is the number one “economic engine” in the region, Stone said, but the role of the working group is to suggest plans for improving overall health outcomes in the region.
At each of the listening sessions, Stone designates a “crazy time” for audience members to share their most “crazy” and innovative ideas. One idea offered during “crazy” time was to vegetable drive-thru restaurants. Other ideas ranged from sending food trucks into hollows and other areas where healthy food is not easily accessed, to a tax on sugar and implementing sex education well before middle school.
Mae Humiston, an Appalachian transition fellow of the Community Farm Alliance, suggested more education for agriculture careers, such as “finding land, loans and training.”
The meeting ended with a discussion on the importance of spreading good news of the image of the region. Stone encouraged the group to create a Facebook page, illustrating their goals and ideas as well as posing healthy living challenges for people to participate in – such as hosting a canning party.
The Health Working Group’s next meeting is scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, July 24 in the UK Center for Health, Education and Research at 316 W. Second St., Morehead.
CDC head to make first Kentucky visit: SOAR will hold a “Health Impact Series” in early August featuring Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, marking the first time a CDC director of the CDC has visited Eastern Kentucky.
Meetings are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 4 at the Center for Rural Development in Somerset; 10 a.m. Aug. 5 at the Hazard Community and Technical College; 5:30 p.m. Aug. 5 the Ramada Paintsville Hotel; and 10 a.m. Aug. 6 at the Morehead Conference Center. Space is limited for the Health Impact Series, but individuals can reserve a seat by contacting Cheryl Keaton at 606-657-3218 or at ckeaton@centertech.com.
The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is providing independent coverage of SOAR activities with funding from the Rural Policy Research Institute, which is providing SOAR staff support. For more information: Al.Cross@uky.edu.
Group starts ‘listening
sessions’ to get ideas for tourism related to arts and heritage in Appalachian
Kentucky
By Coriá Bowen
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
ASHLAND, Ky. The largest working group of the Shaping Our Appalachian
Region initiative has begun a series of “listening sessions” to get ideas about
developing tourism opportunities from Appalachian Kentucky’s arts and heritage.
“Our charge tonight
is to pick your brains on what are some big opportunities,” Phil Osborne, chair
of the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Working Group, said at its first meeting,
Tuesday at Ashland’s Paramount Arts Center. “How do we pull everybody together
with common denominators to create something that’s lasting?”
The working group, which has 52 members and is looking for
more, is one of 10 aiming to improve the overall economy and quality of life
for Kentucky’s Appalachian counties.
To make downtowns more attractive to funders and investors,
historic buildings should be enhanced, said Bruce Marquis, executive director
of the Paramount Arts Center, a restored theater.
“The historic detail still rests under these buildings,”
Marquis said. “That encourages more development in a town that encourages
tourism. When you restore enough buildings, you qualify as a historic district
that invites more funding.” Marquis mentioned façade grants that could be used for building
restorations.
With the meeting site just less than three blocks from the Ohio
River, the use of waterfronts as tourist sites was also discussed. “Anytime you have a waterfront, you have an asset,” said Catrina
Vargo, a reporter for The Levisa Lazer, an online newspaper based in Louisa. “Play
upon the mountains, art and crafts. We’re totally different than other parts of
the state that aren’t that far from us.”
Also during the listening session, participants shared and
encouraged each other as they discussed ways to find economic support for their
ideas.
“Find something in what you’re providing that benefits that
person,” said Mandilyn Hart, executive director of the Center for Appalachian
Philanthropy, based in Portsmouth, Ohio, and Vanceburg. “Finding common ground
is the only way to be able to have someone give.”
Other ideas included a performing arts trail, a “blue way”
tourism system for kayakers, and overall ways to diversity existing
infrastructure and the economy –“connecting the dots,” as Hart put it. “We don’t need brand-new
everything,” she said. “We just need to elevate existing things.”
The seven people at the meeting also talked about the
importance of looking at other counties’ successes during the process of
reshaping the region and using that as a blueprint for their own.
The Tourism, Arts and Heritage Working Group held its second
meeting in Morehead Thursday night. Osborne, a Lexington marketing executive
and native of Carter County, said participants suggested new ways to promote
the arts and reiterated the idea of more use of the region’s waterways.
