LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Welcome to CouncilCast, a podcast from Coalfield Development, where we highlight moments from our monthly gathering, Coalfield Council Day. It's a time for reflection, team building, and celebrating the personal and professional developments of our Crew Members.

This is Episode Four, highlighting our Council Day on Friday, September 2, 2022. 

Each year, Coalfield Development observes Labor Day with a special Council Day celebration. This year, on Friday, September 2, we traveled to the epicenter of our nation’s early labor movement: Matewan, West Virginia.

This year’s event was especially historic for multiple reasons: That afternoon, President Joe Biden announced that the ACT Now Coalition, for which Coalfield had been the lead applicant, had been selected as one of 25 recipients of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge grant. The $62.8 million grant will support further climate technology programs and efforts in our region.

To kick off the day’s events, Kelli Crabtree recognized four Coalfield WRAPS graduates. Three of the graduates, Will, Toby, and Carlos will be moving forward at Coalfield to become crew members. The fourth, Amber Holcomb of Mountain Mindful, will be moving on to pursue cosmetology school. 

Kelli then turned her attention to long-time Coalfield crew member, Joey Garcia, who was honored with a green hat, an honor given to crew members who demonstrate exceptional leadership skills. 

KELLI CRABTREE:
Joey, today you earn the honor of becoming a green hat. Green is the color of go symbolizing forward momentum. Indeed you are on this day advancing personally and professionally. Green is also the color of sustainability. By cultivating you as an emerging leader, our region can become a more sustainable, vibrant, and healthy place. You've received this honor because you have earned the respect of your peers and your supervisors. You have earned our trust, by living our values. Trust is earned by doing the right thing, especially when your bosses aren't looking. Leaders initiate. Leaders invest time with people. So congratulations on this achievement, we believe that you can be a leader and we're proud of you and we believe in you.

JOEY GARCIA
Thank you.

(cheers)

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
After celebrating our graduates, Kenzie New-Walker kicked off our panel discussion on the importance of the labor movement. Not only is Kenzie the Executive Director of the Mine Wars Museum in Matewan, she is the Board President here at Coalfield Development.

KENZIE NEW-WALKER:
Honestly, there's not a better place in the country to spend Labor Day than right here in my lawn. We're ready to ground zero of where unions were born. And so we've got all kinds of programming today to celebrate that history as West Virginians and celebrate West Virginia's place in the labor movement and celebrate coalfields place in the labor movement. 

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Kenzie then introduced Matewan’s Mayor, Matt Moore to welcome our crew to this historic place and share some exciting new projects in town.

MAYOR MATT MOORE:
The Town Council and I want to welcome you, Coalfield Development, to Matewan. What better time than on Labor Day weekend, which is a reminder of the Union bond in the Battle of Blair Mountain.  I'm overly excited about the newest project here in town that is about to begin at the Nenni Buildings right across the street. I'm incredibly pleased to know that this building that holds so much history will be preserved and used for economic development and keep its history alive. 

(cheers)

We are truly excited about not only the reclamation of the historic building itself, but about the opportunities this facility will bring to our community. Although Matewan does have a strong history, I’m excited for its future and look forward to working with Coalfield Development, our local union, as always, and everyone else as we continue to move our town forward.

LINDSAY CRANCE, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
For many of our panelists and UMWA speakers, union allegiance runs deep. The first panel speaker was  Lou Martin, the Board President of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum and a Labor History Professor at Chapman University. Lou told our crew about the poor working and living conditions that would lead to the historic Mine Wars. 

LOU MARTIN:
I thought I could just talk a little bit about the conditions that led miners to want to unionize. The United Mine Workers was formed in 1890, as coal production was taking off here in West Virginia, and the coal operators in West Virginia felt that their advantage was low wages, and they intended to keep it down. They owned the company towns, they owned the houses that the miners and their families lived in. And so miners really had no life of their own. The towns were controlled by armed men that were hired by the company. They could evict somebody for no reason at all. And they could definitely evict them if they were suspected of union activity. They kept wages low. And as many of you know the miners became indebted to the company's store. There were a lot of times that the companies only made profit off of the companies store, not the coal that was being mined so they were profiting off of their workers in multiple ways. And so the miners decided that they needed to organize. And that's when they really started to run against the power of the coal companies.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
The next member of the panel, Chuck Keeney, shared his family’s multi-generational struggle to unionize throughout southern West Virginia.

