Appalachian Regional Commission Story Archives - Page 8 of 8

What We've Learned About Fighting Poverty: Appalachian Regional Commission Looks Back on 50 Years

The Appalachian Regional Commission was created as part of the War on Poverty, declared by Lyndon B. Johnson in Appalachia in 1964.

Earlier this week Senator Shelley Moore Capito, along with other federal representatives, introduced legislation that would reauthorize the Appalachian Regional Commission. The announcement comes on the heels of a report evaluating the progress of the Commission after 50 years.

We recently spoke with co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission, Earl Gohl to talk more about the success, and challenges of the past 50 years and the work that’s left to do.

Gohl says while some things have changed, some parts of the region continue to deal with the same issues. Listen to hear part of this conversation.

Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission Earl Gohl

My Appalachia is different from other people’s Appalachia. Why did some communities do well while other communities did not?

“It doesn’t really matter where you are whether it’s Appalachia or if it’s some place else in the world, economies that are reliant on single industry, rise and fall with the single industry. Communities that are able to diversify and to really broaden their economic base and their employment base those are the communities who do pretty well. And part of the challenge within Appalachia is being able to break through that and to really broaden and expand what the economy does and who all it employs and the types of skills it warrants and helps push the level of education up a little bit further than what they otherwise would be. That’s the challenge. I think that if you look at communities who have broken out and have expanded their base of economics those are the communities who have done better than other places. I think that is really the fundamental difference that we can find often times.”

And when you say it’s dependent on one industry, is I think in Appalachia are you referring to one energy industry and being dependent on coal?

“Right now it’s coal but there’s a whole history in Appalachia. I mean at one time it was salt another time it was lumber. Extraction poses challenges to communities. It’s an incredible resource. It’s going to be an important part of Appalachia for a very long time, there’s no question about that. And the challenge that we have is and we you know the ARC does not engage with the coal industry we don’t regulate anybody we don’t take positions on a variety of issues. Our job is to work with communities and strengthen their economies. So our focus and our mission is a workforce that’s educated, capitol that’s invested and opportunities that are taken advantage of.”

Since the Appalachian Regional Commission has made such good progress like we’ve talked about before over the past 50 years, do you fear that Congress might eliminate funding for the ARC?

“Well first of all the progress that’s been made has been made by folks who live in Appalachia. We’ve had the really the honor and the privilege of working with them and supporting them but the strength of the economy the work that’s been done is work that they’ve done and that they’ve accomplished. We’re really happy to be here on the sidelines helping to foot the bill but it’s their successes. And I’ll also say that the commission is really seen by the folks who live in Appalachia as theirs. And my sense is that as long as the commission is responsive to the challenges of the region and as long as folks who believe the commission is theirs and they keep this conversation going that that issue will take of itself. But this really is something that when you go into Appalachian communities you learn very quickly whose commission it is. It’s not ours in Washington it is folks who live in communities throughout those states.”

Special thanks to the LBJ Presidential Library for providing audio clips for this story.

Obama Proposes Tax Credits to Offset Coal Industry Decline

President Barack Obama’s new budget proposal includes more than $3 billion worth of tax credits and other spending to help the Appalachian region recover from the declining coal industry.

The largest new spending would be $1 billion to redevelop abandoned coal mines. The money would go to states and tribes in $200 million increments over five years.

The budget proposal released Monday also includes $20 million from the Department of Labor for states to help workers who lost their coal mining jobs by training them for other professions and $25 million to the Appalachian Regional Commission to help coal communities develop economic development plans.

Republicans in Congress blame Obama’s energy policies for the job losses in coal states. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged to continue to fight those policies by joining the budget subcommittee that oversees the EPA’s budget.

Two W.Va. Cities Chosen for Federal Food Initiative

Two West Virginia cities have been selected to participate in a federal initiative designed to integrate local food systems and economic development.

Wheeling and Williamson are among 26 nationwide, including eight others in Appalachia, that will receive technical support from the Local Foods, Local Places initiative.

The Appalachian Regional Commission and five other federal agencies announced the winners on Wednesday in a news release.

ARC co-chair Earl F. Gohl says Appalachian communities recognize that food systems can plan a role in the development and revitalization of downtowns.