The group will next meet from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 22, in
the Perkins Building at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond. The tentative schedule for other listening
sessions is July 24 in Jackson, July 29 in Columbia, July 31 in London, Aug. 5
in Pineville and Aug. 7 in Hindman. Four
“big ideas brainstorming sessions” are tentatively scheduled Aug. 12 in Pikeville,
Aug. 14 at Jamestown, Aug. 19 at Slade and Aug. 21 at Grayson. For more on the working group, go to http://www.soar-ky.org/soar-committees/trourism-national-resources-arts-heritage/.
The Institute for
Rural Journalism and Community Issues is providing independent coverage of SOAR
activities with funding from the Rural Policy Research Institute, which is
providing SOAR staff support. For more information: Al.Cross@uky.edu.
Beshear, Rogers announce next steps for high-speed broadband
Press release, July 11, 2014
Gov. Steve Beshear and U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers
announced today that two requests for proposals (RFPs) are being issued this
month on a public-private partnership (P3) project to build critically-needed
high-speed broadband Internet access to the farthest reaches of the
state. Increasing broadband access in Eastern
Kentucky is a primary focus of the project.
An RFP was released today by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in conjunction with the Center for Rural Development seeking private partners to build, operate and maintain a statewide open-access, high-speed broadband network. A complementary RFP seeking equity partners for the project will be released next week. The Commonwealth may establish one contract using either the equity or concessionaire model. (See story below.)
 |
| Red: Center for Rural Development network; blue: Next Generation Kentucky Information Highway; yellow: route planned to be shared |
“Infrastructure such as roads, sewers, water lines and classrooms are critical to our quality of life and economic vitality,” Gov. Beshear said. “Today, we also have to invest in another kind of infrastructure – the kind that will break down geographic and financial barriers to education and economic development.”
Rogers said, “This ‘Super I-Way’ will pave a high-tech future for Eastern Kentucky. It will launch our rural region into the global playing field, creating new job opportunities, innovative access to healthcare, enhanced educational opportunities, and much more. We are eager to move forward with this project to help grow Eastern Kentucky’s economy.”
The initial phase of the project is expected to take two years to build and will include more than 3,000 miles of fiber infrastructure, often referred to as the “middle mile.”
Currently, Kentucky ranks 46th in high-speed broadband Internet availability. Nearly a quarter of the state’s population – 23 percent – has no access to broadband. “Today, only about half of Kentucky’s households use broadband Internet service, and nearly one-quarter can’t access broadband at all,” Beshear said. “We’re going to fix that with an ambitious plan to extend broadband access, initially focusing on Eastern Kentucky.”
The push for reliable, accessible high-speed broadband is one recommendation that emerged from SOAR, the Shaping Our Appalachian Region initiative that seeks to move Kentucky’s Appalachian region forward. “Much like previous generations’ efforts to build sewer and water systems, the electric grid and paved highways, this broadband initiative will solidify Kentucky’s place in the new global economy,” Rogers said. “Our investment in it will pay dividends in the years ahead.”
Idea of expanding
broadband raises questions for carriers and customers
By Coriá Bowen
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
SOMERSET, Ky. – The goal to provide optic fiber broadband and internet
services to every Appalachian Kentucky community was the overarching theme last
month in Somerset at one of the “listening sessions” being held by Shaping Our
Appalachian Region – an effort to improve the Appalachian Kentucky’s economy
and quality of life.
Other issues discussed at the meeting included how SOAR’s
current plans for “middle-mile” connections to the Internet will affect
“last-mile” carriers, such as AT&T and Windstream, that directly serve
consumers; the need to educate the region about the opportunities broadband can
bring; and the building and financing of fiber-optic routes from Cincinnati to
Tennessee.
The broadband working group is one of 10 SOAR groups aiming
to improve specific aspects of the Kentucky Appalachian economy, including
agriculture, tourism and business incubation.
Lonnie Lawson, the broadband working group chair, presented
a map of three fiber-optic routes that would be built in the region. As of now,
the state will be responsible for the western route (blue on the map in story above) and the
Center for Rural Development will be responsible for the eastern route (red on
the map). The final decision on the yellow route is still to be determined, but
it is projected to have shared responsibility by both the state and the center,
which is based in Somerset.