CHUCK KEENEY: 

They had a lot, so many different obstacles. Not only did the companies control everything coming in and out, they controlled information. And the union had to combat this not just a physical intimidation of mine guards, not just the property that the coal companies own, but also the propaganda that they had to go up against. Devil Anse Hatfield after he lost his land to the Norfolk and Western Railroad developers, he moved to Logan and he became a supporter of the union and he would help sneak union organizers in, my great grandfather being one of them, that he would sneak in by horseback and muleback over the mountain passes. And they would use light signals at night so that they can get in so that they wouldn't be detected by mine guards. It's like they were going into a warzone in trying to unionize. Those are some of the things that they had to overcome in order to get that.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Terry Steele also participated on the panel. As a member of the UMWA Local 1440 and the WV Mine Wars Museum’s Courage in the Hollers project, Terry has a wealth of knowledge about the Matewan community. He encouraged everyone to be engaged voters in elections, and noted each voter wins a battle each time they drop their ballot in the box.

TERRY STEELE:
The greatest thing that we ever have to fight a battle with, is a ballot box and I don't know how political some of you are, I don't care how political you are. If you don't want to get involved in politics, that's fine. But if you don't, you're gonna be ruled by those who want to get involved in politics. So if you want to unionize, you know, look at who you vote for, look at those who stand with the common man and give us a chance to have what we have. That's the only thing we can do, in my opinion.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
After our panel ended, members of the local 1440, Danny Whitt and Hawkeye Dixon remarked on the significance of Coalfield joining the Carpenter’s Union earlier this year. Unionization is a passing down of tradition for these families.

DANNY WHITT:
You know, you're working for a good company, but you still need a union because sometimes things arise, you know, there's disagreements and stuff. But from my understanding, you know, that these people are great Kelli, Ryan, all these guys are a great company, and they want you guys to be union. And that's a plus for you, when  you're working for people like this. That's a plus, they want you to have what is due you for your labor. So, you know, I just wanted to say, this is a great bunch. And I'm pleased to death that you guys are union.

HAWKEYE DIXON:
I've negotiated quite a few contracts for United Mine Workers, for hospital workers, school bus drivers. The truth is, a union workforce is the most productive workforce in this country. They're the most efficient.So my hat is definitely off to Coalfield Development.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
After the panel, we waited in anticipation for the president’s Build Back Better announcement livestream to begin. Before joining collaborators and state representatives in Charleston for the press conference, CEO Brandon Dennison traveled to Matewan to share the monumental news with the Coalfield crew in person. 

BRANDON DENNISON:
We are here, and I have something really exciting to announce to you all. I don't normally dress this fancy for Council Day, so as soon as I announce it, I gotta hit the road to Charleston. But you, Coalfield Development community, are the winners of the Build Back Better.

(cheers)

This gives nearly $100 million to southern West Virginia for the ACT Now Coalition, Appalachian Climate Technologies Coalition. We are looking to the future as a region, and we have serious investment now to get there. And Coalfield Development has led the way. It's all of you all. I'm telling you, what you do every day, if you're working on a building, if you're making a product, if you're growing produce, if you're supporting a person in personal development, whatever you contribute, you don't even know how special it is. But the rest of the country is recognizing how special it is and making a major investment. The announcement's going to happen at 11 am. The President of the United States himself will make this announcement.

(cheers)

Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your creativity. Thank you for being a part of this community. And we did it.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Around 11:30 a.m., President Biden and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo shared the historic news with the nation. Representatives from all 21 grant winners attended via Zoom. President Biden first began with a message of welcome and an introduction to the Build Back Better Regional Challenge’s goals. 

