The Time is Now: How to Unleash Appalachia’s Potential

A Backbone Organization with a Vision for Appalachia

Appalachia is a 205,000-square-mile region that follows the spine of the Appalachian Mountains and, today, faces a disproportionate amount of poverty. Historically, Appalachia’s economy has focused on extractive industries, especially mining and coal, but due to recent economic shifts, many of the mining jobs are gone and are not likely to come back. Appalachia faces complex and deeply entrenched challenges beyond the loss of coal, but they are far from insurmountable. Recent decades have shown promising developments in the region – the poverty rate has been cut almost in half – and there are economic sectors with great potential. This gives reasons for hope.

As a backbone organization, Fahe works directly with a network of more than 50 nonprofit members and other partners across Appalachia to help these organizations achieve their visions for opportunity and change in their communities. As Appalachia transitions to a post-coal economy, the area faces many challenges towards developing a vibrant, diverse, and sustainable economy.

This white paper, The Time is Now: How Fahe Unleashes Appalachia’s Potential, focuses on how Fahe works together with its network to uplift the region.

Our Impact

Next Street first worked with Fahe to build a 5-year organizational financial model projection to accompany their strategic plan. We were asked to partner in the development of this paper, which provides a snapshot of Fahe’s current strategy as a backbone organization and discusses future strategies that will allow the organization to dramatically increase its impact and help Appalachia move forward in unleashing the region’s potential.