Talking Dirt at EKU April 9th

We wanted to spread the word about this great event ($5 donation suggested) at Eastern on April 9th — bring yoru friends! “The Higher Ground series describes in nuanced tones and local accents the hard realities of life here in Harlan.” –The New York Times TALKING DIRT AT EKU APRIL 9TH ORIGINAL HARLAN COUNTY DRAMA COMES TO RICHMOND CONTACT: Robert Gipe, director, Appalachian Program, Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College, Cumberland, KY. or . More information on Facebook here. The Center for Appalachian Studies at Eastern Kentucky University will present an original community musical drama, Higher Ground 3: Talking Dirt, Monday April 9th, 2012 at 6:00PM in the auditorium at the Student Services Building on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky. Talking Dirt features a cast of forty musicians and actors from Harlan County, Kentucky and includes twelve musical numbers including soul, country, folk, bluegrass, and gospel songs as well as new songs by the production company. The play explores issues related to mining and decisions about the land. The play includes Kentucky coalfield migration stories, stories of young people deciding whether or not to leave the coalfields, and stories related to coalfield ethnic diversity. Talking Dirt also examines the way people talk to one another, the stories that are easily told, and those that are sometimes avoided. The house band for Higher Ground 3: Talking Dirt is The Kudzu Killers, who will also do a half-hour of music immediately before the curtain. Talking...

Herald Leader: Set endowment for coal counties

Today's Herald Leader features an editorial supportive of reforming the current coal severance tax system.  We agree — investing severance tax now in a permanet trust fund will help provide a longer term financial resource for eastern Kentucky, as we transition to a different economic future.  From the HL: Set endowment for coal counties State government's cupboard is so bare the House-Senate budget negotiations resemble "two mules fighting over a turnip," says House Speaker Greg Stumbo. State revenue will rebound with the economy, especially if the two mules ever agree on tax reform. But the outlook for one revenue source — the severance tax — is not so good. The Energy Information Administration, the statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy, predicts a steep decline in coal production in Central Appalachia, including Kentucky, from 175 million tons to 77 million tons, between now and 2020. The decline will be driven by diminishing coal reserves, cheaper coal in other parts of the country, a shift to natural gas and other energy sources and stiffer environmental and health regulations. It will be especially hard on counties such as Perry and Pike where 20 percent of private sector jobs and 30 percent of payroll are directly tied to mining. It will also be hard on local governments that depend on severance tax revenues. The severance tax is levied when natural resources that will eventually be depleted are extracted and processed. It's based on volume and price. Increased natural gas...

Brushy Fork Flex-E-Grants Program Accepting Applications

The Brushy Fork Institute is accepting applications for the next round of Flex-E-Grants.  Here's what they have to say: The Flex-E-Grant program was designed by the ARC to provide small investments in short-term projects that will build community capacity to mobilize local resources, gain leadership experience and strengthen community institutions and networks.  These funds are only available to distressed counties as classified by the Appalachian Regional Commission. The Flex-E-Grant proposals are due into the Brushy Fork Institute by Wednesday, May 9, 2012.   The main purpose of these grants is to build capacity within your community.  These grants are for a maximum $10,000 with a 20% total match and to be completed in a  6 month timeline. Two workshops will be held for those having questions or needing assistance with the Flex-E-Grant proposals. April 17 – 1:00-3:00 p.m. at Berea College (location to be announced) April 26-   1:00 -3:00 p.m. at the Mountain Arts Center, Prestonsburg, KY Read on for guidelines and contact information.   Brushy Fork Institute/Appalachian Regional Commission Guidelines for the Flex-E-Grant June-November 2012 Grant Cycle   I.              Background and Overview Brushy Fork Institute of Berea College has entered into a partnership with the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and the Kentucky Department for Local Government, Brushy Fork Institute will provide training for community leaders and administer $380,000 dollars in Flex-E-Grants for Kentucky’s distressed Appalachian counties. The Flex-E-Grant program was designed by the ARC to provide small investments in short-term projects that will build community capacity to mobilize local resources, gain leadership...

Kentucky Specialty Forest Products Workshop a Success

Our friends over at Rural Action give us a rundown of the March 9 workshop. Be sure to check out the video at the end of the post! On Friday, March 9th, 2012 Rural Action’s Sustainable Forestry Program convened a successful specialty forest products workshop in Jackson, KY. This event, titled “Managing Woodlands For Specialty Forest Products,“ was co-organized with the University of Kentucky Forestry Extension program, and was designed to help draw connections between traditional forest management strategies and the production of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP’s). This is the second regionally-focused workshop Rural Action has helped organize this year. Traditionally Rural Action has focused our efforts on Appalachian Ohio, but have enjoyed the opportunity to work regionally with partners through the Central Appalachian Forest Alliance (CAFA). NTFP’s can offer landowners the opportunity to develop products that will be ready for market in a short period of time and can be sustained on short harvest rotations. In many cases the historic practice of “high-grading” have resulted in lower quality timber stands that are in need of time and management to help them recover. This is a slow process that happens over many years, or even decades. Having alternative income opportunities in the mean time can be a real asset for landowners. Connecting landowners with these types of forest-based economic opportunities and fostering better land stewardship is at the core of the CAFA partnership.   Six species were selected for the day’s topics in order to provide a diversified  educational...