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN:
As new enterprises are created in the communities, they should have, they shouldn't have to leave. They should be the ones to be able to fill in for those jobs. So we designed this program by thinking about people in places in a really important way. I know you got all of you up on the screen here. 21 different communities. This American Rescue Plan program invests $1 billion — a total of three — but $1 billion to create jobs and opportunity for people in places where they live, and where they've worked their entire career so they don't have to leave. I know when folks hear such big numbers, they don't think it's for them, but this is for them. Over 500 coalitions applied for these grants, from community organizations, to philanthropies, to labor unions, to colleges, universities, all working together from every part of America. That kind of interest is a testament to the need and enthusiasm for this type of investment. I took I take a look at this as a transition investment. I'm so proud to announce 21 awardees up on the screen here who each received between 25 million and 65 million jobs to turn their plans into action.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
The projects will support various clean energy efforts in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana; small manufacturing in Michigan, Kansas, North Carolina and Texas; agricultural pursuits in California and Missouri; entrepreneurship in Montana’s Native American communities and in Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Greenwood community. 

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN:
As you probably know, I could go on and on and speak about each of the communities here. But time will permit. I applaud every community that received the grant and that applied. You're the reason why I'm so optimistic about the future of this country. I mean it. Heard me say it many times before. America is the only nation in the world that can be defined by a single word: possibilities. Nothing but possibilities here. That's what this is all about.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
President Biden then turned it over to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, noting with a laugh that he’d been so excited about the announcement that he’d started speaking too early in the conference. 

SECRETARY GINA RAIMONDO:
Thank you, Mr. President. I think the fact that the president jumped in there right away is a testament to how excited he is about this project. He's fired up, and he's committed to it. And that's because he knows he knows that we have to be investing in every community in America to help with the transition. So let me fill in a few of the blanks about how this program is going to work: First of all, congratulations. If you are one of the 21 here, you are the cream of the crop. Your applications were fantastic. The president and I are so proud of you and just thrilled to be able to work with you. 

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Secretary Raimondo then credited the president for making the project possible. Since this was the first time the Department of Commerce had made major investments into individual  communities, she said they weren’t sure what to expect or if communities would apply at all. In the end, they received more than 500 applications. She said the U.S. Department of Commerce anticipates that the 21 funded projects will create or save 100,000 jobs and save more than $7 billion in additional private sector investments. 

SECRETARY GINA RAIMONDO:
I have to thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership. Everybody should know that this was the president's idea. The American rescue plan was passed 17 months ago. $3 billion of that came to the Commerce Department to do economic development, and we decided to put $1 billion into this Build Back Better Regional Challenge. And it's because the President directed me to make investments in communities to help communities revitalize themselves and get ready for the transitions in our economy. Because he fundamentally said people want to work where they live, and they ought to be able to do that. And so that's what this is all about. 

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
President Biden then introduced West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who was live-streaming alongside Coalfield’s CEO Brandon Dennison, ACT Now Coalition project collaborators, and city and state representatives in Charleston.  

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN:
A guy who has been talking about transition for a long time with me, has been Joe Manchin. He lives, breathes, and eats West Virginia. But Joe, what's, how's this gonna help, if it is, the West Virginia to transition to a a strengthened, not totally new, but a new economy?

JOE MANCHIN:
Mr. President, you and I have spoken many times about this when you first came into office, even when you was running at that time about how West Virginians felt they were left behind. My wonderful state all the great workers and the people in our state that worked hard, they're very proud. They've done the heavy lifting for years and years and years, and basically, they never complain. And as things started changing, and transitioning, there was nothing left for them. Twenty-one of our most affected counties are in southern West Virginia. This is based around that, and as it's pumping into an area, which is we call the Appalachian Climate Technology or the ACT Now Coalition, which is led by Brandon Dennison and Brandon's here with us and he's done a tremendous job with his team, the Coalfield Development Corporation. It's basically reinventing, not just reinventing, but basically being able to meet the needs of the public as we transition and making sure that we can provide the services.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
As the conference concluded, President Biden reiterated the importance of investing in not just our economy, but the futures of hard working Americans. 

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN:
This is not going to waste money, what we're talking about what you're doing is going to grow the economies. It's going to keep us in a position where we are the most advanced economy in the world and where we bring along the people who have made this country. The people who built the country are hardworking people who work with the sweat of their brow and their hands. And, and and they've, they've, they're, they're the ones that created a middle class. And I think this gonna enable that same group of people, like most of us were raised by, to be  able to have an opportunity to continue to do well, and to take us through this next phase. 

