Original intro/outro music:
"'Till I See Stars" by The Parachute Brigade
The sun does not always shine in West Virginia but the people always d, and I'm delighted to be here.
Brandon Dennison:These are historic times in Appalachia. A lot has changed. A lot is changing now and a lot still needs to change. In our podcasts, we talk with change makers right square in the middle of all this working to ensure the change is for the good. You're listening to Change in the Coalfields podcast by Coalfield Development. I'm your host Brandon Dennison. Welcome to Change in the Coalfields a podcast by Coalfield Development. My name is Brandon Dennison. I'm the CEO of Coalfield Development. And I'm your host today, and a partner organization of ours, from edge, we have Jason Tartt, Senior, who's the co founder, and Amelia Bandy, who's executive director and co founder of edge. So thank you both for being on the podcast today.
Jason Tartt:Thanks for having us.
Brandon Dennison:Could you all tell us tell us a little bit more about what Edge is, I believe that's an acronym, tell us what that stands for and what your organization is trying to do.
Amelia Bandy:So the acronym kind of spells out our plan here, edge is short for"Economic Development Greater East". And it's our goal to understand this area and understand what's going to work to help grow this area, help grow the people and understand what economic development is for not only where we are headquartered, which is McDowell County, West Virginia. But as our name implies, the Greater East and how we can connect to people and partners in our area to move this area forward. And always of economic development.
Jason Tartt:For me, it's really building education and awareness around what the economic drivers are in this region. Obviously, the energy sector has ruled the day here for many, many years. We are more than coal, and we want that to be well known. So really building education and awareness around who we are and what those economic drivers look like.
Brandon Dennison:That's a great phrase. And it's it's simple, but it's powerful. When you say we're more than just coal. Could you explain to the listeners why why that statement would even have to get made? And in the first place?
Jason Tartt:Yeah, I mean, if that's all anyone knows us for. And you know, I have nothing against the coal mining industry, I think it's done a lot of good for a lot of people. But unfortunately, that's what we have built our reputation around and both good and bad. And it really, there was never a focus on any other economic drivers, or what else do we have to offer? Not just the region, but but the country. You know, what else does Appalachia What else, especially Central Appalachia, what else do we have to offer aside from coal mining, so we've got kind of tunnel vision when it came to that and never looked outside of it. And it really put us in a bad situation once that industry started to decline. So really bringing education and awareness to, you know, other areas that we could be not just, you know, good at, but great.
Brandon Dennison:And, and Amelia, you mentioned, you know, trying to understand where the economy is in to move forward. And I think you, your phrase was, you know, what is economic development look like for us? And so, you know, rural West Virginia, southwest Virginia, Central Appalachia, in what, in what ways does economic development look different maybe than it would in a big city or in a suburb in a different part of the country.
Amelia Bandy:So our biggest export here is people and youth. So we have a major population decline where we are. But we also have the infrastructure still in place to support. You know, at one point, McDowell County had around 100,000 people. So we have the infrastructure to have, you know, more bustling communities here. So what we lack here, in you know, people and resources, we still are very resource rich, where we are, you can look around the area, just from observation to understand what can work here. And from an Edge standpoint, we're trying to take that a step further, by working with partners like universities and colleges to have some research done and implemented here so that we can have the data that backs up what you can see but when you look around our area is very beautiful. It's a place where people would want to, you know, have experience a safe environment, raise children enjoy things like retirement, because there's a lot of natural beauty here. So when you look around you can see that we have a lot of water, we have a lot of things that naturally grow here as far as food is concerned. So as far as things like forest medicinals, and things like that, and then we also are experiencing some growth in our area around tourism. So in McDowell County, specifically, we have things like the Hatfield and McCoy trail. And we also have the Head of the Dragon, which is largely used for motorcyclists, and it's something that they have in neighboring counties, like in Tazewell County, Virginia, we have the Back of the Dragon, something that's really it's experiencing a lot of tourism growth, we have people with, you know, six plus figure incomes coming into our area, to take advantage of this natural beauty and these natural resources that we have. But as a locality, we're not capitalizing on that, you know, we're not taking advantage of what's naturally occurring here. And, you know, with Edge, we're wanting to not only embrace what's naturally occurring, but really work harder to create, like Jason was saying education and awareness around what's possible. Creating small businesses and doing things like encouraging entrepreneurship and providing training to people so that they can start their own small businesses. And we can take advantage of