Southern West Virginia Story Archives - Page 3 of 8 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Southern W.Va. Business Hub Tackles Workforce Challenges With Addiction Recovery Training Program

A fourth Fruits of Labor Cafe and Bakery will open later in August in Beckley. The company formalized a program focused on helping employers create workspaces that are recovery friendly.

A fourth Fruits of Labor Cafe and Bakery will open later in August in Beckley. The company formalized a program focused on helping employers create work spaces that are recovery friendly.

The program is called Communities of Healing. It was started by Fruits of Labor owner Tammy Jordan, as a way for her business to employ and support people in recovery.

The Communities of Healing project brings in partners like West Virginia Hive Network to share the program with other businesses in the region.

Judy Moore, deputy director of operations at the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority and president of Country Roads Angel Network, said in addition to helping navigate people through recovery, the Communities of Healing Program is also helping the economy.

“It is a deep need, especially for southern West Virginia,” Moore said. “We have a true workforce problem. And we have found that, embedded within that is this opioid issue. And in order to break down the issues surrounding the workforce, this is a big problem that we have to tackle.”

The West Virginia Hive is a business hub that works to help businesses succeed.

In addition to helping businesses learn how to hire and support people in recovery, the Communities of Healing program is addressing the stigma surrounding drug abuse.

And Moore said, it takes more than a willing heart.

“That’s where it has to start,” Moore said. “They have to have passion. They need to understand that they’re working with individuals that have been through a lot, and they are really restarting. The businesses have to have patience. It’s so very important that the businesses go through this program and learn about all of those resources and tools and skills that they truly need to make this successful.”

This is the second year businesses can apply for acceptance into the Communities of Healing program. To date, 24 businesses have graduated from the program. The fourth cohort of nine businesses just began. The initiative has been funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission.

W.Va. Communities Celebrate Return Of Clean Water

Several communities in West Virginia's southern coalfields celebrated the completion of a long awaited project to bring clean water to local communities last week.

Several communities in West Virginia’s southern coalfields celebrated the completion of a long awaited project to bring clean water to local communities last week.

The Elkhorn Water Project began in 2015 and included a new 400,000 gallon water storage tank on Elkhorn Mountain. The recently completed phase two brings county water to 112 McDowell County Service District customers in Upland, Kyle and Powhatan; 163 customers in Northfork and Algoma; and 101 in Keystone, the Bluefield Daily Telegraph reported.

Many water systems in the area were installed in the early 1900s by coal companies and have been failing for years. Residents of Keystone, for example, were under a boil water notice for more than a decade.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., met with local and state officials on Thursdayto celebrate the completion phase two. Capito said clean drinking water is among the basic infrastructure rights, which includes good roads and broadband access.

Bears, Birds And Wilderness: Virtual Field Trips Take Classrooms Through W.Va. Nature

Appalachian Headwaters, a non-profit education, restoration and community development organization in southern West Virginia, is continuing its series of virtual field trips every Friday afternoon through December.

Classrooms will spend a half hour each Friday at 1 p.m. exploring West Virginia’s wetlands, learning about black bears and the state’s sometimes wild weather. The program also features experts from around the Mountain State to speak on each topic.

Classrooms must pre-register online to attend the virtual field trips, but participation is free.

Upcoming field trips include:

Nov. 5: BLACK BEARS! with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources

Nov. 12: BIRDS: UP CLOSE with the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia

Nov. 19: WILD WV WEATHER with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Dec. 3: WONDERFUL WETLANDS with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection

Dec. 10: WILD WILDERNESS AREAS with Wilderness Stewards

Fayetteville Native Takes 7th in Paralympics 100-Meters, Will Race In 200-Meter Dash Friday

Fayetteville native Jonathan Gore finished seventh in the 100-meter dash in the 2021 Paralympics on Monday in Tokyo — the first of two races he will run.

The Concord University assistant track and field coach, and former student standout, was celebrated on the Athens campus this morning.

The Athletics Department hosted a watch party to show support for Gore.

