Special PROJECTS
Network-Wide Projects
Network members are energized by the potential of working together across Groups to tackle cross-cutting barriers. Topics of current interest and activity include: blending grantmaking and capital investing, oral health and employability, the outdoor recreation economy, broadband and rural connectivity, and equitable funder practices. The Network also serves as an expert guide and facilitator for funders from outside the region to catalyze new approaches to benefit communities.
For example, during the pandemic, the Food & Agricultural Systems and Place-Based Groups collaborated to regrant to local nonprofits working to advance food access in Central Appalachia, thanks to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s funding.
The Appalachia Funders Network works to build its members’ capacities and connects funders in the region to build upon each others’ proven practices towards a regional scale. The Network helps to frame collaborations around advancing an equitable economic recovery. AFN’s role is to create learning environments that help to attract collaborators, manage innovation, and catalyze collective action. Collective regional action between funders will thrive when we can both identify shared challenges and learn from each others’ successful strategies.
Learn more by reading Case Studies of collaborative projects.
Regional Community Asset Scan
The Appalachia Funders Network is pleased to share the release of our regional community asset scan report: “A Road Map for Asset Based Investing in Central Appalachia.”
AFN seeks to improve understanding of the funding and investment gaps and existing community assets associated with socio-economic wellbeing. We undertook this work in order to identify cross-sector opportunities for coordinated foundation funding and/or capital investing that will promote a pipeline of scalable or replicable projects. AFN envisions that these analyses will illuminate high opportunity areas in the region and inform a better understanding of the interconnected investment opportunities that can improve the wellbeing of Central Appalachian people and places.
Narrative Change Pilot Project
AFN has embarked on a pilot project: Strengthening Regional Narratives Using Journalism, Cultural Assets, and Community Networks Across Central Appalachia. The Network accepted applications from AFN member organizations to serve as leaders of a pilot project that features three communities focused on promoting narrative change within the Central Appalachian region.
After a competitive process and careful consideration from our selection committee, Appalachian Community Fund, The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation, and Mountain Association were selected as the Lead organizations for this project.
Each Lead organization is responsible for creating a locally-based group of experts composed of independent journalists and alternative media, cultural/humanities institutional practitioners, and community leaders who, together, will explore narrative creation and network strengthening as a means of community activation.
The long-term goal of the project is to interweave nonfiction storytelling, journalism, cultural stewardship, and civic media practices to lift up regional narratives and build stronger regional networks.
Press Forward Central Appalachia
Appalachia Funders Network is excited to announce Press Forward Central Appalachia, a local chapter of the national Press Forward initiative. The first chapter of its kind, Press Forward Central Appalachia will cover a multi-state region across the mountain counties in Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia.
Longitudinal research shows high civic engagement and vibrant local news ecosystems correlate with better health and economic well-being. Yet, 78% of central Appalachians live in news deserts, with many areas lacking local journalists. What’s more, Central Appalachian funders have just 1/10 the resources of national counterparts. The rural communities they serve are located at the cross-section of broadband, food,
and healthcare deserts, exacerbated by public health crises like the opioid epidemic. Though this urgent disparity is keenly felt in our region, it reflects a nationwide trend.
We know civic engagement matters, and that for more than a decade, the Appalachia Funders Network has convened, connected, and supported more than 70 funders dedicated to the socio-economic transition in Central Appalachia. This effort not only addresses a critical democracy and civic engagement imperative but also presents a transformative economic opportunity for rural communities in Central Appalachia.
Workforce Re-Entry Literature Scan
AFN’s Health Group recently commissioned “Workforce Re-Entry for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals in Appalachia” to understand what’s happening at the intersection of health, re-entry, and workforce development in Rural Appalachia.
This data was compiled into a literature review, in partnership with East Tennessee State University’s Center for Rural Health Research, by Margaret Francisco, DrPH(c), MPH and shared with those in attendance as a free resource.
Thanks to the support of the United Philanthropy Forum, AFN was able to enter this partnership with East Tennessee State University to summarize existing research around re-entry practices and resources and how they relate to the health in Central Appalachia, as well as host a convening focused around these findings.