Gohl says the initiative will provide technical resources to help communities integrate food systems into economic development plans.

WVU Will Study Effectivness of Appalachian Programs

The Appalachian Regional Commission turns 50 this year and has awarded a grant to West Virginia University and two other agencies to analyze whether it’s been successful.

The $300,000 grant will allow the WVU Bureau of Business and Economic Research and Regional Research Institute to work with the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness based in Arlington, Va., to identify what economic development strategies have worked.

A WVU news release says the project will analyze the impact several ARC programs have had on the economy in Appalachia and will examine socioeconomic trends in the region.

John Deskins, director of the Bureau, says the research will identify which economic strategies are most effective, and which will help ARC and other agencies design future programs.

The researchers involved point out the results of the survey will be useful not only in Appalachia, but in other regions of the country.

The results of the study are expected to be released in the fall.

ARC conference seeks to encourage small business growth

Growing entrepreneurship. That was the focus of the Appalachian Regional Commission’s annual conference in Charleston.

Members from the 13 Appalachian states shared their experiences and ideas on how to create an environment that will encourage entrepreneurs to start or grow their businesses into the future, but many agreed it starts with education.

By the federal definition, 97 percent of the businesses located in West Virginia are classified as small businesses with less than 200 employees. Seventy percent have less than 20 employees, which Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette said very telling of West Virginia’s business climate.

“Small business is big business in West Virginia,” Burdette said.

Burdette and his staff joined business owners, non-profits and educators from the ARC member states at the annual conference, which was hosted this year by the only state to fully lie in the region.

This year’s theme addressed building small businesses: “Entrepreneurship: Transforming Appalachia’s Economy.”

“We had practitioners, people who in their own communities work very hard to provide technical assistance, education, capital and incubation services to have a discussion about what it is they do, what works for them and to share those ideas with other parts of Appalachia,” said Earl Gohl, the ARC’s Federal Co-Chair.

The purpose, Gohl said, is to discuss and share ideas centered on how to make Appalachia a viable environment for entrepreneurs.

“In my work, it seems like everyone has a small business they run out of the back of their truck or out of their garage or out of their shed. The challenge we have is to provide the environment for those folks to succeed and for those folks to grow,” he explained.

The conference hosted a number of strategy sessions discussing how to create value chains with local business, how to gain access to capital and start up money, and this session called “Real-World Ready,” focused on embedding entrepreneurial lessons in public and higher education.

“Eight out of every ten students indicates that they want to own a business. Eight out of ten,” said Ron Thomas, Vice President of the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship, who moderated the session.

“Now, here’s the correlating problem, they want to own their business, they want to be an entrepreneur, but they’ve not taken courses or had support systems at the school in order to help them become an entrepreneur. There’s something wrong with that equation,” he added.

“West Virginia has always been a state of small business people and entrepreneurs and so we know they’ve got the motivation. The issue is how to we give them the skills to be successful,” said Burdette.

Burdette said education is the key, but as others point out, it’s not always that easy.

“We have all these now requirements for students now to be able to graduate, science, math, etc., so you’ve got to get a little creative,” said Thomas.

Thomas said the way to do that is to embed entrepreneurial lessons into courses student already have to take, and start doing it at an early age to grow creative, business minded thinkers from Kindergarten up.

Burdette said that’s something the state is trying to do.

“It’s an essential step. We’re doing more in both public schools and higher education, but we’ve still got a ways to go,” he said.

Statewide programs like Lemonade Day have elementary school students learning how to start their own businesses with lemons, sugar and water, while more focused programs like those on West Virginia University’s Parkersburg campus have classroom teachers calling staff meetings with their students in conference rooms and hosting trade shows where students can show off their products.

Gohl said it’s never too early and it’s never too late to start thinking like an entrepreneur and these types of programs, where students are taking an active part in not just their education, but in their communities, are the key to creating that essential environment to support an entrepreneurial spirit into the future.

“The challenge in developing entrepreneurs in local communities is really about collaboration. Being willing to reach out and partner with folks and organizations that you don’t usually partner with. It’s those collaborations that end up producing real results. What people find out is they can do much more together than when they work by themselves.”