Bridging the Economic Divide

By Kimber Ray Main Story Building New Opportunities For Women In Rural Appalachia Women aspiring to further their education and careers may find their path obstructed by a number of barriers, including domestic violence, biased gender expectations and low confidence. The programs listed here are a small sample of efforts to create more fair and…

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Dewayne Barton: Building Opportunity in West Asheville

By Kimber Ray Dewayne Barton isn’t only referring to nature when he talks about changing the way people relate to their environment. “Just like we polluted a stream or a river, we also polluted communities, and [restoring communities] has to be a part of the solution or it’s not right,” he says. As an artist…

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Sara Day Evans: Accelerating Good Business

By Kimber Ray Although the environment and the economy are often painted as rival forces, Sara Day Evans never saw much sense in this argument. What she saw instead was a challenge — and an opportunity — to seek sustainable solutions. As the founding director of Accelerating Appalachia, a nature-based business accelerator launched this past…

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Advancing a Creative Economy for the Clinch River Valley

By Kimber Ray In the remote coalfields of southwest Virginia, a collaborative grassroots project is taking on the challenge of balancing job creation and environmental conservation. The Clinch River Valley Initiative, conceived at an economic development forum in 2010, is an award-winning coalition of concerned citizens, local government, and environmental and business groups, ardently committed…

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