Lawson emphasized that redundancy, or the overlapping of
routes in certain areas, is crucial so that if one fiber route has a problem,
the areas it serves have alternate sources of broadband. “We’re trying to build where you don’t know
the difference between state and SOAR broadband,” he said.
The meeting began with a brief presentation by engineers for
Kimley-Horn and Associates of Raleigh. They presented their methods and lessons
learned in a similar broadband project model in North Carolina. “We installed 1,500 miles of fiber in 18 months,” Ben
Burchett said. ”The biggest lesson learned was the amount of communication we
had to have with different agencies.”
This lesson in communications is one that network carriers
would like to learn before the completion of the SOAR broadband plan. How
carriers will be affected was a reoccurring topic during the meeting.
“In my mind I’m thinking, is this a good thing that’s going
to help us, or a bad thing that‘s going to take business away from us?” asked
Keith Gabbard, general manager and CEO of The People’s Network, part of the
Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative of McKee and Booneville.
Broadband consultant Hilda Gay Legg of Burnside, former
director of the federal Rural Utilities Service, said in an interview after the
meeting that the challenge for SOAR is “how to put in the infrastructure that
was not feasible to anyone else.”
She said small telephone companies that have built
fiber-optic systems worry that a publicly financed system with larger “pipes”
that can carry more and faster traffic will subject them to damaging
competition from larger companies.
Legg said the question is “How do we make it work, in
fairness to those who’ve invested the money, and yet get to that last mile in a
way that those who take it there get a return on their investment?”
Legg said that while telephone companies support the SOAR
broadband initiative, they are worried about what it will specifically mean for
their business. “Carriers don’t know what this will look like for them,” she
said.
Lawson assured the group that the goal of this project is to
work together with such entities, not compete with them. “The last thing we want to do is put people out of business,”
he said.
Those at the meeting also discussed importance of marketing
and educating communities about the value of broadband.
Legg said it’s important to keep in mind that this project
should affect everything from large clinics to home health care because it
means “greater speed, bigger pipes and more opportunity.” She encouraged the
group to think beyond the middle-mile planning and remember the end goal of the
project.
The working group’s charge is “to address the opportunities for deploying improved and expanded broadband and Internet services, so-called ‘middle-mile’ core fiber optic cable, and public ‘last-mile’ networks to provide Eastern Kentucky homes, businesses, schools, hospitals, and governments world-class access for a globally competitive future.” For more information on the working group, see http://www.soar-ky.org/soar-committees/broadband-2/.
Look forward, not
backward, federal official urges leaders of Appalachian economic effort
By Coriá Bowen
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
PINEVILLE, Ky. – Those who would reshape the economy of
Appalachian Kentucky shouldn’t be held back by the past, a key federal official
told leaders of the effort this week.
“Don’t be afraid to reinvent the identity of this region,”
Jay Williams, assistant secretary of commerce for economic development, told
the executive committee and working-group chairs of the Shaping Our Appalachian
Region initiative in their meeting Monday at Pine Mountain State Resort Park.
Williams’ agency, the U.S. Economic Development
Administration, is investing $312,000 in technical assistance to help SOAR
create jobs and grow private-sector industries.
Also during the meeting, Wendy Spencer, CEO of the
Corporation for National and Community Service, announced a $1 million
investment to support 52 full-time AmeriCorps VISTA members to help SOAR.
David Bellinier, a VISTA from Berea College Partners for
Education, said in an interview, “I feel very honored to be a part of the fight
against poverty especially in this region. I think it’s an incredibly resilient
place and it’s filled with some of the most dynamic and energetic people that
I’ve ever seen. It seems like things are
about to happen, it’s about to explode.”
Especially if it looks forward, not backward, Williams
suggested. He shared in detail some steps in a journey he called “astonishingly”
similar, one that he pioneered as mayor of Youngstown, Ohio, to help it recover
from the collapse in its steel industry.
“We remembered the good old days to the point that when the
collapse happened we couldn’t get past the bad days,” Williams said. When it
comes to “things that go on here with respect to the coal economy,” he said,
people should be “understanding it, embracing it, letting it always be a part
of who you are, but not letting it hold you to the point that you can’t do the
things that are necessary to move the next generation.”
Gov. Steve Beshear thanked Williams for his speech and
financial contribution and said, “What a fascinating irony it is that we’ve
found the person in the federal government that has gone through this process.”
