2022 has been a busy year of building for Invest Appalachia – building our team, building our internal processes and structures, building out our community accountability and oversight functions, and building up our investment capital resources to put to work in the region. This newsletter provides a few highlights of this progress.  We are now actively underwriting projects for investment. As always, if you have a project that is looking for financing in the clean energy, community health, creative placemaking, and food & agriculture sectors within the Central Appalachian region please let us know! You can submit a project overview through IA’s online portal to get started on our due diligence process. 

By the end of 2022, you’ll be hearing from us about our first investments – both impact-first, flexible, partnership-oriented investment from the IA Fund, as well as IA’s risk-absorbing, equity-focused, high-leverage catalytic capital. Need a reminder of who runs IA and ensures we’re staying focused on our mission of getting more impact capital to Appalachia’s underserved communities? Check out our regionally rooted staff and board. In the meantime, we’re excited to share the following updates with you and look forward to deepening and expanding our partnerships as we move from design and development into full operations.

Inaugural “Community Advisory Council” Convened

Invest Appalachia is excited to announce the establishment of our Community Advisory Council (CAC), currently consisting of 10 of the region’s brightest place-based community leaders! This body will be guiding IA’s priorities for catalytic capital deployment, informing our impact evaluation, shaping investment pipeline development, as well as self-selecting up to an additional five new members. Within IA’s organizational structure, the CAC acts as a community accountability mechanism, ensuring that IA’s investment priorities, organizational practices, and catalytic capital deployments are in alignment with community needs and IA’s founding values. In many ways the CAC acts as a regional braintrust to help shape IA’s work, help our staff to identify emerging needs and gaps within the regional investment ecosystem, and deploy capital in order to build community wealth & power. The membership of the CAC consists of majority grassroots organizations, majority women, diverse racial and cultural representation, individuals from each of IA’s six states, and representatives from key regional networks including the Appalachia Funders Network and Central Appalachian Network. 

Please see the list below the CAC’s current membership:

• Nelvin Howell (They, Them) – Equity Specialist, Mountain Association  (KY)

• Adam Wells (He/Him) – Regional Director of Community and Economic Development, Appalachian Voices (VA)

• Kerry Pigman (She/hers) –  Executive Director, Athens Foundation (OH) 

• Zurilma Anuel (She/hers) – Director, Western Women’s Business Center, Carolina Small Business Development Fund (NC)

• Mae Humiston (She/Hers) – Nonprofit Support Specialist, Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky (KY)

• Jina Belcher  (She/Hers)  – Executive Director, new River Gorge Regional Development Authority (WV)

• Ray Moeller (He/Him) – Economic Development Specialist, West Virginia University (WV)

• Jason Tartt Sr. (He/Him) –  Owner, T & T Organics & Co-Founder of EDGE (WV)

• Alexis Close (She/Her) – Program Director, Appalachian Resource Conservation & Development Council (TN)

• Gabe Pena (He/Him) – New Roots Community Farm  (WV) 

The CAC met for the first time virtually in September 2022, with all members in attendance. Over the course of the next year this group will be working together to shape and refine IA’s work. We want to thank each of them and their respective organizations for their partnership and shared vision for building a more equitable and sustainable Appalachian region! We will be sure to share more updates about the CAC’s work in the coming months. 

Incorporating Resilience

The disastrous late July flooding in Eastern Kentucky has devastated homes and businesses across several counties in the region. Regional partners like the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, the Appalachian Impact Fund, Housing Development Alliance, HOMES Inc., and many others have led immediate response and are now shaping long-term recovery efforts. IA’s Director of Community Impact, Baylen Campbell dedicated much of his time through the month of August to emergency response and coordination efforts in Perry County and fundraising for regional flood response efforts. 

To support EKY flood relief efforts you can donate to the Appalachian Crisis Aid Fund here. You can also see Baylen discussing the role impact investing can play in “Going Beyond the Grant: Alternative Ways to Fund Disaster” as a part of a webinar hosted by the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.

The Flooding in Eastern Kentucky, Southwest Virginia and other parts of the region have reaffirmed and further solidified the need to incorporate strategies for increasing resilience into regional community and economic development work. Invest Appalachia is committed to infusing and incentivizing climate resilience into our investment strategies throughout the region moving forward. In the coming months we will continue to work with local partners to support EKY’s long-term recovery. 

Partnerships and Events: IA Is On The Move

IA has collaborated on multiple partner-led events and participated in more, connecting with regional stakeholders as well as national audiences. As is the case for many of our friends and partners, Fall is off to a busy start and the IA team is putting in the miles! 

