In East Kentucky, Harlan Daily Enterprise reporter Jennifer McDaniels writes about next weeks Arts and Youth forum sponsored by the After Coal project. Arts And Youth Forum To Be Held At SKCTC Harlan Campus  As Harlan County works to diversify its local economy, a number of community and educational groups are working to ensure that the decline in the coal industry will not gravely impact the area’s sustainability. A partnership between the grassroots group The Kentuckians For The Commonwealth and Appalachian State University has generated a series of public forums in eastern Kentucky that have tackled this issue and generated dialogue concerning the future after coal. One of these planned forums is scheduled in conjunction with Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College on Tuesday night at the Harlan Campus. An Arts and Youth Forum will be open to the public Tuesday night and will feature special speaker Richard Davies of […]

by Angela Wiley After a car ride through the fall colors of Appalachia, I found my way to Whitesburg, Kentucky where the lobby of Appalshop Inc was full of community members, snacks and good conversation. The After Coal project teamed up with staff at Appalshop and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth to organize a forum to discuss policies for sustainable community development.  Honored guests Mair Francis and Hywel Francis traveled from Wales to eastern Kentucky to share information about the cornucopia of community and government supported initiatives that have been tested in former mining communities of South Wales. Mair and Hywel Francis were joined by WMMT-FM staff Elizabeth Sanders, After Coal director Tom Hansell  and Panelists Evan Smith from the Appalachian Citizens Law Center and Robin Gabbard from the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky .  The group watched short film clips and discussed how to create healthy communities after coal mines close. […]

Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Appalshop, and the After Coal team are excited to converge on Tuesday, October 7 in Whitesburg with guests from Wales. This will be the second of three forums about just transition in the coalfields. Mair Francis, founder of the DOVE Workshop, and Hywel Francis, a Labour Member of Parliament for Aberavon, Wales, will offer stories from former coal communities in Wales. Event Date: October 7, 2014 – 6:00pm to 9:00pm Event Venue: Appalshop Theater 91 Madison Ave, Whitesburg KY