2025 Strategy Summit Debrief

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Donna Gambrell of Appalachian Community Capital (ACC) continued to highlight successes, showcasing the launch of the Green Bank for Rural America last year. As one of eight awardees of the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, the ACC was able to make the Green Bank for Rural America a reality. The Green Bank will leverage its $500 million grant award to finance  projects worth an estimated $1.6 billion, leveraging 3x capital. It does so by providing public and private capital that enables rural areas to gain the most benefit from the new energy economy. Specifically, ACC and partners are looking to create good jobs that stay in rural communities, help families with businesses build wealth, and create healthier communities.

Gambrell stressed that the most important part of this work is the stories that show the impact rather than just the numbers. The stories combined with the data really illustrate the strength of these communities and its people that drive the change. 

Matt Ward of Sustainable Strategies DC shifted to investigate the question of whether trillions of dollars in the domestic budget for sustainability are going to be cut or not as the new administration approaches, and what we can do to navigate this course while trying to move Appalachia to a thriving economy.

Ward highlighted practical successes of these funds, including the example of schools in Wayne County, WV working to solarize every school building, which will save the school system $6.5 million a year. Sustainability is already diversifying economies and creating jobs. And in these endeavors, local governments and local community leaders are essential. He also stressed the importance of funding for planning projects, as you cannot make a project that’s instantly shovel-ready. Communities that are undercapacity need help to get a project from concept to reality.

Heidi Binko of the Just Transition Fund closed out the first panel with a vision of what we may be able to expect from the incoming administration. Binko advised us to be cautiously optimistic about the new administration and their rural relations, as the voters supporting it are predominantly from rural America. Thus, the administration has a mandate from rural America to make sure they don’t forget about the folks who got them there and hopefully will continue to assist in creating economic opportunity in the nation’s hardest hit coal communities. As for federal funding, Binko forecasted that there will still be federal funds to pursue, but the pool of new funds is just likely to be smaller. 

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Kowalski outlined PA Solar Center’s approach, in which they focus on providing hands-on technical support to any stakeholder in the commercial sector interested in solar. To this end, they work on solar design, cash flow modeling, and also energy storage. They then attempt to aid these organizations in the procurement process. With the strengths and foci of both organizations laid out, a natural partnership is evident, and the two have now come together to propel solar installation throughout Allegheny County. 

So far, 41 project sites have been assessed, 2 projects have been planned via reserve funds, and 17 projects are entering collaborative Power Purchase Agreements (PPA). The goals of these projects are to focus on public spaces, the Department of Public Works, fire stations, canopies, municipal centers, and ground mount locations. And with these planned projects, it’s projected that 10-20% of year-one electricity cost will be saved, with increased savings annually. 

Previously mentioned, these projects are being completed through CONNECT Power Purchase Agreements. In these agreements, a CONNECT member will lease land or roof(s) to a developer or financier to build a solar array. The CONNECT member then agrees under a common-yet-individual contract to buy electricity from the array for 28 years at a submarket rate. Additionally, no up-front cost is paid by the CONNECT member. The developer/financier is then responsible for operations and maintenance. Though this is typically only available for larger installations, this model is much less complicated for municipalities to pursue, as a PPA is only really offered to large systems. 

With that being said, CONNECT and PA Solar Center’s collaborative work provided a perfect example of multi-community partnerships. Continuing, Kowalski noted that without such a partnership, this project would not be possible. BIL and IRA  resources and funding allowed the organizations to form the partnership and begin working through feasibility assessments. They then conducted cash flow analyses and one large Request for Proposal (RFP) before sealing the deal. 

The partners are hoping to begin building systems at the beginning of 2026, and they found that these projects would also not be possible without the elected local officials from the municipalities in Allegheny county. Further, they’ve learned plenty of lessons in this process through various successes and failures that they found important to share: 

• PPAs are often preferred by local governments
  • Less complicated procurement
  • Completed projects don’t consume government resources
• Municipalities can benefit from shared resources/partnership, especially from well-resourced stakeholders
  • However, smaller municipalities often pay higher electricity rates, providing space in PPA for financiers to match larger municipalities’ rates
• Engage with key players early, be patient, and keep constant communication with stakeholders
  • Solicitors, facilities managers, engineers
  • High degree of trust required and it can be earned
• Be open to different approaches/going back to the drawing board
  • PPA was not the original vision

Procurement for EV Development in Athens, OH

As for Mayor Steve Patterson and Jessica Armold, it’s all about partnership. And with that, it’s key to pull in all of your partners together so you can put together a package that isn’t just for your locale, but is more broadly for the region. 