John McCauley, Kentucky executive director for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, gave new details of the USDA strike force initiative
– one that serves 78 Kentucky counties that have been hit harder by
unemployment and poverty over the last 30 years.
“By virtue of the fact I come from these hills, it’s been a
priority of mine to target Southeastern and Eastern Kentucky first in this
initiative,” said McCauley, a native of Pineville.
McCauley said a “farm start program” is creating a video for
new and small farmers that will include five to seven farming project ideas
with potential income and estimated expenses. The video will be available for
use in the entire Appalachian region.
In official business at the meeting, Chuck Fluharty,
president and CEO of the Rural Policy Research Institute, was confirmed to
serve as interim executive director of SOAR while it looks for a permanent
director. That search is headed by Lexington businessman Jim Host.
Other business included reports from working group chairs
about their progress so far and core ideas they have developed. At the close of the meeting, U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers said,
“Let’s just keep on charging.”
Hope for better cattle industry dominates first agriculture, food and natural resources ‘listening session’ of Appalachian initiative
By Al Cross
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
MOREHEAD,
Ky. – Taking Eastern Kentucky’s cattle industry to a new level was the idea
most discussed Thursday evening, June 12, at one of the first “listening
sessions” of Shaping Our Appalachian Region, the effort to diversify and
improve the economy of Appalachian Kentucky.
Other
ideas included raising sheep and goats, promoting agri-tourism, and expanding oak
and sorghum harvesting to take advantage of the growing whiskey industry.
The
listening session was held by the SOAR working group on Agriculture, Community
& Regional Foods and Natural Resources, one of 10 groups working on issues
and topics this summer to help draft an economic plan for the region.
The conversation at the Morehead
State University Farm was dominated by agriculture. Forests, often identified as Appalachian Kentucky’s most
neglected resource but are the base of a significant industry in the area, were
mentioned only twice – when one participant said the region needs more
industries for its hardwood timber, and another said lack of proper forest
management understanding was a challenge for the region.
 |
| Daniel Wilson led the discussion at the Morehead State farm. |
Daniel
Wilson, Wolfe County’s extension agent for agriculture and natural resources,
led the gathering of about 40 people through discussions of the region’s
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges.
George
Hieneman, the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation’s program manager for
northeastern Kentucky, said one strength is the region’s transition from
tobacco, which lost federal price supports and quotas almost 10 years ago, and
acceptance of agricultural diversification.
“If you
show us a market, we will grow it,” Hieneman said, adding later that Eastern
Kentucky farmers have shown an ability to make money on a wide range of
landscapes.
One of
those includes grazing cattle on reclaimed strip mines, said Dr. Philip Prater,
a veterinary professor at Morehead State. He and others said a heifer
development program using reclaimed mines has improved the region’s cattle
industry, which should be boosted by the recent opening of the region’s largest
slaughterhouse, the Chop
Shop at Lee City in Wolfe County.
Most
Kentucky cattle are raised on pasture, then sold and shipped to large feedlots
in the Midwest. Several people at the
meeting endorsed the idea of a covered feedlot where cattle could be fed grain
to fatten them for slaughter. “I believe there’s a tremendous opportunity here
for a finished beef product,” said working-group member Charles Miller.
Alice
Melendez, executive director of Winchester-based Plowshares for
Patriots, said there needs to be more education about the beneficial health
effects of eating beef that is entirely grass-fed.
Prater
said grass-fed beef is tougher, and research
is needed to see which breeds or genetic lines of cattle finish better on
grass. “If we can make that steer on grass get a little juicier,” he said,
“that’s a good deal.”
But the region’s
water quality, which could be critical to a feedlot, is one of the region’s
weaknesses, one participant said.
Other participants cited lack of communication, coordination and cooperation among the region’s counties – a bugaboo that has often been mentioned by 5th District Rep. Hal Rogers, who started SOAR with Gov. Steve Beshear.
Other participants cited lack of communication, coordination and cooperation among the region’s counties – a bugaboo that has often been mentioned by 5th District Rep. Hal Rogers, who started SOAR with Gov. Steve Beshear.
Other
weaknesses mentioned included lack of access to land because of absentee
ownership and other reasons; reduction of agriculture programs in the region’s
schools; and wildlife interference with agriculture.