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Senator Manchin took a moment to express his gratitude on behalf of the state for this major investment. 

JOE MANCHIN:
Thank you for not forgetting and not leaving anybody behind. I can’t tell you how much this means to our hard-working people in West Virginia and they are truly appreciative and their families are to stay where they love and their heritage and their roots are. So many of them had to leave, and you’ve given them that opportunity and you didn’t forget, nad you kept that promise and I appreciate that. 

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN:
Well, Joe remember, I’m from hard cold country, Scranton. 

(laughs)

Okay, anyway, thank you all so very, very much.

SECRETARY GINA RAIMONDO:
Congratulations, everybody! We’re excited to wokr with you to make this all a huge success. And thank you, Mr. President. 

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Following the press conference, Baleigh Epperly, ReUse Corridor Manager, reflected on the significance of the president’s major announcement. 

BALEIGH EPPERLY:
It means everything. You know, I actually didn't have service on the way here, two-hour drive from Huntington, right. And somehow on Instagram, there was like one post that I was able to see it was from the city of Huntington announcing that we got it and I just immediately started crying, you know, and then like my partner, Abby was also pretty emotional about it. And then coming here today and Brandon still coming all the way here to announce that to us and then having to rush to Charleston to be a part of you know, the nation announcement or even global announcement just meant a lot, I think and we can just continue the fight and the work for a better Appalachia. So like, that's all I can hope for really.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Between the Labor Day celebrations and the Build Back Better grant announcement, she said this Council Day was a truly unforgettable experience. 

BALEIGH EPPERLY:
Probably one of the best days of my life, honestly, like, I know, that's a little dramatic, but you know, just to be like, I'm like a what, like eighth generation West Virginian, and you know, and I didn't have any family or ancestors in the mines. But being here, it's a part of your identity no matter what. So to be here today and hear from the UMWA and all of these folks that fought for us to even be Coalfield today, like for me to even have the job that I do. It's indescribable.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Over lunch, Highwall Revitalize crew members Kavon Treleven and Christian Jones shared their takeaways from the morning’s events, starting with the Build Back Better news. 

KAVON TRELEVEN:
And I've never really been a part of something like this big. It sounds like such a really big deal, and it's cool to be able to be a hand in it.

CHRISTIAN JONES:
Yeah, I think it's I think it's pretty special. You know, certainly moving from Florida, coming here, and starting my life and everything like that, and somehow getting on with Coalfield along the journey. It's, it's pretty cool to think that we're we're part of this, and I'm a part of this and definitely interested to see where it all goes.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Despite living in the Mingo County area the majority of his life, Kavon, a trainee on the Highwall crew, said he learned a lot about Matewan during the Council Day events.

KAVON TRELEVEN:
I was familiar with some of the history and stuff with Matewan, but I didn't really know the big importance and how big of a role it actually played into labor. So, seeing that as a new side of a local town is really cool. 

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Christian agreed. The Florida native moved to West Virginia seven years ago and works as the crew chief of the Highwall Revitalize enterprise.

CHRISTIAN JONES:
It's been a privilege just to kind of get educated on what this place is, the history behind this place and how connected this place is to the creation of Unions in America.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Kavon said he also enjoyed learning about the history and modern role of labor unions. 

KAVON TRELEVEN:
The most interesting thing is just learning about what a union is, and like the actual pros to it. Where I had no history with unions or being a part of the Union, being able to learn how it really does enrich your quality of life and help your families and things like that, and like how they are for you and not against you is really cool to be a part of it.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Chuck Keeney led the full crew on a tour around town, pointing to historic sites and telling the stories of the Mine Wars that occurred here a century ago. His great-grandfather was a coal miner who eventually became president of both the Federation of Labor and the United Mine Workers of America. Chuck said they weren’t welcome in several southern West Virginia counties. 