Starting off, Patterson shared some good news for the city of Athens., The city was able to retain the SRECS from Athens’ solar array. With this, it’s going to generate about $100,000, which is then going to be used to buy their solar array outright, and finally save money to reinvest into more solar in southeast Ohio. 

Patterson continued that a bootcamp offered by the Local Infrastructure Hub was vitally important for this process. His deputy service safety director went through the training, and with the help of the bootcamp, the city was able to apply and ultimately win a federal grant. Further, they’ve now found a partner for their community choice solar organization: the Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council. 

This partnership will lead to growth and the implementation of EV charge points between Dayton and Athens, OH. Thanks to the Department of Transportation’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) program, Southern Ohio will gain 250 new charge points in an area that lacks an interstate system with electric vehicle infrastructure.

Jessica Armold then moved to give an overview of the Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC), a council of local governments. SOPEC now has 39 member communities across Ohio, as well as many partners for the community project and the corridor projects of CFI. Now, Armold and colleagues are focusing on utilizing SOPEC in a way to bring together more communities and partners to increase communications and build relationships. They’re looking to build a story in their grant writing, and are currently putting together a program to work together with communities that have large aspirations to move green. 

With this, they offer community choice aggregation for electric and gas with large buying power, being able to get competitive pricing from members. Members of SOPEC thus enjoy grant program benefits, some of which are listed above, but also get to enjoy their neighbors being their partners.

Ramsay Stevens of the IBEW-NECA of Greater Boston then transitioned to discuss multi-community partnerships specifically with labor and industry, beginning with their Project Development Platform. This platform is a program of IBEW and NECA to provide members and partners with the tools and resources necessary to successfully develop, manage, and deliver sustainable energy construction projects. In this arena, IBEW and NECA are particularly proud of recent successes in the South Coast AQMD win, which was the largest electrification grant in history, going to support $500 million in EV charging projects with some of the highest labor standards possible. This grant is also being leveraged by private investors highlighting the importance of private capital and its role to possibly be the main driver of work over the next four-to-eight years. 

Stevens continued to note that some of the highest labor standards can be seen in this grant, and that they will not impede the deployment of private capital. These standards will just de-riskify the investment opportunity for that private capital. This grant stands as an example of the organization’s ability to work with regional industry and workforce partners across Southern California. With this example, we can look to the formula: 

Communities + Labor & Industry + Investors = Unique Regional Wins

In the following roundtable discussion, Ruff first posed the question: “How do you handle anti-union actors in industry? And do you face that issue much?”

• Stevens chimed in first and answered that he doesn’t often face this much, and that actually working in projects, it isn’t an issue. It’s only an issue at a superficial, political level rather than on the ground. The way we can address this is through education. 

Ruff continued and asked, “For the joint EV procurement, what has been the approach, and what has been successful for Mayor Patterson?”

• Arnold began by voicing the importance of diverse outreach, and noted that the outreach has been successful through the avenue of making sure all communities are being communicated with and their voices are being heard. 

• For Mayor Patterson, he immediately answered that in this local-leadership, you have to strip your ego away and be certain not to reinvent the wheel. He called to look at preexisting organizations and programs and focus on keeping them and cultivating the relationships within them. 

Ruff then turned to Kowalski and Raabe to ask them to share their thoughts on how their partnership has helped build capacity and helped the organizations leverage each other’s strengths. 

• Kowalski noted that they’re primarily working in technical support, and that comes with a significant amount of outreach which means it can sometimes be a limited capacity thing for them. So, having partners who have incredible reach with very sophisticated relationships like CONNECT allows them to get in, do the solar piece, and focus on that. 

• Raabe followed up that even though they’re capacity builders, they don’t have the technical expertise to do the solar feasibility assessments. That’s what the PA Solar Center offers.

Ruff moved on to open up to the entire panel and asks, “Have any of you found that you’re dealing with different types of municipalities, different types of governance structure? Is there a takeaway from these experiences about what you’ve learned?”

