Agenda
Thursday, September 16, 2021
9:30am – Opening Remarks
Matt Moore, Mayor of Matewan, West Virginia
Gayle Manchin, ARC Federal Co-Chair
Jennifer Granholm, Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy
10:00am – Stories & Strategies for Successful Economic Transformation
Moderator: Brian Anderson, PhD, Director, National Energy Technology Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy and Executive Director, Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization
Watch the panels below:
Videos:
Blue Sky: AppHarvest
Blue Sky: Appalachian Botanical Co.
11:30am – POWER 2021 Announcement
Gayle Manchin, ARC Federal Co-Chair
Senator Joe Manchin, West Virginia
Senator Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia
Videos:
ARC’s POWER Initiative
POWER 2021 Announcement
Community Voices from Matewan, WV
Mayor
Matt Moore
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Matt Moore has served as Mayor of Matewan, West Virginia since December 2020. Prior to becoming Mayor, Moore had served as a councilman for the town for three years and is currently an employee of the U.S. Postal Service in Williamson, West Virginia.
Kenzie New Walker
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Kenzie New Walker
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Mackenzie New Walker is the Executive Director of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum. In this role, she has led community-based projects that uplift the people, tell the stories, and preserve the places of the southern WV coalfields. She also serves as the Project Coordinator for the Battle of Blair Mountain Centennial, a collective and collaborative effort to commemorate, celebrate, and memorialize the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain in the Appalachian region.
Hawkeye Dixon
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Hawkeye Dixon
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Hawkeye Dixon has served as the Financial Secretary of UMWA Local 1440 since 2009, and currently serves on the COMPAC, Organizing, and Pensioner Leadership Committees. Hawkeye was elected to the International Executive Board of the United Mine Workers of America from 1985 to 2004. Hawkeye was a founding board member of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum.
Michael Dotson
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Michael Dotson
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Michael Dotson is blessed to wear many different hats in life and wouldn’t change it for anything. He is a father, husband, business owner of Giovanni’s (Matewan, Phelps, and Gilbert) and Dotson’s Auto, and currently serves on the town council for Matewan. He loves where he lives and works hard for what he believes in.
Kimberly McCoy
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Kimberly McCoy
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Kimberly McCoy is the WV Mine Wars Museum’s Shop Manager and Docent, and she is the great-niece of the legendary Sid Hatfield. Kim serves as President of the Hatfield McCoy Arts Council, Inc. Kim has given tours of the museum and town and has taught thousands of visitors from around the world the history of the Mine Wars and the infamous Hatfield McCoy Feud.
Crystal Moore
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Crystal Moore
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Crystal A. Moore is a lifelong resident of Mingo County, spending 25 of her 43 years in Matewan. She is currently serving her 4th year as Town Recorder for Matewan. Crystal helps in planning and assists with events and festivals in Matewan and serves on Matewan’s Historic Landmark Commission Board. In 2020, Crystal founded the “Magnolia Beauties” garden club in which she has received an outpouring of help and support from her community in efforts to clean up and make Matewan shine.
Terry Steele
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Terry Steele
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Terry Steele is a fifty-year member of the United Mine Workers of America, a retired coal miner, environmental activist, a lifelong Mingo County, WV resident, and a longstanding volunteer and supporter of the WV Mine Wars Museum. He currently chairs the Coal Miners’ Political Action Committee (COMPAC) for the Local 1440 Delegation, and is actively advocating for a more just law to be passed for miners suffering from black lung.
Wilma Steele
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Wilma Steele
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Wilma Steele is a founding board member of the WV Mine Wars Museum and retired art teacher with decades of service in the Mingo County school network. As a Matewan native, Steele is passionate about telling the history of the Mine Wars; she emphasizes the ethnic diversity of coal camps through the histories she has collected and actively enlists community participation in the museum’s programming and events.
Stories & Strategies Panelist Biographies
Moderator
Brian Anderson
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Dr. Brian J. Anderson is the Director of the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) of the Department of Energy (DOE). In this capacity, he manages the complete NETL complex, including delivery and execution of the Laboratory’s mission. Dr. Anderson leads NETL’s national programs, in fossil energy and other DOE mission areas, with industry, universities, and national laboratories. Dr. Brian J. Anderson is the Director of the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) of the Department of Energy (DOE). In this capacity, he manages the complete NETL complex, including delivery and execution of the Laboratory’s mission. Dr. Anderson leads NETL’s national programs, in fossil energy and other DOE mission areas, with industry, universities, and national laboratories. He also serves as the the Executive Director of the Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization.
