Revitalizing Appalachia: A toolkit for clean-up and community development
What’s it all about?
The Alliance for Appalachia is a grassroots coalition of environmental and social justice organizations dedicated to supporting whole, healthy communities. The Alliance has initiated this toolkit to provide resources for communities vulnerable to the downturn of the extraction-based economy. Our ultimate goal is to provide a guide that will assist community leaders through the lifecycle of an abandoned mine land reclamation project– from defining community needs to building partnerships for projects in their area.
This toolkit builds on our learnings from an extensive and collaborative research project, which culminated in 2015 with the publication of the paper: Abandoned Mine Land Program: A policy analysis for Central Appalachian and the Nation
Who is this for?
We believe that community and resident participation is critical to the success of these development initiatives and that as community members we have the power and responsibility to influence development plans by engaging with federal agencies and local entities that are administering and applying for funds. We believe that sharing information at the grassroots level is essential to successful program management. The federal and regional funding programs listed in this toolkit emphasize a clean-up economy and provide opportunities for cross-sector, multi-stakeholder engagement.
What’s next?
The Alliance for Appalachia’s Economic Transition team is taking the show on the road with a toolkit tour through Central Appalachia. We want to share our learnings with you and are providing resources and support through a community-based workshop, training, and partnership-building opportunities. If you are interested in being a host site, let us know! We encourage you to reach out to your neighbors, expand your network, and talk to your local electeds, and community development authorities about your big ideas for community revitalization. Let this toolkit help turn your idea into action.
For more information about our organization, to request a copy of Revitalizing Appalachia, or to schedule a tour date: please contact: lyndsay@theallianceforappalachia.org
