Release of “Thriving Downtowns: An Investment Playbook for Rural Appalachia”

The Appalachia Funders Network is excited to see the publishing of “Thriving Downtowns: An Investment Playbook for Rural Appalachia.” The Playbook, executed by a team led by Ruthie Caldwell, Vision Granted (Pikeville, KY), was created to help various stakeholders speak the same language of investment, identify key factors that enable investments to be successful, and provide examples of real investments that are leading to downtown revitalization in Central Appalachia. This playbook highlights seven projects from the Appalachian region, identifies the unique successful elements in each, and draws out some common learnings (i.e., enabling conditions) for use by practitioners of rural downtown revitalization.

Commissioned by the Appalachian Funders Network (AFN) and Central Appalachia Network (CAN), the Playbook informs downtown revitalization working groups in both organizations. This project was funded by grants from the Appalachian Investment Ecosystem Initiative (AIEI, a project of LOCUS Impact Investing), the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, and Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky (CEDIK).

Recently, the Playbook has been moved to its own mini site, managed by Invest Appalachia. You can access the site and download the Playbook here.

The Playbook was initially housed on the AIEI page of the LOCUS website and can be accessed publicly there. The Appalachian Investment Ecosystem initiative is a multi-year effort (2019-2022) to build on years of locally led work to strengthen and fill gaps in the community investment ecosystem in Central Appalachia. A more effective ecosystem should be able to attract and absorb capital in ways that strengthen regional capacity and advance social and economic opportunity that in turn leads to better health and well-being in the long-term. AIEI grew out of over a year of planning by a group of local, regional, and national stakeholders who continue to serve as an advisory group to the Initiative. 

You can learn more about the Initiative HERE.

(Updated 7/21/23 to include new host website of the Playbook).