these things that are occurring, because it's such a beautiful area, it has such a huge potential, but there's been no sunset plan put in place, from, you know, some of the other industries that came here before, supplied a lot of infrastructure, supplied a lot of jobs and job creation. So for us, we're trying to take a look at what we have here and determine like Jason was saying, the natural economic drivers, and build, training, build workforce development, build things like entrepreneurship, and really, not only just for the people in our area, that we want to be able to create a narrative around our area that embraces what it is, and not only focus on the negative, focus on the positive attributes that we have, so that, you know, people are looking to invest money in places like Appalachia, people are looking to relocate in places like Central Appalachia, we want to be able to take advantage of this, and give them a reason to come here. Give them some plans of what's possible here and really start to build infrastructure around those things. We've seen, you know, most recently, we've had things like the COVID-19 health crisis, where you see a breakdown, in, you know, the entire system as a whole. But when you think about things like the food system, we saw major supply shortages, major problems with logistics and things like that. And if we don't take a look at this area, and think about things like what, what role should we be playing here in Appalachia? What do we have to offer? We have, you know, lots of land and water, what types of foods can we grow? What types of industry can we get into, that supports the food system, not just locally, but for our country? If we don't start focusing on these things and build some infrastructure around them, I think we're missing major opportunities for economic development.
Brandon Dennison:So I love how you all think about this so strategically, and asset based, right, instead of just saying, what are all the problems, we have, say, what are all the strengths and resources that that we have to offer? Jason - how did edge get started? Like, take us back to the beginning.
Jason Tartt:Well, we actually started Dr. Crystal Cook Marshall. At the time, she was working in Virginia Tech. And she bought a group of folks here. And basically just given exposure, she's she's was doing some work around the coal fields, and kind of given exposure to what's going on here. At the time, myself and my partner, Sylvester Edwards, who's since passed on, we were really trying to push agriculture. We started some of the first farmers markets in the county. I mean, we were really just trying to go along with the programming. But the programming was was flawed. You know, and I don't want to put out any organizations or anything like that, but the programming that we were being given was more of a conventional approach to agriculture. And it didn't make sense for this particular region. And the more that we got into agriculture, the more that we start we started to work with with kids at schools with with WVU, and the kids coupons program and you start to see health statistics you started to see that this problem was bigger than agriculture. And we met Dr. Marshall, she came down did the tour. We were doing the kids coupons, we met with some folks over in Hazard county as well, which is how we met Amelia. So then we all got together and really sat down and thought about, you know, what's the framework for an organization, an anchor institution, if you will, to kind of push things forward. So we got together we had. Dr. Ellen Darden from Concord University, she was the professor of rural social work. Mr. Travis Lowe, who was a local pastor up in Bluefield, folks that brought a lot of different experiences and expertise, we didn't want to go down the same road that everyone else was going down. Because I think we needed a much broader perspective on what we were dealing with, and a lot of what we were talking about, at the time, centered around food deserts. And, for me, not knowing a thing about agriculture, or food deserts or just doing community based work in general. When I started to listen to Amelia, and Dr. Darden and talk about the food desert, you know, my thinking initially was, oh, there's just a shortage of food, you know, nutrient dense food, and they kind of gave me a completely different perspective on what a food desert is, who it's affecting why it's affecting them, and and you know, what the real approach should be, to dealing with it. And it's not just related to agriculture, but you're talking about mental health, you're talking about physical health you're talking about so you know, the drug issues that we have in this region. So it's all tied together. And that's kind of the foundation of how edge was formed. And, you know, not only you, you hear people talk about the problems, you know, McDowell County has been talked about, it's been studied, it's been, you know, everyone's come down here and surveyed it. And all these things, it's like, you know, a big test for everyone. But for us, let's look at the opportunities here. Obviously, we have a very bad situation on our hands, but what are the positives? You know, what are we what, what are we going to do to fix these issues? So let's have a solutions based discussion, as opposed to, you know, crying about our problems. And that's, so we got everyone at the table, you know, everyone very tired of hearing about, whoa, is, is McDowell County. And you know, it was just a dire situation down here. And as we began to dissect it, and really take a hard look at it, we started to see, you know, we're sitting on a goldmine here, we just need to understand how to bring it out and push it forward. So that's kind of where Edge was started.
