Eastern Kentucky Must Learn From the Past to Prepare for Its Future Why has eastern Kentucky has not made the same level of progress as other Appalachian coal states? Ron Daley – KVEC/Hazard CTC

How Far Have We Come in 53 Years How Far Have We Come in 53 Years? President Lyndon Johnson listens to Tom Fletcher describe some of the problems of his Martin County community in April 24, 1964 in iconic photo symbolizing the War on Poverty

We have been bleeding coal jobs for decades In 1914 at the peak there were 180,000 anthracite miners; by 1970 only 6,000 remained. At the same time steam engines were phased out in railways and factories, and bituminous was used primarily for the generation of electricity. Employment in bituminous (coal type in Kentucky) peaked at 705,000 men in 1923, falling to 140,000 by 1970 and 70,000 in 2003

KVEC Region Census Data We’ve been bleeding population for decades, especially our young, talented and educated KVEC Region Census Data County 2014 Population %+/-(since 2010) 1940 Population Pike 63,034 -3.1% 71,222 Floyd 38,108 -3.4 52,986 Magoffin 12,913 -3.2 17,490 Johnson 23,262 -0.4 25,771 Wolfe 7,214 -1.9 9,997 Lee 7,594 -3.7 10,860 Owsley 4,508 -5.2 8,957 Perry 27,597 -3.9 47,828 Letcher 23,359 -4.7 40,592 Breathitt 13,409 -3.4 23,946 Harlan 28,163 -3.8 75,275 Knott 15,892 -2.8 20,007 Bell 27,778 -3.2 43,812 Leslie 10,918 -3.5 14,981 Region 303,749 (6.8% of state) 463,724 (16.3%) Kentucky 4,413,457 +1.7 2,845,627   Source: quickfacts.census.gov

Need paradigm shift in thinking and planning to address historic economic challenges and not just Band-Aids for immediate circumstances

Major factors for Eastern Kentucky to not make same levels of progress as rest of Appalachia The dependence on coal, a resource extraction industry, with boom and bust cycles Failure to have an interstate highway cross the coalfields diagonally/ horizontally No public/research university based in Kentucky coalfields Political/institutional boundaries divide the region do not enhance regional collaboration Lack of sustained regional development efforts Successful, widespread effective leadership inside and outside the region

Historically, regions relying on resource extraction industries suffer boom and bust economic cycles and have more difficulty diversifying their economies The coalfields put its future in the hands of coal

Economic, commercial and population growth follows Interstate Highways

Universities enhance commercial and economic development, attract a creative and educated group, promote research development, and provide leadership in their communities

Higher education levels are critical to have a vibrant, skilled workforce I-75 and I-64 university corridor Coalfields underserved by access

Arbitrary boundaries from county lines formed in 1800’s to Area Development Districts created in mid 2oth Century have made it more challenging to have a regional vision and pursue collaborative economic planning today

The future of the region is bright due to the bright minds of our teachers and students The Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative embraces innovative approaches to advance learning and community development

Establish First U.S. “Rural Edu-conomy Innovation Zone” Using Work Ready model to build community support for education Inform community about K-20 education Engage business and local leaders in education Tie education to economic and community growth Creating Global “Silicon Holler” Innovation Hubs

Preparing Region for Global Economy Implementing vision of U. S. Rep Preparing Region for Global Economy Implementing vision of U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers

STRATEGIES TO ASSIST REGIONAL PLANNING Using KY Work Ready Community program with organizations in each county to promote community and economic growth and the New Economy Open meetings held at different hours in day and evening Use as opportunity to get K-12 and older youth engaged Creation of Millennial Think (Do) Tanks to develop strategies to build New Economy and attract and retain creative talent to get youth more involved Create and sustain local leadership development programs/trainings

REGIONAL PLANNING - Continued Host meetings with professional learning (development) component to encourage team spirit and team planning Start with easy wins to build pride and sense of accomplishment Creation of community toolkit preparing communities for the New Economy and community team spirit Use The Holler.org to build an on-line community digital framework promoting county and regional work including data use

REGIONAL PLANNING - Continued Develop and use county contact lists to promote regional work Traditional and social media campaign to promote New Economy, community growth, and regionalism Use the largest roll out of Next Generation classroom technology in rural America and live feeds from Promising Practices/Action Research Summits to promote regionalism Create common strategic plan (contain elements of partner plans); plan based on data (create community, regional data base repository) ; and Goals/Outcomes/Sustainability based plans

SOAR (Shaping Our Appalachian Region) bi-partisan initiative promoting regionalism and collaboration began in 2013. The KY Highlands Promise Zone is enhancing collaboration.

We Are Not There Yet-But We Are Getting There There is a Renaissance going on in Appalachian Kentucky But, a vision or dream without funding is a hallucination. Our federal and agencies with private investment will enable our people to achieve their common vision and make the region's dreams become reality.

Tying Education to Community Development: The Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) “Power of Education and Partnerships in Community Revitalization in Rural America” Ron Daley, Strategic Partner Lead Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) Ron.daley@kctcs.edu 859-388-0406 www.Daleytalk.com To learn more about great work of students and teachers in KVEC consortia visit www.theholler.org