Appalachian Transition Blog

Amid the hoopla surrounding health care reform, Making Connections News looks at what it could mean for small business owners in Appalachia. How many people would take the leap to start their own businesses if they could afford health insurance without relying on their current employers? Will more small businesses be able to offer coverage to their employers? And what of the opportunity in the medical field once more are able to seek care? Here's what Making Connections has to say about the report:

While small business owners are key to building the local economy here in the mountains, not being able to afford health insurance is a huge challenge faced by many. The Affordable Care Act – some call it “Obamacare”- will offer tax credits for businesses with less than 25 employees to help with the cost of providing health coverage. WMMT reports on how this in turn could encourage new entrepreneurs to start businesses, and increase job mobility which is good for the economy. Increasing the number of insured Kentuckians through Medicaid Expansion and a health insurance exchange will also open up new business opportunities and jobs in health care.

To listen to the report, click here. 

While most of us have known about the beautiful outdoors opportunities in Central Appalachia for some time, it seems that recently the region's tourism efforts have been really stepping it up. And according to research out of Oregon, capitalizing on the eco-economy is a good idea. The Daily Yonder reported recently that mountain biking events in one Oregon community brought in "$2.6 million in direct tourism spending, $3.7 million in sales and 52 local jobs. This comes only weeks after Travel Oregon issued a report showing a $400 million annual economic impact from bike-related travel." 

To those working on local foods in Central Appalachia, it's no secret that West Virginia is making huge strides on building up their local food economy. They've been doing so well that recently the federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission paid them a visit to see what the rest of Appalachia could learn from West Virginia's success. And the Washington Post took notice, writing a recent article on the visit. 

[I]n Philippi, they’re seeing how an out-of-business IGA is becoming a new kind of supermarket, one where jams, flowers, baked goods and produce are gathered from dozens of sources and sold at a single cash register.

“Instead of 30 people marketing their wares, you have one person marketing the wares for everyone,” said Savanna Lyons, program director for the West Virginia Food & Farm Coalition. The concept is called aggregating, and it’s catching on.

“Being small and isolated can be both an advantage and a disadvantage,” said Lyons, who’s trying to help federal officials understand the opportunities and the obstacles to using food as an economic development tool.

"When it’s harder to get your products out there, you have to organize more. You have to get creative. You have to really talk to each other,” Lyons said.

...What’s happening in West Virginia, he [Earl Gohl, federal co-chair of the ARC] said, is impressive in both scope and enthusiasm.

Though it has just 1.8 million people, the state has emerged as a leader in the local-foods movement. Since 2005, the number of farmers’ markets has more than tripled, from 30 to 93. Thanks to the state Department of Health and Human Resources, 18 of those now accept the debit cards that replaced food stamps.... Allowing the use of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP cards, also aims to ensure farmers’ markets don’t just serve white-collar workers with higher incomes.

If you follow ATI on Facebook or Twitter, you likely already know the latest bad news about Eastern Kentucky's coal economy. The region lost 773 jobs between January and March of this year, contributing to a drop in employment of over 38% - and a 42% drop in production - in the past 18 months. (Statewide production remained relatively steady in the first quarter of 2013, thanks to the increase in production at Western Kentucky coal mines.) According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, coal jobs statewide are at their lowest level since 1950 - and 96% of all the coal jobs lost in the last 18 months were from Eastern Kentucky. 

While many of our elected officials point fingers at the EPA, pretending that the problem is permitting and not geology and economics, our miners, their families and their communities are left to figure out what to do now. 

There is room for hope, of course, as there always is. As a recent editorial from the Hazard Herald put it, "Hope is the catalyst for success in life." And that same editorial goes on to describe a very hopeful thing - the Appalachian Teaching and Leadership Network:

The good folks at Making Connections News have a great story on the Appalachian Carbon Partnership, a project of MACED's (along with Rural Action and Appalachian Sustainable Development). ACP helps forest owners in Central Appalachia preserve their forests for future generations by selling the carbon offsets their forests generate. Because forest stewardship can be costly - and many family forest owners cut their timber to pay pressing bills - offset payments can really make a difference. Here's what Making Connections has to say about their radio story: 

Central Appalachia loses more than 130 acres of forestland everyday, as economic pressures force families to clear their land.  Nearly 90 percent of forestland is privately owned and less than 5 percent of that land is under sustainable management. An innovative pilot program called the Appalachian Carbon Partnership is working to reverse this trend.  A project of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development  (MACED), in partnership with Appalachian Sustainable Development and Rural Action, ACP supports the practice of good forest management by selling carbon offsets that compensate landowners for the carbon sequestered in their trees each year. WMMT visited the Stickney Family in Estill County, KY, where they are sustainably managing their woodlands, and talked with various folks who support land and landowners by buying Appalachian Forest Offsets.

Listen to the whole radio story here.