Brandon Dennison:So this is a question for both of you. What is it about some of the traditional approaches that wasn't working? And I love, it's similar. I feel like in the early days of Coalfield Development, very similar type discussions of folks really committed to this place, seeing value and resources, but also really frustrated that, you know, a lot of money would come in, but it wouldn't seem to do what it was supposed to do. Why? Why is it that so many programs in Appalachia feel like they don't work?
Amelia Bandy:I think, you know, with, with almost everything, you know, in my normal line of work, you're taught to take research, take data, take evidence based programs and apply it to, you know, the problem that you have. And I think it's that way, with a lot of things that extends into agriculture, you know, there are systems that are created to address problems everywhere. And for the most part, most of these systems don't apply to our area because we either, you know, don't operate the same way don't have the same bank of resources, don't have the same proper leadership don't have the right education and awareness around what's actually possible and plausible here. And, you know, you try to take things that fit somewhere else and move them here, like some of the models, just specifically around agriculture. When you think about the, the system that is created, it doesn't apply to where we are, we don't have we don't look like you know, areas that have big rolling plots of land everywhere. We live in a very mountainous region, and we're trying to take concepts that are set up for a different area for a different, you know, demographic of people for different you know, it's just the systems don't fit here. And we usually don't have the resources or the time, even from an organizational standpoint to take a step back and say, Okay, well, this isn't working, why isn't it working? What can we do, you know, to make it work? You're given, you know, toolkits and things like that from other organizations and say like, okay, apply this here, like farmers markets, for example. They work great in some areas.
Brandon Dennison:I was going to ask about the Farmers Market example.
Amelia Bandy:Yeah so you know, and this is something that we have experience with, it's not that we're just saying, it doesn't work here, it's not going to work here, I can't tell you how many, you know, even before Edge was officially formed, we were working, I was working for a state organization that was concerned with the food desert, and health outcomes, and, you know, addressing the health of youth and getting food into people's hands, food security issues. And so, you know, we're told, you know, it needs to be a farmers market model, there's resources out there to be able to provide people with things like kits, coupons, and double dollars and things like that, which are all great programs, but you have a huge breakdown in number one, the way we're set up, you know, it takes 30 or 45 minutes to get from, you know, one part of the county to another that might have a farmers market. And a lot of these farmers markets, Jason and Sky Edwards are responsible for going being the ones to set those up, providing information to the community members, just getting that awareness out that they're even there. And then so they're growing all these foods that they, you know, have worked with other organizations to have things like high tunnel support and thing like things like that, they put all this work in and take the, you know, take their harvest out to a farmers market, and they might sit for six hours and make $15 or $20. It's just not something that is feasible here. It's a great idea, but it's not getting the food into the hands of people, you have a breakdown of people even knowing how to prepare food at this point. And even things like awareness around why should you even be eating these foods? And how do you eat them? And how do you fix them for your family? And how do you budget your money around, you know, wanting to provide for your family versus trying to make your dollar stretch as far as possible. So there's a lot of barriers there. But a lot of these models just don't make sense for our area. And there have to be better ways to be able to, you know, provide that education to families and there are organizations that, you know, do their level best to do this, but there's still a huge breakdown. And we can't take models that don't fit here and ask people who you know, already don't have a lot of resources. You know, from an Edge perspective, we can't train people and say, Okay, we, this is something we tried, you know, grow these foods go to the farmers market, get experience with marketing, and with having that, you know, consumer face to face interactions, try to start building a network around getting people to eat the foods. I mean, it's it's not asking, it's not giving them a way for for, you know, for success. And it's it's not meeting the needs of the community there.
