New Research Documents Economic Resilience Across AppalachiaFebruary 2019 |
Case Studies Offer Economic Growth Strategies in the Face of Industry Disruptions
Contact: Wendy Wasserman, wwasserman@arc.gov; 202.884.7771
“This research highlights what we see every day at ARC—examples of Appalachian communities exhibiting resilience despite significant economic disruptions,” said ARC Federal Co-Chair Tim Thomas. “Communities which are thoughtfully investing in community infrastructure, capitalizing on cross-collaboration, and cultivating entrepreneurship are driving the Region’s economic future.”
To quantify economic resilience, 35 measures of demographics/mobility; economics/ industry; and community/health were analyzed in the Technical Report. With this analysis, each of Appalachia’s 420 counties was given a “resilience score”. From there, researchers conducted further analysis and field interviews to identify commonalities across counties with higher resilience scores.
These strategies include:
- Investing in education, technology, infrastructure and broadband;
- Engaging the community over the long-term;
- Growing youth engagement and next generation leadership;
- Identifying and growing the assets in the community and region;
- Building networks and fostering collaboration;
- Moving multiple sectors forward for economic development and growing value chains; and
- Cultivating entrepreneurs and developing resources for business start-ups.
Case studies include:
- Fannin, Georgia
- Flathead, Montana
- St. Clair, Alabama
- McCracken, Kentucky
- Holmes, Ohio
- Chenango, New York
- Dickinson, Iowa
- Lee & Itawamba, Mississippi
- Harrison, West Virginia
- McKean, Pennsylvania
“Our team hopes this study will help practitioners identify ways to make their communities more resilient to economic shocks,” said Fritz Boettner, Principal, Downstream Strategies and project leader for the research. “We explored locations across the country to inform a pragmatic approach to community development aiming towards the triple bottom line of economic, social, and environmental development. We believe this approach can lead to stronger and more resilient communities in Appalachia.
The research was conducted by Downstream Strategies, Dialogue + Design and Associates, the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development, and West Virginia University, on behalf of the Appalachian Regional Commission. Funding was provided via ARC’s POWER (Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization) Initiative to help communities and regions that have been affected by job losses in coal mining, coal power plant operations, and coal-related supply chain industries due to the changing economics of America's energy production.
About the Appalachian Regional Commission
The Appalachian Regional Commission (www.arc.gov) is an economic development agency of the federal government and 13 state governments focusing on 420 counties across the Appalachian Region. ARC’s mission is to innovate, partner, and invest to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth in Appalachia to help the Region achieve socioeconomic parity with the nation.