Big Ideas Festival: Invest Appalachia was a coordinating and planning partner for the Appalachian Big Ideas Festival, in Hazard, KY Sept 29th – Oct 1st. Big Ideas Festival, led by the  Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky and Appalachians for Appalachia was a hybrid event based off of the Aspen Institute Big Ideas Festival. Programming in Hazard included roundtable discussions on impact investing in Central Appalachia, climate resilience and adaptation, creative placemaking, local food systems, and much more. Keynote presentations included MacArthur Genius Dewayne Betts one man play, “Felon”, an Appalachian Writers Roundtable with authors including Robert Gipe, Neema Avashia, Carter Sickles, Ashley Bloom, and Crystal Good, and a final Keynote from  the new US Poet Laureate Ada Simon and Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson. The event showcased the innovative community and economic development work happening throughout Eastern Kentucky, created space from EKY residents to grapple with the trauma of and challenges presented by the catastrophic flooding in Eastern Kentucky, and engaged philanthropic and community partners on how to center equity, resilience, and regional expertise in the long-term recovery efforts in Eastern Kentucky. 

Appalachian Social Enterprise Summit: Invest Appalachia sponsored and participated in the Social Enterprise Summit hosted by Coalfield Development at Marshall University. Director of Community Impact Baylen Campbell spoke on two panels discussing how social enterprises are primed for success in Appalachia as well as different forms and access to capital to advance equitable economic development in the region. With keynote presentations from ARC Co-Chair Gayle Manchin, a pitch competition from regional entrepreneurs, and some great local food it\’s safe to say that there are great things ahead in WV! Extra thanks to Coalfield’s Brandon Dennison and the entire Coalfield team for their leadership. 

Ohio Partner Visits: In early October, IA staff spent  a few days in Appalachian Ohio with our friends from Rural Action, Athens County Foundation, The Sugarbush Foundation, Ohio University’s Voinovich School, ACEnet, and many more. Over the course of three days we were able to meet with Southeast Ohio’s robust ecosystem of social entrepreneurs and their community centric approach towards achieving a just transition. Key learnings/takeaways from our colleagues in Ohio include: 

• Southeast Ohio is championing intersectional, multi-pronged strategies for climate resilience and sustainability. IA hopes to help support the replication of these strategies, specifically the development of resilience minded social enterprises throughout the region. 

• The history of multi-racial solidarity and community development runs deep throughout Central Appalachia. There\’s no better testament to that past and present than the work of David Butcher of the Tablertown People of Color Museum in Tablertown (Kilvert), Ohio. 

• The resourcefulness and innovation of rural Appalachian social entrepreneurs is unmatched. With enterprises ranging from manufacturing automated shipping container trailers, 3D printed housing, creating high quality paint pigments from coal mine runoff, pathways for economic and educational empowerment for folks in recovery/re-entry, and much more – there is a budding pipeline of very investable ventures in Central Appalachia. 

• “Things that don’t receive love, often go feral” – Patty Mitchell, Passionworks Studio

U.N Mountain Partnership: In May of 2022 Invest Appalachia proudly joined the United Nation’s  Mountain Partnership, an international partnership of governments, nonprofits, research institutions, and other strategic stakeholders working to advance sustainable mountain development around the world.  IA continues to explore specific opportunities and events to showcase sustainable development work happening throughout the Appalachian region and how to build stronger connections between the region and thought partners from around the globe. 

When Waters Rise: In June, IA’s Director of Community Impact, Baylen Campbell attended the When Waters Rise convening hosted by the greater New Orleans Foundation. When Waters Rise is an emerging network of place based funders working to advance best practices in emergency response and resilience in the face of the climate crisis. IA is excited to continue working with WWR partners to develop place-based funders capacity to advance resilience and how impact investing strategies can catalyze resilience in climate impacted regions like Central Appalachia. 

ARC Leadership Institute Fellowship: Director of Community Impact, Baylen Campbell has been selected to be a part of the 2022-2023 of the Appalachian Regional Commission’s Leadership Institute. One of forty fellows selected throughout the Appalachian region, Baylen will spend the next nine months learning from leaders and communities throughout Central Appalachia. The IA team is excited to use this opportunity to build deeper connections, foster new partnerships, and all the while working to build our pipeline of investment worthy projects throughout Central Appalachia. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months!  

Other conferences and events

• CEO Andrew Crosson attended the Just Transition Fund’s annual convening, which brought together leaders from Central Appalachia and other energy transition communities with federal agency representatives and national experts. 

• Director of Community Impact Baylen Cambell attended the Appalachian Regional Commission\’s Annual Conference in western Maryland, presenting on a panel about the Downtown Revitalization Playbook and connecting with key partners at ARC as well as stakeholders from across the region. 

• Andrew attended the Opportunity Finance Network’s conference in New York City, joining several IA board members and partners in representing Appalachia with the national impact finance field. 

• Baylen attended the first convening of the ARC Appalachian Leadership Institute in Asheville, NC. 

  Stay tuned for more exciting updates from Invest Appalachia!