• Stevens began with a note that at IBEW-NECA, they’ve found it very helpful to engage in both organized labor and organized industry. That means getting elected officials to appreciate the value of a project or an opportunity both in terms of the labor impact and the small, or even large, business contractor economic impact. 

• Kowalski continued that every level they’re engaged with, there’s a lot of support to do it. Being willing to engage with as many entities as possible always relies on the fact that this will make sense if you explain it to them. 

• Raabe offered that working with different governments, each of them had different goals for the projects, but he would say that creating the foundation for them to be able to work together and trust one another bridges a lot of the gaps that may be there. 

• Armold concluded this question by positing that the building of trust is important. They do talk with a lot of differently-sized municipalities. So, they go from a large staff to a small staff of one, or maybe to that one person who runs three municipalities. You have to make the best use of everyone’s time while listening to the concerns and goals, as well as figuring out where the deficiencies are and how those gaps can be filled. You then have to build that network of partnerships and ensure that everyone understands that ego isn’t going to get you anywhere in this game. 

Ruff followed up Armold’s conclusions by asking her to explain the role of a council of governments in terms of what she’s doing with the Energy Council. 

• Armold replied that they have 39 members at SOPEC and the Council is governed by them. They have a general assembly and then a board of directors. Every member of SOPEC gets a voice to make everything as equitable as possible. They have communities with 150 households all the way up to Cleveland and Dayton, so they want to make sure everyone has a voice at the table. 

Ruff finished the question-and-answer section of the panel by asking, “Could someone share stories related to simplifying permitting? Have you seen any successful examples of expedited permitting reviews?”

Mayor Patterson wrapped up by sharing that Athens has learned a lot from looking at their code and figuring out the ways in which you can streamline not only commercial solar, but also residential solar. They’ve cut through a lot of red tape and changed the restrictions on side setbacks and backyard accessory structures being mounted on the ground or roof. They’ve cleared a lot of that tape for their commercial and residential zones. A lot of the time, the code is antiquated, so they’re thinking a lot about how they may be getting in the way in helping their own people. He also noted that it’s important to take advantage of those tax credits, but you won’t be able to if you have antiquated code that prohibits or makes things difficult enough that folks won’t even try.  

– This session, facilitated by the Appalachian Sustainable Business Network, focused on how local governments can use their purchasing power with purpose. Through strategic procurement policy, local governments  can promote sustainable, equitable, and locally produced product manufacturing. What is needed to turn this vision into a reality? Is there a need for sustainable purchasing consortiums? We discussed current initiatives and lessons learned from experts in the room, brainstorm high-impact sectors, and more!

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Facilitator: Lou Tierno, Appalachian & Pennsylvania Sustainable Business Network & Sionainn Rudek, ReImagine Appalachia

This session is part of our Make It in Appalachia track, which includes sessions 2A and 3A if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.

Local communities continue to be on the front lines for natural disasters. Flooding in Appalachia is getting worse, and our communities are incredibly vulnerable. Now is the time to join together and advocate for solutions that will lead to safer, more resilient communities. In this breakout, we shared details on our Appalachian Flood Policy Platform and discussed priorities and possibilities for collaboration in the coming year.

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Facilitator: Jessica Arriens, National Wildlife Federation

This session is part of our Turning Liabilities into Assets track, which includes sessions 2B and 3B if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.

Local governments experienced unprecedented access to federal funding opportunities to advance climate action and sustainable economic development initiatives during the past two years thanks to the IRA and BIL. However, many local governments were unable to seize the full opportunity for this funding due to capacity constraints and lack of project readiness. This facilitated discussion focused on how local governments and key stakeholder groups can work together across Appalachia in order to maintain momentum on their path to more sustainable and just communities.

Key Takeaways

• When it comes to economic development, we need to meet the community where it is in order to offer valuable support. Identify whether a project is at the concept stage or at the implementation stage. Accept when a project is still at the concept level and not ready yet for implementation. Communicate this accordingly.
• Applying for funding can be complicated and lengthy. If you’re not ready for the application process, your project might not be ready for implementation. In this case, you can always look for a planning grant (often less competitive) that helps your project to get there.
• Celebrate small victories and milestones with your team and the communities.
• A big challenge in our communities is a lack of capacity coupled with a reluctance to collaborate with others. But, when policymakers are hearing the same issue repetitively then they can’t ignore it. When we work together and advocate in a coordinated fashion, we can achieve great things.  
• Facilitator: Will Bernstein, Appalachian Sustainable Finance Network

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This session is part of our Maximizing Benefits to Our Communities track, which includes sessions 2C and 3C if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.