Clean Energy Opportunity Act: Report from the Hearing

Yesterday supporters of Kentucky's Clean Energy Opportunity Act came to Frankfort for a hearing on the bill.  It was standing room only, and the conversation was lively.  Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance (KySEA) member Lisa Abbott reported on the hearing on KFTC's blog by Lisa Abbott for Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Legislators heard testimony today about the benefits of the Clean Energy Opportunity Act (HB 167) during a hearing before the House Tourism Development and Energy Committee. KFTC members and our allies in the Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance have made HB 167 a high priority, and many were on hand in the packed committee room to show support. Although no vote was taken, the hearing was an important opportunity to inform legislators and build support for the future. Bill sponsor Rep. Mary Lou Marzian introduced the bill, noting, "Thank you for allowing us to bring this important issue for discussion. This is a piece of legislation about job creation in Kentucky. Twenty-nine other states have passed this kind of policy that is called a renewable and efficiency portfolio standard. These policies have been shown to stabilize rates and create jobs. And those would be jobs that could stay in Kentucky." Rick Hornby of Synapse Energy Economics presented a summary of a report his firm recently did about the potential economic impact of HB 167 on jobs and electricity rates in Kentucky over the next 10 years. "Kentucky is facing an electricity challenge. A number of utilities are looking at retrofitting...

Upcoming Webinar: Marketing Together through Producer Cooperatives: Three Stories from PA and WV...

One challenge facing Central Appalachian small farmers who want to grow their business is marketing their product. It can be difficult finding larger buyers when you don't have large amounts of produce to sell. Cooperative marketing is one method farmers are using to overcome this issue, and the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition, along with the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, are hosting a webinar on this very issue. Read below for more information!   Marketing Together through Producer Cooperatives: Three Stories from PA and WV   Fri, 03/16/2012 – 11:37     A Webinar hosted by the West Virginia Food & Farm Coalition and the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture Thursday, April 5, 2012  12:30pm-2:00pm Cost: Free Farmer cooperatives are a business model that can help small and medium sized producers address local food system challenges related to aggregation, distribution, storage and marketing. By cooperatively coordinating supply chain logistics, producers work together to market and brand their products, satisfy the requirements of higher-volume purchasers like restaurants and institutional buyers, and expand distribution opportunities. In this webinar, hear from three farm cooperative leaders from around Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Learn about and discuss how these successful models work, and how to apply lessons learned from these models to strengthen opportunities for farmers in your community.  Click here to register for the webinar. Presenters include: Neil Stauffer, Manager, Penn's Corner Farm Alliance Western Pennsylvania Founded in 1999, Penn's Corner Farm Alliance is a farmer cooperative in Southwestern Pennsylvania with the...

Wise Towns Will Spur Young Entrepreneurs

From the Daily Yonder:  The future of small towns will require helping entrepreneurial young people learn the skills and find the resources they'll need to succeed with local businesses. In community after community, asking rural young people if they plan to live in their hometowns in the future meets with lukewarm responses.  But, when the question is changed, to ask how many youth would like to stay or return if there were quality career opportunities available, well over half shoot their hands into the air.  Clearly, it is the perceived lack of careers that is causing many rural youth to believe that they must leave their hometowns and never return. In reality, some careers of interest to youth may not be available through traditional employment in many rural communities. The good news is, according to a seven-year survey of rural young people, that almost half of rural youth are not interested in traditional careers: they want to own their own businesses. Rural places that tie their economic development resources to entrepreneurship-education can create help these young people pursue their dreams and, in turn, revitalize, grow and diversify their own local economies. Over the past seven years, the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship at the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) has surveyed over 25,000 middle-to-high-school-age youth about their communities, education and career goals and their attitudes toward living in their hometowns in the future. We discovered a remarkable consistency in attitudes among rural youth from very different regions of county. Of...

Local Community Investment Key to Rural Communities

From Chuck Hassebrook at the Center for Rural Affairs comes this commentary on the importance of investing in our rural communities' futures:   If we don’t invest in our future, we won’t have one. It’s as true for communities as it is for farms, businesses and families. But investments in the future of rural communities are often met with skepticism – “do we really need it?” The answer is that it depends on what we want. We can probably get along without investing. Our communities will shrink. Businesses will die as they lose customers. Home values will decline. Private investments will be lost. The quality of life will lessen, but we’ll get along. But is that what we want? Or 20 years from now, would we rather look back and see that we made a difference in rebuilding a thriving community? If that’s what we want, we need to roll up our sleeves and build it. Good federal policy can help by lowering barriers and assisting with funding. But primary initiative must come from each of us in our own communities. And much of the investment must be made locally from tax dollars or donations. Grants can help, but they cannot carry the full load. Each community is unique, but in general, the most critical investments fall in three areas: Build local leadership. Modest investments in training a pool of citizens in leadership skills and bringing them together to build a shared vision for the community can pay big dividends....