Appalachia’s new trail: finding life after coal
Published by The Christian Science Monitor
Written by Zack Colman
The $15,000 grant the school won to help create new jobs is part of a Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative contest. That nonprofit wants to develop technical curriculum to better prepare students for emerging fields. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funds some of KVEC’s push, as does a $30 million federal education grant. All the while, KVEC helps 19 school districts make inroads with local businesses and civic leaders to strengthen employment pipelines.
“We’re creating opportunities to build out career pathways in areas that won’t necessarily contribute to the brain drain that’s taking place in the area and has been for 50 years,” says KVEC executive director Jeff Hawkins. “We’re trying to reinvent the community in some way.”
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