How can we best communicate about climate infrastructure projects for bipartisan success in Appalachian communities? How do we craft messages in a strained political environment? How do we share the importance of economic diversification and clean energy investment in a way that matters and resonates in our local communities? This breakout looked at de-escalation of conflict and finding ways to motivate win-win-win economic development in communities resistant to new ideas. We also looked at how to shift language and tactics to keep moving the ball forward in our communities.

Key Takeaways:

• Communication should be transformational rather than transactional, focusing on building capacity and shared goals
• Start with understanding the audience rather than the message – identify base supporters, persuadable groups, and opposition
• Shared values and experiences are crucial for breaking down barriers and fostering partnerships
• Strategic messaging may require reframing language and avoiding hot-button issues to maintain audience engagement
• Building relationships and networks takes time – focus on slow, steady, incremental progress
• Collaboration between communities is essential for problem-solving and securing funding
• Active listening and feedback loops are critical for effective community engagement
• Visual tools and data can help make invisible problems (like air quality) visible and actionable
• Consider using creative approaches (like arts and storytelling) to facilitate difficult conversations
• Sometimes strategic ambiguity is valuable – not every goal needs to be explicitly stated

Watch the recording here

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Facilitator: John Neurohr, Clear Point Communications

This session is part of our Sharing the Story of Hope track, which includes sessions 2D and 3D if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.

Solar policy across states is often uneven, sometimes preventing adoption at scale by communities and governments. Folks came and learned about efforts to enable both community and local government access (known as community choice aggregation) to solar energy. What are the best practices for solar expansion and how do we craft strong policies at the state and local level?

Key Takeaways: 

• Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) is a state-enabled program that allows local governments to purchase electricity for their residents and businesses. 60% of green power market were CCA customers in 2021 while CCAs represent less than 10% of US households. CCA can be the only realistic way for the entirety of a municipality to reach 100% renewable energy. 
• IN, WV, OH, PA – none of these states have community solar, but we are working hard to get it passed in each state. Labor unions (for prevailing wages) and faith-based organizations can be helpful coalition members. 
• Grid has not seen major demand increases in past 20 years, but this will change rapidly with AI, cryptocoin mining, etc. doubling demand in regulatory system that even cannot handle current demand and public utility commissions batting for utilities.
• The system may break very quickly when corporations like Amazon, FB and Microsoft get involved and start to make own microgrids and backups. This technological boom is going to happen rapidly and we need to prepare for thisUtilities seem more willing to be open to solutions than in past – More customers are going to go into default because of raise in costs and this will end up hurting utilities which is why they seem more open to discussing

Watch the recording here 

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Facilitator: Natalia Rudiak, ReImagine Appalachia

This session is part of our Identifying Regional Policy Priorities track, which includes sessions 2E and 3E if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.

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To begin our panel, Mustafa Santiago Ali brought some bright spots, successes, and hope to the panel with the incoming changes and challenges ahead. To start, he noted that there’s still funding from the BIL and IRA that will continue to flow. There are some challenges ahead of us but we know from organizing that we can find alignments with this administration to keep doing the work and putting wins on the board. Additionally, the narratives are incredibly important in this endeavor and we need to continue to look for and tell stories about how change is actually happening. 

Continuing on, Ali noted that we need to continue to honor science as well and treat it as objective while we keep in mind racial/class based injustices and environmental justice. Concluding, he asserted that to have the cleanest air on the planet, we need the cleanest companies on the planet. 

Angela Ferritto joined the panel to shift our gaze to the need to strengthen manufacturing from the ground up, which must include good union jobs. With that, sustainability needs to be balanced with workers rights. This is being worked on currently with focusing on shared values and goals between sustainability and labor standards.