Jason Tartt:I mean, let's keep it real. You know, at the end of the day, there are a lot of people that would have just seen turn this place into one big coal mine, one big strip mine, you know, there are a lot of people in positions of power in this region, that have made a lot of money in coal mining. And there's a reason why no one speaks that language that we're talking, there's a reason why these people here are still falling for, you know, we're gonna bring coal back. And when you ask people in these communities, well, what does that actually mean? Because you do realize that coal mining is mostly mechanized these days, so that's not going to translate to jobs. So why are we still playing this in these communities and acting like coal is going to come back and save the day, even if coal mining, you know, came back to full capacity? It's largely mechanized. So we're not talking about the coal mines of yesteryear. This is a completely different game. But there have been people are complacent. And again, I'm not going to get into names organizations and people have been complacent. You know, leadership has been complacent simply because coal mining was was all that they wanted to discuss. And therefore no one was talking about contingency planning or what else is there that we could could get into? There was no money that there were there have been billions of dollars that have left this community, McDowell County in particular, and none of that money was reinvested back into this community. And that's how you build wealth. That's how you build you know, communities, and it just simply wasn't done. So moving forward, and that's why we at Edge really emphasize entrepreneurship because one of the things that that, at least on my watch won't happen is that folks come in and make the money and take it elsewhere, money needs to be circulating within this community in order for this community to be what it can be. So, you know, from a business standpoint, yeah, you know, we went out, we tried to play the good guy thing with the farmers markets, because that's what everyone was thrown at us. Knowing full well, that this is not sustainable, it's not going to work. And sky was saying all along that you know, what, we will go along with the leadership and what they're telling us to do. And we, we were both veterans and, and all of that, and we signed up certain organizations to, you know, try to move things forward. But folks weren't really serious about it at the end of the day, so we went our own way. But for us, it's about truly doing what's in the best interest of this community and making sure that the folks in this community benefit from whatever comes this way. So we have a history of people coming in here and making tons of money. And that money left here, the Walmart, kind of, you know, people here, love Walmart, and I tell people all the time, Walmart is a rural American killer, you know, for every Walmart that we want to put up someplace that's probably 100 to 200, small businesses, I don't know what it took, what they sell everything, from tires, to grapes, you know what I mean? So what are we doing, you know, and we need to be honest with our community, that's what education and awareness is all about, is telling these folks the truth, when we get these cohorts out here, and we're starting to train them, they've never heard this language before, they're not hearing it in high school, you know, many of these folks are not hearing it from their families, because they don't know they don't understand economic development, or financial literacy or wealth building, those conversations are not happening. And those are the things that we emphasize that Edge, in hopes that we won't repeat the same mistakes that was made by other industry that just simply didn't do anything. And as much money that came through here, and that was made here, it's a real shame that this place was left in the condition that it's in, how does that happen? In the most powerful country on the planet? You know, they make all that money and this place is left, basically with the debt.
Brandon Dennison:you make multiple, super important points there. And I think for folks who are not from Central Appalachia, it's hard to understand just how dominant coal and extractive industries have been. And so sometimes folks, not from Appalachia look at us and say, Well, why can't those people just build their own economy and figure this out? Part of the answer is, you know, some of us are trying to do just that. The other part of the answer is, you know, with extraction, Jason, you're hitting on this, that all the money that flowed into McDowell County and other central Appalachian counties was was to build out the system to enable the extraction, the roads, the railroads, the finance systems and structure, even the education system, it was all to to efficiently get resources that were there and pump them out to benefit other areas. And so to just pivot from this, you know, we've been built to the tune (and Jason said billions with a B, and that's exactly right) you know, billions of investment, but it was all to do this one thing. And it was not to set up a healthy, diversified, vibrant community. And so now those of us that are still here are trying to shift to this new entrepreneurial approach that keeps wealth here and invest in the people. And the place is here for the long haul. But it took us generations to get in this mess, and it's not going to just overnight through a farmer's market become better. Did I get that right?