West Virginia
Jina Belcher
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Jina Belcher is the Executive Director at the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority (NRGRDA). NRGRDA runs the Hive, a successful entrepreneurship program in Beckley and is a prior POWER grantee. It facilitates and supports economic and community development efforts in Fayette, Nicholas, Raleigh, and Summers counties. As the leader of the NRGRDA, Ms. Belcher has also led discussions of improvements to the Beckley airport and focused on creating an aviation cluster in the larger Beckley area. NRGRDA is the creator of the Country Roads Angel Network.
West Virginia
Brandon Dennison
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Brandon Dennison is the Founder and CEO of the Coalfield Development Corporation. He is a frequent POWER grantee and EDA grantee. The Coalfield Development Corporation promotes economic development of the Appalachian economy through workforce development, community-based revitalization projects, and investment in employment-based social enterprises.
Virginia
Donna Gambrell
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Donna Gambrell is the President and CEO of Appalachian Community Capital. In this role, she has prioritized the role of community development financial institutions in fostering economic diversification and revitalization. As the leader of Project Opportunity Appalachia—a POWER grant—she works with 16 projects in rural Central Appalachia (OH, VA, and WV), identified through a competitive application process, to provide technical assistance and structured financings with social and financial returns, bringing new investment and jobs to communities in federally designated Opportunity Zones.
Pennsylvania
Mary Hunt
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Mary Hunt is the Program Director at the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. Her work focuses on rural and technology-based economic development, entrepreneurship, community capacity building, and civic engagement. The Benedum Foundation provides the cash match for a number of POWER grants and has helped drive the conversation about economic diversification and sustainability in the region. The Foundation has also funded the work of the WV Community Development Hub in coordinating POWER applications in West Virginia.
Kentucky
Jim King
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Jim King is the CEO and President of Fahe. Fahe focuses on housing, addition recovery and re-employment, and general economic diversification. Fahe has received three POWER grants for work in Eastern Kentucky. Under Mr. King’s leadership, Fahe has gained a reputation as an influential facilitator of regional collaboration among local leaders, economic development experts, and community stakeholders. Mr. King also currently serves as the board chair of the Opportunity Finance Network, the national association of community development financial institutions.
West Virginia
Elizabeth Manuel
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Elizabeth A. Manuel serves as the Senior Director of Student Services overseeing the Division of Student Affairs for the West Virginia Community and Technical College System and the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, which focuses on increasing college access and higher education attainment rates among all West Virginia citizens. She specializes in grassroots community collaboration, making higher education accessible for low-income students, primarily for those first generation students with multifaceted socio-economic circumstances. Ms. Manuel has worked to advance higher education in West Virginia for nearly two decades and is currently responsible for the development and integration of statewide college access and student success initiatives. Additionally, she has nearly eight years of experience working to advance economic and workforce development efforts within the community and technical college system. She earned both her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Marshall University.
West Virginia
Jason Roberts
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Jason Roberts grew up in the McDowell County coalfields in the small town of Bradshaw. He majored in Geography at Concord College, and then attended Virginia Tech where he received his master’s degree in Geography. After graduation he returned to West Virginia and applied for an entry-level GIS position at Region One Planning & Development Council. He freely admits that at the time he had no idea what a regional planning and development council even did. Fast forward 20 years, and Jason is still at Region One, now as the Executive Director. He’s proud to say that he finally understands the roles of the PDCs and is extremely fortunate to work alongside the most wonderful group of professionals in all of West Virginia.
Kentucky
Lora Smith
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Lora Smith is the Executive Director at the Appalachian Impact Fund and a Co-Chair of the Appalachian Funders Network Steering Committee. Based in Hazard, the Foundation is boosting a number of downtown redevelopment efforts, including some carried out under a POWER grant to UK-Extension, and is helping lead a regional conversation about economic diversification. The Appalachian Funders Network focuses on building community capacity, leveraging resources into the region, exploring equity, and promoting clean energy, among other objectives.
West Virginia
Josh Sword
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Josh Sword is the President of the West Virginia AFL-CIO. West Virginia AFL-CIO represents over 575 affiliated unions that work towards the promotion of workers’ rights and to provide community services for those in need. Mr. Sword has been President of the West Virginia AFL-CIO since 2016 and previously worked for the American Federation of Teachers – West Virginia.
West Virginia
Stephanie Tyree
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Stephanie Tyree is the Executive Director of the WV Community Development Hub. With more than 10 years of experience in policy, community development and community organizing, she has dedicated her career to advancing community-based, systematic solutions for rural, coal-impacted communities in Central Appalachia. The WV Community Development Hub provides technical assistance, coaches volunteer community leadership teams, and connects resources available across the state to serve West Virginia communities. The Hub has facilitated many of the POWER applications from West Virginia.