As green manufacturing grows, they’re keeping in mind that it is ultimately still benefitting local communities with good jobs and positive public health impacts. She continued that in this transition to sustainable practices, it’s integral for there to be good union jobs in former energy communities. Thus, they’re placing an acute focus on job creation in these sustainable sectors, as well as supporting the transitions of workers to more green collar jobs. For them, protecting workers while building a more inclusive workspace is a critical goal. She concluded that building this inclusive, green collar workforce requires intentional efforts: 

• Equitable access to training
• Strong labor protection
• Fair wages
• Safe working conditions

The spotlight was then given to Jakob Hannah to discuss change starting from the bottom up in local communities with Coalfield Development’s work. CD looks to help transition former energy workers through hard and soft skill training, higher education opportunities and certifications, and more to help them gain jobs that are transferable across sectors. This is based on a tenet that people change places that create prosperity. 

So far, CD has: 

• Created over 800 new jobs
• Leveraged $160 million in new investment
• Supported 72 new businesses

And currently, they are building the ACT NOW coalition in order to collaborate and make further impacts. They’re two years into their four year EDA grant and are looking to gain more momentum back in these next four years, and the current planned grant timeline looks to remain allocated with Coalfield Development through the Green Bank for Rural America. 

Hannah also identified a handful of non-partisan priorities that we can focus on moving forward:

• Manufacturing
• Localized energy production
• Workforce development
• Energy efficiency 
• Grid resilience
• Disaster mitigation
• Economic development

Focusing on these priorities, we can adopt a few strategies. Namely, narrative building (with language that can be a bigger tent without losing focus), less dependence on policies and more on funding and agencies lasting, and further incorporation of the private sector. 

Camilla Taylor then took the floor to discuss the American Sustainable Business Networks perspective on the next four years. She began with a short list of what we do know for the next four years: 

• New appointees are coming in
• They are by and large people who do not align with sustainable agendas
• There’s a huge wave of many longstanding federal employees leaving and resigning
  • They went through this administration the first time and are choosing not to the second

She followed up with the positives that we can take from this change: 

• This is a fickle administration 
• Not a long attention span, and there will be a lot of noise 
• All advocating for sustainability can take a new identity on being calm, staying focused, and thinking logically
• This will be a huge exercise for staying calm and focused
• A lot of things may get pushed through with legislation, but we need to just look at the impacts 

On the other side, we’re going to be seeing a lot of green hushing. Sustainable work will continue, but folks will keep their mouths shut about it. We can see that investors are still working in sustainability and portfolios aren’t changing, these projects just won’t be talked about. ASBN is predicting lots of growth at the local level, though, and something we can do is focus on scaling good work down to what’s happening at that level. We also have to remember that sustainability won’t just stop, as there’s both employee and consumer demand. 

Joanne Kilgour shifted to move us into the question-and-answer section of the panel and began by asking, “What are some areas of growth for cutting edge industries in Appalachia that support a clean energy future amidst the new administration?”

• Ferritto took on the question by first noting what’s being done in Pennsylvania. She reported that they’re trying to follow the money and stay out of the noise, keeping their focus on what’s already in the hopper. They stop and think, “What can we capitalize on? How can we effectuate policy here in the state to attract new businesses?” One answer is to build with communities and explain how all the policy works. With that, they’ve created an organization within their movement called Union Energy to start building on these alliances and networks. 

• Hannah geared his response towards the increasing amount of natural disasters we’ve experienced in Appalachia. He noted that it’s going to stay in the forefront of conversation and policy and will shape how we talk about opportunities. He asked, “How can we help communities be at the forefront of these conversations while empowering them with resources to avoid such events again?” Concluding, he noted that for better or worse, these disasters are functioning as wakeup calls in our nation while melting ice caps are out of sight. 

• Ali responded to the question by providing insight from having worked on Capitol Hill. Something they value there, he noted, are deep networks. With that, what we don’t talk enough about is creators and how we need to play a stronger role with them around narrative and storytelling. The impact side is important, but making change happen at the cultural level is just as important for education.

• Taylor finished the prompt by noting that remote workers rising in prevalence have shifted priorities for places of living, creating a greater focus on quality of life and thus sustainability and prosperous businesses. 

Kilgour moved the panel to the question, “How can we attract new businesses while getting the skills in the workforce to the point where they can meet that?”

• Hannah began and offered that the trick is to redefine attracting new businesses. You need to start local, as big jobs come and go, but starting small is sustainable. 

• Taylor followed up by noting that talent acquisition practices currently are archaic and focused on resumes, rather than skills. She would encourage any business to look at their talent acquisition practices, as you have talent in your local community, you just need to ask the questions differently. Ali agreed, as focusing on homegrown talent also helps address the wealth gap. 

