*Agenda is being updated daily.
8:45 a.m. Opening Remarks
8:55 a.m. Ice Breaker Exercise
9:25 a.m. Sponsor Remarks
9:40 a.m. Introduction of Keynote Speaker
9:45 a.m. Keynote Address
10:10 a.m. Student Leaders Award Ceremony
10:30 – 11:15 a.m.
Breakout Session 1: Are you prepared? Get College Ready
Breakout Session 2: Learning Experience: Fellowships and Apprenticeships
Moderator: Brandon Dennison, CEO Coalfield Development
11:15 a.m. Test Your Luck: Gameshow Giveaway
11:30 a.m. Break
12:00 p.m. Community Asset Mapping Group Project
12:45 p.m. The Place Where We Belong: A student leaders & WV professionals’ panel
Moderator: Tiffany Ellis-Williams, Director, Workforce & Economic Development, WV Council for Community and Technical College Education
2:00 p.m. Business Spotlight
2:15 p.m. Finding a Good Balance for your Overall Health
Moderator: Terri Baker, Grant Projects Manager, Center for Rural and Community Health West Virginia Osteopathic School of Medicine
3:00 p.m. Stress Management through Koru Mindfulness and Meditation
3:30 p.m. Closing Remarks
A joint venture among West Virginia’s 10 southern colleges and universities to better connect the educational resources and workforce training offered in Southern West Virginia to promote the region, eliminate redundancies and share best practices, improve the quality of life for area residents, create jobs, keep West Virginia’s talent pool in the state and revitalize southern communities. The Alliance partner institutions include: Bluefield State College, BridgeValley Community and Technical College, Concord University, Marshall University, Mountwest Community & Technical College, New River Community and Technical College, Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, West Virginia State University and West Virginia University Institute of Technology. The Alliance is focused on a 21-county area, including Boone, Cabell, Clay, Fayette, Greenbrier, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Monroe, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Putnam, Raleigh, Summers, Wayne, Webster and Wyoming counties and represents more than 30,000 students. To sign up for our newsletter, click here.
In 2009 volunteers started to address concerns about housing in Wayne, WV. It was quickly realized that traditional charity was not nearly enough to address the deep, generational challenges we face. After intense community engagement, they pioneered a relationship-based, holistic approach to on-the-job training. Unemployed and underemployed people were hired to construct green affordable housing.
Today, they have grown into a family of social enterprises working throughout the region as a leader in the building of a new economy during the wake of the coal industry’s rapid decline. They have created more than 100 on-the-job training positions, more than 500 professional certification opportunities, redeveloped more than 150,000 square feet of dilapidated property, and successfully launched five new businesses in real estate development, construction, wood working, agriculture and artisan trades – industries based on local assets and having real viability in the Appalachian region. Coalfield Development operates as a family of five social enterprises. A social enterprise is a business that combines the compassion of the nonprofit sector with the efficiency of the for-profit sector. To learn more click here.
The West Virginia Community Development Hub mobilizes residents from all over the state to spark transformational change and progress in their communities. Hallmarks of the organization’s work are to spur on fresh momentum where little exists; to unite the forces of groups that have not considered – or even resisted – collaboration in the past; and to champion new, and sometimes unexpected, leaders.
Over the past year, The Hub has worked directly with 27 counties across the state and 1 in 5 West Virginians have been reached by Hub-related projects over the past year. More information about The Hub’s work and impacts click here.