The
latter example illustrates a potential conflict between agriculture and tourism
based on hunting and wildlife watching. Such conflicts will be addressed by the
SOAR executive committee when it receives reports from the working groups to draft a
regional economic plan this fall.
The next
listening sessions of the Agriculture, Community & Regional Foods and
Natural Resources working group will be held Thursday, June 19. One will be
held at 7 p.m. in Louisa, at 249 Industrial Park Rd., for Greenup, Boyd,
Lawrence, Johnson and Martin counties. The other will be held in Whitesburg at
6 p.m., at 478 Extension Dr., for Letcher, Perry, Knott, Leslie, Harlan and
Breathitt counties. Each working group has a page on the SOAR website, http://www.soar-ky.org.
Organizers say the public is
encouraged to attend and participate in any and all listening sessions.
Bipartisan effort to reshape Appalachian Kentucky's economy seeks grass-roots input
By Al Cross
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
Do you have an idea for helping improve and diversify the economy of Appalachian Kentucky? Get ready to speak up.
The work groups of the Shaping our Appalachian Region effort plan to hold meetings in most parts of Eastern and Southern Kentucky this summer, to gather ideas for a strategic plan that will be written by the SOAR executive committee this fall.
The groups had their first meetings last week at the annual East Kentucky Leadership Conference in Somerset, a site that gave both the long-held conference and the months-old SOAR a broader geographic base, and wove together some of the region's contrasting political threads.
"I've never seen so much progress or bipartisan commitment from the political establishment," said Charles W. Fluharty, president of the Rural Policy Research Institute, who is acting as temporary staff leader for SOAR. "The challenge is to translate that to the grass roots."
One idea frequently heard during the two-day meeting at the Center for Rural Development was a need to overcome the divisions created by county lines.
"The only way we're going to get anything done is to come together as a region and do it," Mike Miller, executive director of the Kentucky River Area Development District and a former mayor of Jackson, told the Regional Collaboration and Identity work group, one of 10.
Lake Cumberland Area Development District Executive Director Donna Diaz generally agreed, and said those involved in the effort shouldn't use lack of government funding as an excuse for lack of action. "Building self-sufficiency is an important part of this," she said.
Tourism prospects got much discussion at the meeting, but progress could come from many small successes, not big projects, said Peter Hille of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, who heads the East Kentucky Leadership Foundation, sponsor of the conference.
Hille said a small restaurant, Miguel's, near Natural Bridge State Resort Park "is more famous worldwide than any of our state parks" because of its proximity to the Red River Gorge, which attracts hikers, rock climbers and outdoor enthusiasts from all over the globe. He said entrepreneurs can find opportunities in "things to do, places to stay and reasons to come back."
Ideas may be easy to conceive, but executing them is often hard. "Agriculture often gets overlooked as economic development," said Mark Reece, a former agriculture and natural resources agent. But he cautioned, "Growing it is just not enough. . . . if you don't handle it the way the market wants it to be handled, you get nothing."
The region's most widely distributed commercial resource is timber, but is not professionally managed by most private landowners. SOAR needs to look for ways to encourage them to do that, said David Ditsch of the University of Kentucky's Robinson Center for Appalachian Resource Sustainability. He added that there is also much potential in raising goats, sheep and even cattle on surface-mined land that has been reclaimed in grasses.
SOAR was launched in response to a steep decline in the region's coal industry, but Ron Crouch, a demographer with the state Workforce Development Cabinet, said in the conference's first presentation that the economy of the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield has been diversifying for many years, t the point that coal now ranks only sixth in employment, with health care ranking first, and such categories as education and retail trade in between.
SOAR is a bipartisan effort led by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and Republican 5th District U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers of Somerset. Some at the conference noted that a two-term governor from Pikeville, Democrat Paul Patton, created a Kentucky Appalachian Commission, only to see it abolished by his successor, Republican Ernie Fletcher.
Another governor will be elected in 2015. To protect the coming strategic plan from political change, "We've got to have structural changes that are institutionalized," said Hindman lawyer and businessman Bill Weinberg, who headed the foundation for eight years.
Beshear told the conference that he has tried to make clear that SOAR "will not be directed by Frankfort or Washington," but he said it "needs to overcome the skepticism that greets any government-generated idea," and that will come from "your insight, your ideas and your energy."
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