Kilgour then begged the question, “How can we think about organizing better to best balance and navigate the need to tell both the success stories, keeping the positive narrative going, and adequately defend against potential areas of defense?”

• Ferritto joined the conversation and responded that coming from the labor movement, they’re focusing on building understanding and bridges between folks, such as between environmental and labor. Organizing is a collaborative marathon, not an individual sprint. So, to move forward, we have to be together and find common ground. 

• Taylor suggested that language is very important to this issue. You have to speak nonpartisan. You have to speak the end result that’s tangible while keeping language thoughtful and accessible. 

Continuing this section of the panel, Kilgour offered the question, “Are you feeling a tension between local needs and national trends? If you are, how can we make sure that the complexities of our region are kept in mind while conversations go forward?”

• Feritto began by reminding us that this all goes back to the fact of understanding and the need to stay in tune. You have to identify what the priority is going to be and how we’re going to approach this work, along with what the long-term outcome we’re looking for is.

Hannah concluded the Q & A by positing that how we center the dialogue and focus on impacts day-to-day is a way to keep in touch with localization. 

Operating under the basic principle that one company’s waste is another company’s raw material, the Appalachian ReUse Corridor initiative is underway with a goal to create a regional solid waste management system. What is a solid waste management system, and how can it contribute to creating a more circular economy? How do we build on current efforts to make Appalachia a hub for circular manufacturing?  What role can key stakeholders play in building out the reuse corridor system? All these questions and more were covered in this session. 

Key Takeaways: 

• A circular economy keeps materials in continuous use through reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and recycling
• Turn challenges into opportunities – Appalachia’s unique geography poses a challenge for composting and recycling programs, but also presents opportunities for localized circular supply chains.
• Market demand for circular products can be stimulated through policies and shifting economic incentives.
• Regional collaboration, material recovery networks, high-impact pilot projects, and a material marketplace can help scale circular initiatives.

Watch the recording here

View the notes here

Facilitator: Andrew Dahlgren, Urban Manufacturing Alliance

This session is part of our Make It in Appalachia track, which includes sessions 1A and 3A if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.

One of Appalachia’s biggest assets are its shuttered coal plants. These sites have access to rail and water infrastructure as well as a heavily reinforced electrical grid system. As we look to reimagine these sites, advocates need to consider a site’s “highest and best use” and look for climate friendly and sustainable development opportunities. What does an action plan for redeveloping a shuttered coal plant look like? We covered many of these topics at our Shuttered Coal Plant Summit in October, this conversation will help shape our priorities going forward.

Key Takeaways:

• Redevelopment of these sites is what the communities want. People in affected communities don’t want welfare, they want a place to work. When redevelopment happens, we need to make sure that community members have a seat at the table and that their voices will be heard and respected.   
• Regarding research, do a systematic assessment of economic and infrastructure strengths of Central Appalachia (e.g. manufacturing strengths) and use this knowledge to implement smart redevelopment plans that fit the shuttered power plants in our region.

Watch the recording here

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Facilitator: Jeremy Richardson, RMI 

This session is part of our Turning Liabilities into Assets track, which includes sessions 1B and 3B if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.

Community benefit principles are relevant for development in Appalachia no matter what the federal landscape looks like. A multi-stakeholder visioning process is core to strong community benefits. In this facilitated discussion, we focused on the changing community benefits landscape in the region and next steps to ensure that community stakeholders have a voice in how we do economic development in Appalachia.

Key Takeaways: 

• Lack of effective and clear enforcement mechanisms can lead community members to feel that they can’t hold developers accountable for commitments made. This is a challenge. 
• It is critical to ensure that benefits agreements are negotiated with stakeholders who are representative of the local community.
• Work to ensure that the CBO and other community benefits frameworks are equipped with strong monitoring, enforcement, and transparency mechanisms.
• Adopt environmental justice and racial equity frameworks to assess project impacts and identify community benefits.
• We will want to push for community benefits at the local level. There will be a transition away from more national policy and instead how to bring that down to the local level.
• What should the baseline requirements be that can enhance economic wellbeing, job opportunities, and sustainability across the region? Things like labor standards, targeted hiring from low-income communities, paid apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship opportunities etc.
• It could be beneficial to create an Appalachian set of community benefits principles.

