Appalachian Regional Commission Story Archives - Page 7 of 8

Appalachian Health Falling Further Behind Nation's

A new report shows just how far Appalachia has fallen behind the rest of the country on key health measures such as rates of cancer, heart disease and infant mortality. Researchers say the region’s health gap is growing and they hope the data they’ve compiled will spur new approaches to health care.

The 400-page report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, and the Appalachian Regional Commission used all publicly available data to show where people are sick and just how sick they are throughout the 13-state Appalachian region.

While the report found some regional improvement in the rates of cancer, heart disease and diabetes, people in Appalachia have higher rates compared to other regions. The gap between the health of Appalachians and the rest of the country continues to widen as health outcomes improve more rapidly elsewhere.

For example, Appalachia use to have an infant mortality rate 4 percent higher than the rest of the country. Now that rate is 16 percent higher, according to the research.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkIGJ8_7gkQ

ARC Co-chair Earl Gohl said the region’s health data have never been examined in this way.

“What we’ve tried to do is to bring together in one place and to show how the region fits in with the rest of the country and look at how rural and urban communities differ,” he said.

Gohl said the ARC is focused on the connections between health and economic development.

“We look at these issues and these challenges as something that limits and holds us back in terms of the growth of the region,” he said.

Ben Chandler, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, said he was startled that the report showed that Kentuckians are even sicker than most of Appalachia.

“We really are the cancer capital of the country in Kentucky,” he said. Kentuckians also have the highest rates of diabetes among Appalachian states.

Chandler said the report clearly shows the deadly consequences that those high rates of disease can have. One measure the report highlights is years of potential life lost due to higher rates of mortality. According to the report Appalachians once had life span just 1 percent shorter than the rest of the country. Now the number has risen to 25 percent.

“As starling a number as any is the years of potential life lost,” Chander said. “In other words, people are dying sooner than other people.”

The report is titled “Creating a Culture of Health in Appalachia,” and is the first of two reports intended to point toward possible remedies as well as pointing out problems. A second report to be released this fall, called “Brights Spots,” will showcase communities improving their health. The ReSource profiled the research underway for that report in Wirt County, West Virginia.

Chandler said the report should give policy makers across the region a sense of urgency on health matters.

“Not only do we have a serious problem we have to act on it immediately,” he said.

Funds to Train Workers in Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia

Marshall University is receiving a $1.3 million grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to train community health workers in coal counties in…

Marshall University is receiving a $1.3 million grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to train community health workers in coal counties in eastern Kentucky, southern Ohio and parts of West Virginia.

U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins of West Virginia announced the grant in a news release Thursday for the Marshall University Research Corporation.

He says a team from Marshall will help train more than two dozen new community health workers.

Participating health care partners are in Magoffin, Martin and Pike counties in Kentucky, Athens, Meigs and Washington counties in Ohio, and Clay, Harrison, Upshur and Webster counties in West Virginia.

State Backs $5.1M in Development Grants

State officials have recommended 11 Appalachian Regional Commission grants for $5.1 million for programs for economic development and infrastructure projects across West Virginia.

They include $1.5 million to replace water lines in two areas in the city of Welch, $430,000 for the town of Reedy to correct sewage inflow and infiltration problems and $1.85 million for Flatwoods-Canoe Run PSD to extend public water service in the Flatwoods area.

Other recommendations are $250,000 to Region 1 Planning and Development Council to provide high-accuracy mapping of sewer system infrastructure across 11 counties in southern West Virginia and $350,000 for the state’s Development Office to employ staff to provide technical assistance to grant applicants and recipients and monitor projects.

Programs in Coal Communities Get Infusion of Money

Officials from the Appalachian Regional Commission and the United States Economic Development Administration visited Huntington this week to announce millions of dollars in funding for Appalachian communities struggling with the effects of coal’s decline.

