Making Connections News

Tourists attracted to verdant mountain views, an abundance of nature and outdoor recreation opportunities, and a local legend are what city managers and others in Norton, VA are hoping will usher in the next chapter in the economic history of this region that has depended on coal mining for the past 100 years. Tourism in this area of southwestern Virginia received a boost which local leaders worked to capitalize on when a 2011 Animal Planet episode of its program “Finding Bigfoot” included a search for "Woodbooger," a bigfoot-style creature believed by some to live in the surrounding mountains. Read the full story from the Ohio Valley ReSource here.

This Making Connections News episode includes the October 13, 2019 service dedicating a memorial to 280 black lung victims in Letcher and surrounding Kentucky counties. It begins with interviews with disabled miners and widows who recount the working conditions giving rise to the disease as well as the horror of living, and dying, with it.

In the midst of the region’s declining industries, politicians are betting big on job training, with millions directed at those who lost jobs in coal mining and power plants. The U.S. Department of Labor recently announced nearly $5 million for worker training programs in Appalachia. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky announced more than $2 million in funding from the National Dislocated Workers fund, and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced more than $1 million in funding from the same program. But critics say worker training alone is no solution and that such retraining programs have a poor record in actually connecting dislocated workers with local employment that pays a comparative wage. Ted Boettner, an economist and executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, argues that a more broad-based approach to jobs, public investment, and wages will be necessary for coal country. Becca Schimmel from the Ohio Valley ReSource reports.

Scott Shoupe is interviewed by WMMT reporter Sydney Boles about his experience mining coal in Harlan County, Kentucky and in Alabama, and the transition he believes miners will have to make to other kinds of work if they and the region are going to stay afloat. Shoupe quit work in mines he felt were unsafe, came home, and recently completed training that has enabled him to start an energy efficiency business. "People can sit and argue all they like about liking coal, disliking coal, but anybody that has true knowledge of the industry knows it's not profitable long-term — and all that started years ago with all the technology and advances in the industry...We needed new industries here yesterday."

Appalachia's coal country is struggling to diversity its economy amidst the collapse of the coal industry. SOAR, or Shaping Our Appalachian Future, is an effort begun 6 years ago by Rep. Hal Rogers and then Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear to rebuild the regional economy. The Ohio Valley ReSource's Sydney Boles attended the annual meeting and reports that SOAR's big bets on high speed internet and industrial development are experiencing challenges on the ground.

Becca Holmes and Joe Gorman run Pollinator Produce Partners in Duffield, Virginia. There they grow different vegetables than some other farms might, and they do it at a smaller scale, on purpose. In this episode reporter Sydney Boles visits Becca and Joe who discuss their farming philosophy, and how climate change has shifted how they think about their work.

One of the biggest challenges affecting efforts to rebuild eastern Kentucky's economy is the failure of the state to properly invest in the region and its people due to an inadequate tax system that has led to repeated budget cuts to education, health care, social services, infrastructure and more. In this episode, Jason Bailey, Executive Director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, describes state tax and budget issues that are holding us back, and offers solutions to move Kentucky forward.

More than 600,000 Kentuckians, many of them children, are going hungry, according to a new "Map the Meal Gap" report by the group Feeding America. The situation could become worse due to changes in the SNAP program that are being implemented at the state and proposed by the Trump Administration on the federal level. Dustin Pugel is a policy analyst at the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy where he focuses on health policy and safety net programs. He speaks about the impact these changes could have on families and our economy.

One of the biggest challenges to rebuilding the economy of Appalachian Kentucky is the state's inability to properly invest in the people and the place. The state's political leaders have repeatedly failed to raise adequate tax revenue, instead giving away corporate tax breaks and continually cutting the budget for education, public health, infrastructure and other critical services. In this episode, Jason Bailey and Dustin Pugel from the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy comment on these state tax and budget issues, as well as proposed changes to health and safety net programs that impact low- and moderate-income families.

Most folks living in central Appalachia would agree that we need to create a new economy to counter the coal industry’s decline. But the question becomes how? Coalfields residents came together several years ago to propose the RECLAIM Act, federal legislation that would more rapidly release money from the $2.5 billion Abandoned Mine Lands Trust Fund for regional reclamation and redevelopment projects. In this story we hear from Eric Dixon, policy coordinator at Appalachian Citizens Law Center, and Adam Wells who directs Appalachian Voices’ New Economy Program from Norton VA. Both helped write a report that shares concrete examples and ideas for projects in four Appalachian states that could create new economic opportunities using AML pilot project funds and those from the RECLAIM Act if it is passed by Congress.

Sarah Smarsh, author of the bestseller "Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth," and Ken Ward, Jr., investigative journalist for the Charleston Gazette-Mail and recipient of the 2018 MacArthur “Genius” Award, share a conversation about media misrepresentations of rural people, and what they see as the real concerns of those living in the country. They were keynote speakers at the Life in Rural America Symposium held in Charleston WV on May 21, and organized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NPR, and Harvard School of Public Health.

The Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series is underway. Two wonderful shows have already warmed up Letcher COunty, but there is plenty more in store over the next 8 weeks. Listen in as series producer Steve Ruth describes the musically diverse acts and samples some of their tunes.

Excitement is building for the second Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series, which is set to take place on the Mountain Heritage Festival Stage beginning with rising country star and Pound, VA native Kaitlyn Baker on Thursday, May 30. Organizers Steve Ruth, Valerie Horn and Marley Green describe the goals of the Levitt AMP Foundation, the unusual selection process, and the diverse musical acts performing over the 10 week series. They also talk about the value of what some call "creative placemaking." In this case, it's using inclusive, high-quality arts experiences to fuel the continued revitalization of Whitesburg’s downtown core. They describe the goals of Levitt AMP Whitesburg to include bringing people of all ages and backgrounds together to enjoy free, live music while strengthening the social and economic fabric of the community.

This edition of Making Connections News features three interviews that David Butler, host of the Clean Power Planet podcast, did with folks from the New Energy internship program for eastern Kentuckians. MACED, the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, has developed the program with support from the Appalachian Regional Commission. These are paid positions that help participants move into energy efficiency jobs or start their own businesses. First we learn about the program from Rachel Norton, a residential energy specialist at MACED. Then we will hear from Frank Morris who interned in Hazard and now has a job as an energy auditor at the Housing Development Alliance, and John Craft who is finishing up an internship that is focusing on commercial energy efficiency. Find out more from MACED about internships that are currently available -- https://maced.org/jobs/new-energy-internships/

Over the past 6 years residents of coal-impacted communities and supporters across the country have urged Congress to pass the RECLAIM Act. which would invest $1 billion on an accelerated clean up of land and water harmed by abandoned mines, and provide a catalyst for economic development on those sites. This report includes Congressional testimony in support of the RECLAIM Act from Eric Dixon, Appalachian Citizens' Law Center in Kentucky, and Pennsylvania Rep. Matt Cartwright just prior to the bill's reintroduction in the U.S. House of Representatives on April 9, 2019.

Could maple syrup become an income generating crop in the hills of Appalachia? Seth Long, who operates a small farm in Letcher County, KY, thinks so as do others in the region. OVR/WMMT reporter Sydney Boles details the economic potential of maple syrup, a non-timber forest product found in hilly regions like eastern Kentucky and West Virginia.

Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative Executive Director Jeff Hawkins and staff members Dessie Bowling and Bernadette Carpenter describe proposals put forth by KVEC school districts to better serve disadvantaged rural students and improve the economy in Appalachian Kentucky. Recommendations come from "A Region's Way Forward," a call to action for achieving learner equity and school centered community reinvention in economically distressed eastern Kentucky. Mimi Pickering host, and along the way, you'll hear some stories from the Ohio Valley ReSource about innovative KVEC initiatives over the past couple years.

"Many Voices, Many Solutions: Innovative Mine Reclamation in Central Appalachia" is a new report that highlights 20 projects across five Appalachian states that would create new economic opportunities in areas with abandoned mine lands. These case studies and similar efforts could be funded by the Abandoned Mine Land Pilot Program, and if passed by Congress, the RECLAIM ACT. Together they have the potential to jump start a "New Deal" in Appalachia. In this episode of WMMT's Mountain Talk two of the report organizers, Eric Dixon from Appalachian Citizens Law Center in Whitesburg KY and Adam Wells with Appalachian Voices' New Economy program in southwestern Virginia, describe the ways in which Abandoned Mine Lands funds could be used for innovative and sustainable development in the region. Also featured are projects in VA, KY and WV that are case studies in the report as examples of innovative reclamation and economic development opportunities.

In early November, over 100 people, most of them women, came together in downtown Harlan. KY, for "Mountain Women Mean Business." The gathering was organized by local businesswomen and community leaders who recognized that, despite the downturn in the coal economy, new businesses were popping up in Harlan and across the region, and many were led by women. The conference was their way of highlighting the work of these entrepreneurs and connecting, empowering, and uplifting entrepreneurial women throughout the region. WMMT's Mimi Pickering reports on what the organizers called an "uprising of women in Appalachia."

Citizens from six states traveled to Washington D.C. in late November 2018, to urge their legislators to uphold the fees supporting the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, and to pass the Reclaim Act. One in 5 miners in our region have Black Lung, and that rate has doubled in the past decade. And yet, as rates of the disease rapidly increase, the Trust Fund that provides benefits and health care is under threat. This Mountain Talk episode features the DC press conference with miners and their families, as well as an interview with retired east Kentucky miner Kenny Fleming and organizer Eric Dixon from Appalachian Citizens' Law Center.