Watch the recording here

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Facilitator: Melanie Santiago-Mosier, The Nature Conservancy 

This session is part of our Maximizing Benefits to Our Communities track, which includes sessions 1C and 3C if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.

Let’s discuss what messaging is most impactful, and what shifts we might consider when communicating about the sustainable economic future we envision for Appalachia. How can we work together and deploy a collective voice to highlight our successes and defend our priorities at the regional and national level? 

Key Takeaways

• Messaging about environmental sustainability resonates with a smaller pool of audiences than expected. Advocates for renewable energy and sustainability should shift their messaging to promote the cost savings and grid reliability benefits of renewables. 

• When publishing content about energy, modify messaging for different audiences as follows:
• Residents want to lower energy prices to care for families and meet financial goals.

• Manufacturers want low energy prices to make profit, grow their business, and meet demand.

• Legislators want to create jobs, reduce costs for constituents, and grow local economies.

• Advocacy groups can connect their work to the economic and environmental priorities of their audiences through this framework: open with shared values → name the villain → emphasize unity → connect over a desired vision → insert a call to action.

• In order to maximize the impact of pro-sustainability messaging it is important to expand notions of environmental allies, understand and speak to others’ values and priorities, and be clear concise, and accessible. 

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View the Mentimeter poll results here

Facilitators: Annie Regan & Donna Kohut, PennFuture

This session is part of our Sharing the Story of Hope track, which includes sessions 1D and 3D if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.

Common barriers to employment exist across the Appalachian region. We explored what the coalition’s role could be in developing a regional or federal strategy to overcome transportation, childcare, housing, and other similar barriers to stable employment for Appalachia’s disproportionately disconnected workforce. Is there a role for community benefit agreements and policies?

Key Takeaways:

• While common barriers to employment persist across Appalachia, many organizations and companies have unique approaches that can help address this issue
  • Coalfield Developments 33-6-3 model helps ensure that its workforce development also offers opportunity for learning and training as well as assisting in barriers to work – such as obtaining a drivers license.
• Preapprenticeship and apprenticeship programs should be prioritized as a way of addressing barriers to employment as well as ensuring community benefit agreements capture the needs of community members related to this topic – such as providing healthcare assistance or access to transportation.
• Amplifying the work of others through case studies and compiling research that has already happened in our region on this topic is an immediate next step ReImagine could take on this topic.

Watch the recording here

View the notes here

Facilitator: Molly Updegrove, ReImagine Appalachia

This session is part of our Identifying Regional Policy Priorities track, which includes sessions 1E and 3E if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.

How can we encourage growth in manufacturing across Appalachia that builds on existing, and re-uses former, assets? Appalachia has enormous potential to become a manufacturing leader in the new clean economy, but how do we get from here to there while ensuring this development is good for workers, communities, and the planet? We shared high-level results on recent and forthcoming research on the potential for manufacturing in the region while we engaged participants in a discussion around the idea of creating a collective and strategic action plan for transforming Appalachia into a hub for sustainable manufacturing. 

Key Takeaways:

• Sustainable Manufacturing Hub: Appalachia has a competitive edge in primary metals, wood products, and plastics, with opportunities in rare earth minerals, sustainable aviation fuel, and battery manufacturing.
• Strategic Policy and Investment: State and local policies can drive green industry growth, with federal incentives (e.g., renewable energy tax credits in 2026) supporting investment.
• Redeveloping Infrastructure: Shuttered coal plants can be repurposed into eco-industrial parks, leveraging existing sites for new industries.
• Workforce and Community Development: Investments in training programs, infrastructure (housing, childcare, transportation), and economic support will ensure local benefits.
• Storytelling and Advocacy: GIS-based story maps help communicate Appalachia’s strengths, while policy coordination across states ensures strategic growth.

Watch the recording here

View the notes here

See the Mentimeter results here

Facilitators: Amanda Woodrum, ReImagine Appalachia

This session is part of our Make It in Appalachia track, which includes sessions 1A and 2A if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.