The funding, 38.8 million dollars in total, was awarded to 29 projects throughout Appalachia to stimulate economies in coal communities. The money was awarded through an application process. The awards were made as part of President Barack Obama’s Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization, or the POWER Initiative.

The initiative is a multi-agency effort to pair federal economic and workforce development resources to communities and workers who have been affected by job losses in coal mining and coal power plant operations.

The day started with a roundtable at the Coalfield Development Corporation in Huntington to discuss what these communities need. Among the wishes were improved infrastructure that included broadband and improved roadways allowing for more access.

The financial award was announced later in the Central City neighborhood of Huntington. Jay Williams is the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Economic Development.

“To have an opportunity to work on behalf of the president, on behalf of this administration to help bring resources to help those communities transition is an honor and it’s inspiring,” Williams said. “And the federal government is in itself not going to be enough, it’s really the local stake holders and local collaborations that make this successful, so just to be a small part of that, I feel at home and I’m inspired and excited about what we’re seeing here on the ground.”

Round-table discussion held by the Appalachian Regional Commission at the Coalfield Development Corporation’s West Edge Building.

West Virginia had 13 different programs receive money, the most of any state. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin said the grants can give the state a shot in the arm.

“Lots of worthwhile projects, from water systems in Mercer County, from the money to study the feasibility of the Hobet development site in Boone and Lincoln counties,” Tomblin said. “There is lots of training programs teaching people how to be entrepreneurs, helping them get up and get in businesses, so it’s really going to be the start of a great thing for West Virginia.”

Among the programs to receive funds were the Coalfield Development Corporation in West Virginia and the University of Pikeville in Kentucky for its Kentucky College of Optometry program. The Leveraging Innovation Gateways and Hubs Toward Sustainability at Ohio University was one of the major award recipients in Ohio.

According to a news release, the investments are anticipated to create or retain more than 3,400 jobs in agriculture, technology, entrepreneurship, manufacturing and other sectors in Appalachia’s coal-impacted communities. The Appalachian Regional Commission also says the awards have attracted an additional 66.9 million dollars in leveraged investments from other public and private partners.

Want to Eat Local in Appalachia? Here's a Map That Can Help

What does a Cornbread Festival in Tennessee, a Paw Paw festival in Ohio and the Hatfield McCoy Moonshine Distillery in West Virginia all have in common? They’re among hundreds of destinations featured on a map called Bon Appétit Appalachia. The map features Appalachian restaurants, wineries, and festivals serving locally sourced food has just been updated with more listings by The Appalachian Regional Commission. The map has 62 regional food destinations in West Virginia.

The Bon Appétit Appalachia Map was first published in 2014. Since then, hundreds of new listings have been included on the map, featuring restaurants like the Dish Café in Raleigh County. Manager Rosy Corley says customers come for the locally raised beef and fresh veggies. “They’re just so excited to be able to eat what we call real food that’s not processed and I think that trend is becoming more and more popular.”

And that increasing popularity for authentic local food is driving other restaurants across Appalachia to buy food locally when possible, even if doing so can get expensive.

Map from the Appalachian Regional Commission features hundreds of regional food destinations across Appalachia

Another location on the map is Fish Hawk Acres farm and catering in Upshur County, a business that recently expanded, opening a new market and cafe in downtown Buckhannon. Debbie Hubert is a caterer with Fish Hawk Acres. She says the biggest challenge they face trying to buy more local ingredients is the time it takes to find the high quality food items they need on a consistent basis. “We buy as much local food as possible, but if we have to get product out of season, we get it from a bigger food source,” Hubert says.

The Appalachian Regional Commission hopes their Bon Appétit Appalachia map will help encourage more customers to visit small businesses across the region.

Wheeling Local Movement Gets National Assistance

Momentum continues to mount behind local food and local economic development efforts in the Northern panhandle. Wheeling was one of the top picks in a national Local Foods, Local Places Competition. As a result, local organizations are receiving technical assistance from multiple state and federal agencies to help capitalize on the growing demand for local foods. Meetings with federal agency representatives began last week.

