Southwest Virginia’s New Economy Forums

In October, Appalachian Voices partnered with Virginia Organizing to host eight community forums in the coalfield counties of southwest Virginia.

More than 130 residents participated in the forums, sharing their ideas about how to move the economy of their communities forward.

We are excited to continue this conversation. In the coming months, we will publish an outline of the suggestions gathered so far and host an online, wiki-style crowdsourcing project that will broaden the reach of this initiative and get more specific feedback about how to proceed with the ideas being generated.

Ultimately, we will combine all of this community-generated information into a “Citizens’ Roadmap for a New Economy.” Local governments and other planning officials can use to this help secure federal and state funding for job training, infrastructure and other projects that can help grow the economy of this region.

For more information, visit: appvoices.org/new-economy/forums