As we face major shifts in our regional economy and across the country, we continue to aAs solar becomes more popular, many are beginning to understand its positive impacts on a larger scale in regards to degraded lands, such as abandoned mining sites, farmlands, and brownfields. In this breakout group we discussed the possibilities of solar from community solar projects to agrivoltaics. What are the challenges that may arise in this effort? How will policy in the Appalachian region affect the potential for solar projects to take place? 

Key Takeaways: 

• This session and discussion focused on community solar.
• Siting community solar helps renters and owners without financial means or physical means (like renters) to install their own solar – 24 states have enabling policies in place.
• Community organizations can provide a credible and trusted entity (as opposed to the investor owned utility) that provides project training and billing.
• Where are certain states?
  • OH: 8 hearings but never left committee, opposed by 2 large utilities
  • WV: new bill will have sharp economic focus; ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) apparently now supports community solar and agrivoltaics; it’s important that the two largest rooftop installers use IBEW.
  • PA campaign (ongoing) involved “photo voice tactics”–people take photos of locations near them that could host community solar installation and sent to legislators.

Watch the recording here

View the notes here

Facilitator: Emily Little & Roger Sikes, Solar United Neighbors

This session is part of our Turning Liabilities into Assets track, which includes sessions 1B and 2B if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.

Arts and culture is a major contributor to the economic development in communities, and yet it is often under-valued. How can we make sure artists and people in the creative sector feel valued?  How can arts and culture play a role in sustainable economic development?  Join this session to hear from the ReImagine Appalachia Arts & Culture Network and brainstorm solutions.

Key Takeaways

1. It’s important  to be cognizant of the possible extraction of folks’ stories when working in the creative sector, and we need to ensure they are compensated and attributed ownership
2. We need to change the narrative of what’s possible with arts & culture in order to incorporate the creative sector more into our communities and economies, and thus argue for its importance
3. Community based designs are integral when developing projects, both aesthetically and historically. We must ask the community, “Do you want this representing you?”
4. We must abandon the “starving artist” trope to make progress in equity for the expert creatives that are often at the grassroot level
5. Individuals and organizations in the creative sector need to continue to be uplifted and vouched for with research and success stories to ensure private donors, government agencies, etc. are seeing their impacts and supporting them

Watch the recording here

View the notes here

Facilitator: Dana Kuhnline, ReImagine Appalachia & Lee Geisse, Blue Green Alliance

This session is part of our Maximizing Benefits to Our Communities track, which includes sessions 1C and 2C if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.

Arts and culture is a major contributor to the economic development in communities, and yet it is often under-valued. How can we make sure artists and people in the creative sector feel valued?  How can arts and culture play a role in sustainable economic development?  Join this session to hear from the ReImagine Appalachia Arts & Culture Network and brainstorm solutions.

Key Takeaways

1. It’s important  to be cognizant of the possible extraction of folks’ stories when working in the creative sector, and we need to ensure they are compensated and attributed ownership
2. We need to change the narrative of what’s possible with arts & culture in order to incorporate the creative sector more into our communities and economies, and thus argue for its importance
3. Community based designs are integral when developing projects, both aesthetically and historically. We must ask the community, “Do you want this representing you?”
4. We must abandon the “starving artist” trope to make progress in equity for the expert creatives that are often at the grassroot level
5. Individuals and organizations in the creative sector need to continue to be uplifted and vouched for with research and success stories to ensure private donors, government agencies, etc. are seeing their impacts and supporting them

Watch the recording here

View the notes here

Facilitator: Blaise Reader III & Molly Updegrove, ReImagine Appalachia

This session is part of our Sharing the Story of Hope track, which includes sessions 1D and 2D if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.

What are your federal policy priorities for 2025, and how can regional collaboration strengthen your message and strategic priorities? Help us shape our federal level work for 2025. We’ll also have experts on hand to answer questions you may have about anticipated changes from the new administration and Congress.

Key Takeaways: 

• Finding common ground through organizing, collaboration, collective action, and networks is crucial.
• The momentum is there and progress will continue in large part due to the role of the private sector, especially on sustainability. 
• Narrative and storytelling is incredibly important, both about the impacts and the challenges but also about the success stories and how the work/change happens.
• Figure out how your priorities can mesh with those of the new administration and Congress 

View the notes here

Facilitator: Jessica Arriens, National Wildlife Federation

This session is part of our Identifying Regional Policy Priorities track, which includes sessions 1E and 2E if you’d like to follow these topics throughout the summit recap.