About 20 people from the Concord community joined to cheer on Gore via television as he ran in the 100-meter final. Supporters clapped, cheered and took photos on cell phones as his name was announced and he took his mark.

The Concord University community watched assistant coach, Jonathan Gore on a flat screen TV.

Those rooting for Gore included current students, local residents, a few folks from the athletic department along with Mike Cox, Concord’s head track and field coach.

“Just seeing someone that you’ve coached that you now work with, get on that stage, you know, what he’s gone through to get to that point — is just remarkable,” Cox told West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Gore was a standout runner at Concord University from 2013 to 2017. Shortly after graduation he lost his leg in a lawnmower accident, but Cox, his former coach, said Gore wasn’t ready to give up.

Concord Athletics hosted a watch party to support assistant track and field coach, Jonathan Gore as he raced in the paralympics.

“At the hospital, they just cut his leg off. I’m crying,” Cox said. “And he just looked right at me and said, ‘I’m going to the Paralympics, coach.’ And here we are.”

Gore qualified on Sunday for the final 100 meter race. Cox says Gore’s running time — which earned him that seventh place finish — was one of his best. The strongest chance at a medal for Gore though, will come later this week.

“I knew the 100 was gonna be harder than the two for him,” Cox said. “I mean, other than his finish today, everything was good. He ran the third fastest time here in the last year. I think the 200, he’s gonna do some damage in this (200-meter race).”

Gore will race in the 200-meter preliminary round Friday evening.

Jonathan Gore supporters placed encouraging posters around the classroom where the watch party was held.

Outdoors Festival Planned In September In Southern W.Va.

The permanent home of the National Scout Jamboree will hold a four-day outdoor festival for the public in September.

The Adventure On! Freedom Festival will take place Sept. 10 to 13 at the 14,000-acre Summit Bechtel Reserve in southern West Virginia, WVVA-TV reported.

Among the events will be a free concert featuring the band Lonestar on Sept. 11 for first responders, active duty or retired military and law enforcement officers on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The event also will feature motor bike and electric bike racing, swimming, hiking, fishing, skateboarding, target shooting, camping and ziplines.

Local vendors also will be allowed to sell their wares.

Tickets can be purchased in advance.

Community Development Leaders Hosting Conference On Jobs, New Solutions For Southern W.Va. Workforce

Coal consumption in the country has been declining since its peak in 2007 and this hurt the economy in Southern West Virginia. The Alliance for the Economic Development of Southern West Virginia is planning a virtual meeting on Thursday, April 29 to brainstorm future ideas to energize the workforce.

The conversation began last fall at the Small Communities Big Solutions conference. This new event continues the dialogue, said Sara Payne Scarbro operations chair of the Alliance for Economic Development of Southern West Virginia.

Scarbro says small West Virginia communities will be represented throughout the discussion.

“Our speakers will convey examples of you know, a nursing entrepreneur in Southern West Virginia and how she started her own practice, and how rural main street development impacts directly the workforce pipeline,” Scarbro said. “So I think that you’ll hear about small communities throughout the conference.”

Scarbro hopes speakers will nail down a specific plan by the end of the meeting.

“That is our hope,” Scarbro said, “to really start drilling down to develop some items to look at moving forward and maybe some subgroups to take on certain priorities.

“As a lifelong West Virginia, I love my state,” Scarbro said. “I know so many West Virginians love West Virginia, too. And I think it’s opportunities like this that allow us to come together to share those shared experiences. We’ve had so many challenges given COVID pandemic and what that has brought to not only West Virginia, but for the nation as a whole when you look at workforce, and so I think that this conversation will be productive and enlightening and educational, and I hope that people can learn, but also make new connections.”

The Alliance for the Economic Development of Southern West Virginia, along with Coalfield Development and the West Virginia Community Development Hub will join to host the Small Communities, BIG Solutions workforce development quarterly meeting Thursday. The virtual session will run from 9 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.

The meeting is open to all West Virginians. Organizers request participants register for the event.