Jason Tartt:Oh, absolutely. I just returned from West Africa. And it's, it's the exact same thing, you know, Africa was colonized. And when everything settled, it was left in the condition that it's in wasn't the people there that did it, because before colonization, they were doing fine. But, you know, people came in and got what they wanted, and they left and they left the place for dead. And the exact same thing has happened throughout, especially Central Appalachia. But but you know, when you talk about these extractive industries, anywhere that they go, this is kind of, of what's left behind. So and you're right, we definitely need to make sure that as we build this thing, and we're going to that it's done with the community engaged and and owning, you know what's going on. That's, that's, that's critical.
Brandon Dennison:So Amelia, give me the longer version. You know, what got you interested in community development. Where did you grow up? And what, what were some of the key moments that that led you to becoming a co founder of this amazing organization called edge?
Amelia Bandy:I grew up In Tazewell County, Virginia, which it neighbors, McDowell County, West Virginia, and I'm still here in Tazewell County, went to school locally. And at Emory and Henry college, got my bachelor's degree worked for some state organizations, which is what you're supposed to do, you're supposed to get a good state job, you know, retire, be satisfied with that. And I got my master's degree thinking, I'm going to make myself more competitive, so I can get out of here, you know, this place doesn't have anything to offer me. And I still, you know, managed to stay here. You know, my family is a huge reason why, why I'm here, and something that I noticed, um, you know, in all of my work with state organizations, and not, you know, naming any or throwing me under the bus or anything like that, is that there are always plans for you know, you have huge state plans that are, you know, for, like five year plans are 10 year plans? How are you going to make a difference? How are you going to change things, most of these plans are centered around improving health outcomes and the communities that we work in, and this was in southwest Virginia. And, you know, there's all these metrics and all these ways to help people and help them improve their health. And, you know, just watching the needle not move, despite the fact that you're trying to plow these interventions, work in communities work in schools. It's disheartening. Because, you know, I love this place. I love the people here, it's unlike any other place. But I think part of what really excited me about the possibility of creating an organization that was kind of outside of what other organizations were the one as a possibility for really been able to create and inspire, change, and really move the needle, we're not trying from an Edge standpoint, to compete with any other organizations, you know, in small rural areas, the resources are usually pretty limited. And when you have other organizations in your area that are doing similar or like work, sometimes people feel like, oh, you know, this is a competition, we're competing for the same resources we're competing for, you know, the same time and attention. And there's plenty of work to do here. There could be a million Edges, and we'd still have a heavy lift. So I think for me, the thing that has drawn me to this work is just really wanting to create some sort of change a new narrative for this place that people can be proud of. There's a lot of narratives around Southern West Virginia, southwest Virginia, Appalachia, people view our area through a certain lens. And there's a lot of stereotypes out there that exists about our area. And, you know, most of these are, couldn't be farther from the truth. And there are many reasons to be proud of where we are. And I think that just for me, personally, being able to do this work, and create things that involve our community, and help people in our community is huge for me. There's a reason why I'm still here. And this has to be this reasons. You know, there's a reason why I haven't really left while I've been tired to work around, you know, community development, community health, and I feel like Edge is just a huge piece of that, and I'm really honored. We've formed a group that you know, just the think tank behind what originally got it started I'm honored to be a part of that and honored to work with people who are passionate about this area. A passionate about people, and you know, making positive change. I think that's it's been the most rewarding part of my, you know, don't live so far.
Brandon Dennison:Just real quick, and Amelia, and I'm gonna jump to to Jason's long version of the story. You mentioned the beauty of central Appalachia, the culture of central Appalachia, the people of Central Appalachia, what are what's something you do for fun, you know, outside of all this hard work that I know is like 100 hours a week, probably what, what sustains you outside of the work realm?
Amelia Bandy:Um, for me, one of my biggest passions outside of work is food. So I cook all the time. I love to cook. I love to cook for people. I love to see people eat my food and get feedback, something that I'm very passionate about. I'm looking forward to traveling to other places and experience in the food culture there. We have huge culture around the food that exists here. And you know, that's always fun to play around with learn more about learning the origin stories of where our food comes from here. But if I'm not working, I'm usually in the kitchen cooking something. And it's just something that brings me a lot of joy and it, it's a joy to me to be able to feed people. So that's awesome. And I also have a 17 year old daughter that takes up the rest of my time, and you know, wherever she wants to go, and whatever she wants to do, it's, that's the name of the game for me right now.