Local Places Protecting the Environment?

The Environmental Protection Agency initiated the national Local Food, Local Places program. The idea is to bring federal, regional, and state agencies together to help find and support existing local food and economic development efforts. Why would the EPA get in on the local movement?

EPA policy analyst Melissa Kramer explains that one reason is to promote lifestyles that rely less heavily on automobiles and all their emissions. She says the local life could go a long way toward that end.

“When you have a downtown that’s vibrant, that people want to live in, that has all the services that people need, ” Kramer said, “people have options for getting around that don’t involve driving. You find that there are a lot of people who want to walk, who want to bike.”

Kramer says that is healthier for community members, healthier for the environment, and healthier for the economy because dollar wind up staying with local businesses.

Federal, Regional, State, and Local Converge

Folks came in to Wheeling last week from Charleston, West Virginia, Durham, North Carolina, and Washington D.C. representing EPA, the US Department of Agriculture, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the State Department of Highways, and US Department of Transportation. These partners met with local Wheeling groups to talk about how to promote a local food system and grow the local economy in general.

It all started with a city tour from one of Wheeling’s trolley busses …

One of the tour guides was the director of the nonprofit Reinvent Wheeling, Jake Dougherty. He heads up one of three organizations that joined together to apply for the federal Local Foods, Local Places Grant. Others organizations include Grow Ohio Valley and the Wheeling National Heritage Area Foundation.

“Of the over 90 applications just in the Appalachian region, Wheeling stood out among all of them,” said Wilson Paine, a program analyst from the Appalachian Regional Commission who was involved in reviewing applications for the Local Foods Local Places Grant.

“Wheeling is emblematic of what a lot of Appalachian towns are going through right now which is searching for what their identity is going to be in the 21st century and how they can focus on the local aspects of building an identity,” Paine said.

“Wheeling is emblematic of what a lot of Appalachian towns are going through right now which is searching for what their identity is going to be in the 21st century and how they can focus on the local aspects of building an identity,” Paine said.

A Perfect Storm

Paine says there’s a perfect storm in Wheeling, combining youthful leadership, local food and area revitalization efforts, and ongoing region-wide partnerships. He says the existing infrastructure in Wheeling, combined with an engaged community, made Wheeling an ideal candidate for technical assistance.

Growing the Ohio Valley’s Local Food System

Executive director of Grow Ohio Valley, Ken Peralta, took a lot of questions during the tour of Wheeling. GrowOV is already deeply engaged in laying groundwork for a local food system in the region. In addition to the greenhouse, GrowOV has built multiple community gardens and a small organic farm inside the city. They’ve also got wheels in motion, so to speak, for a mobile vegetable market that will serve several counties in the region starting in June.

In addition to visiting some local food initiatives that are well on their way, federal and local partners visited a few areas of town that have been abandoned because they’re too steep to develop residentially or commercially. One hillside is slated to be planted with fruit trees and berries. Another, that overlooks all of downtown Wheeling and the Ohio Valley, will be a green, public space of some kind. Action plans that detail what, when and how are being developed.

Peralta is hoping for help testing water as well as engineering ideas or resources to help manage stormwater that flows off of these steep hillsides. He and his colleagues are enthusiastic about the raw resources that seem abundant in Wheeling.

And the Enthusiasm is Contagious

Jake Dougherty of Reinvent Wheeling says there’s now a critical mass of people in and around Wheeling who are dedicated to turning their “dying city” into a thriving Appalachian town. He also admits that new industrial development in the region could be playing a role in bolstering the economy over the last five years, perhaps adding to that growing sense of hopefulness.

“But what I think is great, and what I think we have learned most about our economy from the past,” Dougherty said, “the conversations we are having are not centered around a single industry; it’s centered around the diversification of our economy.”