Brandon Dennison:Well, Jason, how did it all start? For you? And what were some of the defining moments that led you to becoming a co founder of Edge?
Jason Tartt:Well, you know, I left here many years ago, I went the military. I never really thought I'd come back here ever, to be honest with you. And then I got into, you know, contracting with the DOD, and I had a great career, made a lot of money in and had a lot of fun doing that. And I moved my mom to Colorado, which is where I was at the time, she became ill, and had to leave that altitude. So that is how I ended up coming back to West Virginia was basically bring my mom back here and take care of her. And, you know, as we as I got, I got into agriculture through the vets to ag program with West Virginia Department of Agriculture. And that's when I met Sylvester Edwards, "Sky". And we began to, you know, I began to learn farming, gardening and farming are two different things. So really just getting an education on what farming was, and what went into it. Which was, was quite extensive. He taught me about what's happening in the dirt underneath the ground. And in agriculture, you're basically not raising meat or growing food, your, you're basically into soil management, because if your soil is not, right, you're not growing or feeding anything. So but as, as we got more into it, you know, for me, excuse the expression, but I started to get this, you know, this is home, this is where I'm from. And when you when you see the drug issue, when you see eight year olds walking around with full blown diabetes, you know, you start to understand that, although the powers that be getting their money, they're doing their thing, but people aren't down here, look at what's going on, you're talking about how bad things are. And, you know, it's good for politicians to stand up and talk about the opioid crisis and whatnot. But where are you? So for me, it got to the point to where, you know, if not me, then who it you know, again, this is home. So, when you're seeing kids suffering, when you're seeing the senior community, you know, raising the children of drug addicted folks, you know, the entire community has just been suffering, and no one has truly come here with no one with the power or the power, or the ability to affect change has come here and done a thing. So it's not, you know, I started to get upset, I started to get angry, but at the same time, you can't get upset or angry if you're not going to step up and do something. So for me, again, it was not me, if I'm not going to stand up and do anything, then who's going to do it. And that's what really got me into this thing, working with those kids going out to the schools, and seeing the obesity issue, seeing or hearing, you know, parents tell their children, well, I don't eat vegetables. You know, that's the attitude down here. Hearing politicians and people in powerful positions telling this community, there are no jobs, there are no opportunities. And the more you dig into it, there are plenty of opportunities, there are a lot of small business opportunities, that could create jobs and small businesses for families down here just wasn't happening. You know. So there are a lot of people, a lot of organizations that are complicit in what has gone on here and what has been going on here. And so for me, it was roll your sleeves up, and let's get to work and do what we can do start talking to the people in the community. And we've given classes and, you know, given people, some educate, we talk at schools, we've done it all. And it's amazing to see people in these meetings, looking at you who have been here for 50 or 60 years. Wow, I didn't know that we could do that. So, you know, really rolling our sleeves up and just giving it our best shot, you know, and I'm not a politically correct person. I tell it like it is. I just went to WVU and gave a lecture a couple of months back also was invited to Tampa, Florida a few months back with some folks working on farm bill work. And they were asking me questions and we start talking about Farm to School and all these programs that the government has. And I basically told him folks put very little thought into your your farm bill. Because if I go to a school as an example, if I go to a school here in McDowell County, and say, Okay, let's talk about the Farm to School program, they're gonna want me to provide things for them better not even, you know, realistic in terms of location in our geography. So, Appalachia was not considered, you know, no one is talking about Appalachia, no one is expressing this is what we can contribute. And so those are some of the things that I've been really passionate about is bringing awareness and focusing people on things that can actually affect the change that we want to see. And that means telling the truth, you know, that means confronting people who are just going through the motions in a lot of cases. So that's kind of what sparked for me, and working with great people edges is built with great people who are very passionate, who really care, and bring, you know, especially t to the discussion, we're not all just, you know, running around, I mean, everyone has different backgrounds, and most of the people came from here, and decided, I want to come back home and get back and try to fix this thing. So when you get an opportunity to work with people that like that, you know, coming out of the corporate world, you know, it, it's refreshing. So that's kind of the story here I've we've, we've launched a brand Appalachian Gold, and not just to expose that we're sitting on a goldmine, but give people hope. This is ours, you know, this is something that came from home, it's something you can be a part of something to inspire people to do their own thing and not to be afraid to take a chance. And, you know, it's working out very well. You know, one of the things that really went well was going all these meetings and talking to all these people, organizations. And I finally realized that listen to if you're not talking about land acquisition, and creating producers around agriculture, then you're not really having a serious conversation, and no one was doing. So we have really focused in on educating people on what this is and who we can be. And if you want some land up on a hillside, you know, these are the things that you can do with that, to turn that into a small business for your family. We've worked with some of the companies that owned a lot of home a lot of the land here to educate some of them because some of them don't know either, they just wait for that call from the coal mines. The wives are just sitting on all of this land, and nothing's being done with it. And people's ability here to make a living has always been tied to the land here. Always. And we need to give that back. So that's, that's kind of my motivation.
Brandon Dennison:Did you grew up around farming, when you were a kid in McDowell County?
Jason Tartt:There is that come later in life. Gardening, I mean, we had, we had to have a garden, my, my great grandmother helped raise me. And this is a woman that that, you know, our parents were right out of slavery. And she was, she was so tough and didn't cut any corners. And we didn't allow us to either. But we had hogs on the hill, chickens on the hill, you know, so apple trees, pear trees, all these things were going on back then. And these were pretty much self sustaining, self sustaining communities. I grew up in an all African American community, we lived in the coal camp down here. And, you know, like, kind of it was very segregated back then. But most African Americans lived in small coal camp, what we call coal camp communities. So farming, hunting and all those types of things, although on a small scale, yes, that was kind of the norm for us. It I mean, we didn't have any opportunity. Everyone here was poor, you know. And so that's just what had to happen.
Brandon Dennison:In the military pathway, that's, that's a common one throughout Appalachia. Right. And that's one of the few avenues that's available.
Jason Tartt:Yeah, at the time, I thought that was my only option. You know, as an African American born in the early 70s. And you know, I've, I've experienced my share of racism, growing up and still do. And that's another passion of mine is really to, you know, the African American community at one time was thriving here. There were a lot of us and, you know, the migration out of south into this area, when the coal mines kicked off, and the coal mines died, that population left here. And so one of the things that I want to make clear as well is to attract African Americans back to the coalfields, back to Appalachia, are a lot of stigma and stereotypes surrounding the place. But African Americans have had a great impact on this region. And we need to own that, you know, so some of the things that I'm passionate about today is actually rebuilding and attracting black Americans back to the area.
Brandon Dennison:My closing question to both of you is about, you know, positive changes you have seen that we can celebrate and then changes that we've not seen yet but that you hope to see soon. So that sounds like that's at least one good one right there, Jason.
Jason Tartt:Yeah. I mean, you've got organizations like Coalfield Development, for example. Edge. There are a lot of people that you can call. So there are a lot of there's a lot of moving, there are a lot of people that are serious about this work. When we started. Some years back, this wasn't happening. I think there are a lot of organizations getting grant money and paying people's nice salaries, but the work wasn't getting done. The work is, the work is getting done now. And we know there are serious people that are committed to this, not just edge but as I said, Coalfield, several other organizations. You know, we've engaged with academia because they need to own a part of this, as I told WVU, you see a lot of your flag of T shirts, all caps around this area. But that's, that's all about ball on Saturday, what are you doing to help us? What impact are you having in these communities, we need you, we can't do it without you. We're gonna have an estimate, if we're gonna get eyes on this place, we need data, we need research, we need all these things. And the fact that the dean of the college was willing to come and listen to me run my mouth. And he's planning to come down to actually see what WVU can help us do. West Virginia State University, they're coming down to do some pruning classes and some graphing classes, with the current cohort that we have going on right now. These things weren't happening. So there's a lot of movement, there are a lot of people that are taking things seriously now. Very grateful for that. And, you know, I only see that growing, we've got other partners, again, Appalachian Gold was developed in partnership with a company, a company out of Winston Salem, North Carolina, which was put together, actually by to get a vote. So there are so many people in organizations that are serious and actually contributing now. So we've got a lot to look forward to, and a lot to be proud of, at this point, a lot of work to do. But, you know, we're definitely making progress.
Brandon Dennison:It's actually happening. I couldn't agree more. And Amelia will give you the last word, what are what are some changes that you see you feel good about? And what are some changes you hope to see more of?
Amelia Bandy:I think, just kind of piggybacking off of what Jason was saying, you have, we have all these organizations now that were able to connect to and, you know, even just on a informal level, being able to, you know, reach out to Coalfield, and say, Hey, we have this opportunity, what would you do with it? Or, you know, been able to think about ways that we can use funding in our area, we have, you know, people who we've connected to like some of the universities, were able to contact them and really brainstorm around what type of research needs to be done here. What type of data do we need to collect to attract investors, what type of the and these are people who are excited about the work that you know, that we're already doing, and what type of impact they could have for their university or their organization, it's important to them to be able to provide an impact and not just on a piece of paper, to really have some sort of stake in it, and come down here and understand what it is that we're doing and what their university or their organization can do. That's all very exciting. You know, being part of these bigger networks, like the Central Appalachian Network, and hearing what other folks are doing in their area, and also hear them get excited about what Edge is doing that makes me feel like we're doing something right. You know, that makes me feel like we're trending in the right direction. For our workforce and development cohorts, when they're going through training with Jason, and you know, they're getting farther on in their training, and you start to see a light come on for them. And they get excited about what they're doing. And they start developing a business plan of their own. That's something that is really exciting and really moving. Because when you're in a rural area, and you have to quantify the work that you're doing, and be able to say whether or not it's a success, and a lot of times like with these grants, and funding opportunities, they want large numbers, they want to know, how many jobs are you creating? Or how many people are you supporting? They want to say big numbers, we don't necessarily have these large numbers of people to affect but when you see somebody get excited and have start having a plan for their life around, you know, a business that they can create and something that they can have for their family and start really building a legacy for their family. I mean, that's really exciting work. And that is really something that makes you feel like okay, this is this is possible, and you know, just change that. I'd like to see we just want to see more of that and we want to take these goals that we have for this area and be able to realize them because it's not just, you know, one person's vision for the area, it's these are things that are actually possible and plausible for our area. And we want to see them realize, because, you know, Central Appalachia, especially where we are, we have a lot to offer. And we want to be able to attract people here, we want people to have a place where they feel safe, and where they feel like you know, they have a say, in what's going on in their community. And we want to attract investors here and have them, you know, understand the vision that we have, and also be able to hear out other people's, you know, claims for our area and how we can help them realize that so I think there's a lot of room for growth. And we're really just excited to be a part of that, because there are a lot of really huge possibilities here. And you know, it's like Jason said, this place is a goldmine. It's really rich with possibility rich with a lot of resources, and we just want to see it happen.
Brandon Dennison:Well, Edge is doing a lot of things right, in my opinion. And I know a lot of folks agree with me, I appreciate y'all taking the time to do a deeper dive, I appreciate just who you are as as people and as leaders and the hard work you're doing. And it is happening. It is really hard. But it feels good to be a part of the solution and not just contributing to those age old problems. So I look forward to many more years of collaboration with the both of you, thank you.
Jason Tartt:Thank you, thank you, Brandon and Coalfield. You know, you guys are really helped me and everyone's cause, you know, with the exposure and some of the great work you all are doing. We're very grateful for that. And that's that. Those are the types of things that are bringing us the exposure. And so we really appreciate the work that you all are doing and we're here to support you in any way we can.
Brandon Dennison:Sounds good. We'll keep going. Change in the Coalfields is a podcast created by Coalfield Development in the hills and hollers of West Virginia. This episode was hosted by Brandon Dennison, and produced and edited by JJN Multimedia, become a part of our mission to rebuild the Appalachian economy by going to our website Coalfield-Development.org. To make a donation, you can email us anytime at info at Coalfield-Development.org and subscribe to our newsletter for more information on the podcast. You can follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn by searching Coalfield Development. Check back soon for more episodes.