CHUCK KEENEY:
They had trouble getting into McDowell County, but they found one place that they were going to be able to start a successful union drive. And that was right here, Matewan, to organize these three counties. So they come here in the spring of 1920, Fred Mooney comes here, Mother Jones comes here, and they have the first meeting, and it's actually in that church, which was where the first union meeting was took place.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Chuck directed the tour near the highway toward the back of the Main Street buildings, where bullets from a shootout during the 1920s Mine Wars are still lodged in the brick exteriors. Then, he pointed to the jail across the highway and shared its significance.

CHUCK KEENEY:
In 1920, the Chief of Police, Sid Hatfield, and the Mayor, Cabell Testerman, they were pro-union, and the coal companies tried to buy them off. Hatfield and Testerman allowed the union people to come here and organize. And by the second week of May 1920, almost all the miners in this whole region had signed the union contracts. But, they had anti union companies. So, in May they bring in the Baldwin-Felts guards to evict a bunch of houses. Over there, that's the same jail that Sid Hatfield used during the Mine Wars.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
To finish out the Main Street tour, Wilma Steele pointed to the Nenni Buildings, three century-old buildings Coalfield purchased in 2019 for historical preservation. Last year, Coalfield received $2.3 million in funding to help support the first phase of ground-level restoration. Phase II will include restoration of Sheriff Sid Hatfield’s second-story apartment.

WILMA STEELE:
These three buildings are the Nenni Buildings that you guys are going to be working with to get this redevelopment done. We're really lucky at this. We've managed to save these buildings and it's hard to believe through all the flooding and everything else they've been [through]. And you're going to be a part of revitalizing this town and working in partnership with us. I think that's amazing. And you guys just, I can't tell you what you do to my heart to see you here. Thank you. So I'm thanking you right now. 

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
For many Coalfield crew members, this was the first time they’d visited Matewan. Having finished our walking tour, our crew headed to the Mine Wars Museum to see the exhibits and artifacts. While touring the museum, Baleigh Epperly said seeing the artifacts in person provided a new layer of context for her understanding of West Virginia’s history. 

BALEIGH EPPERLY:
So I knew of the Battle of Blair Mountain, but I didn't understand what took place necessarily in Matewan, and how, like the town of Matewan, played a role within that. So, I was able to sort of put those pieces together today and just understand more of the story completely.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
As a Council Day tradition, we invited our crew’s families to join in on the Labor Day festivities.  

WHITNEY SEABOLT:
I'm here with my brother Christian for Coalfield Development at the town of Matewan learning about the history and stuff. I'm not in Coalfield Development, but it has sparked my interest this morning. So we’re from Clendenin, West Virginia, which also has a lot of history, but I had heard about the Hatfields and McCoys several times. I didn't know this is actually where it went down though. And like they were saying during the tour, the men who shed blood here were kind of like veterans, but you know, back then I'm sure they weren't. And so they didn't get that recognition that today's veterans get, but like, as people have said, we get to have things that we wouldn't have if what went down here didn't happen.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
Though Whitney’s brother, Christian Seabolt, has been a member of our Coalfield deconstruction crew for just a few months, he’s surprised with how much he’s learned and how happy he is with his work.

CHRISTIAN SEABOLT:
It feels really rewarding to be here when that happened. Like, helping the community in helping tear stuff down and stuff like that. The most interesting thing I've learned is the labor movement in how they worked in the coal mines, and how they were like, literally fighting, where we're standing. 

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA:
As our Council Day in Matewan came to a close, Kelli Crabtree, Chief Human Development Officer, best summarized the monumental event. 

KELLI CRABTREE:
Today's historic for our state, today's historic for our workers, and our and then of course Coalfield, but really, you know, we were able to put together an amazing coalition.You know, one of our C's, one of the C's in our mission is community. And we couldn't have done this without community, without the state and without just the relationships that we build. And so this is just historical and breathtaking and exciting. And, you know, and there's nervousness too, you know, because we've got, we've got a lot of eyes on us now. And we just really want to be able to, to honor the trust that has been given us.

LINDSAY, JJN MULTIMEDIA: 

Thanks for listening to CouncilCast, a monthly podcast from Coalfield  Development. This series is hosted and produced by JJN Multimedia. 

Subscribe to CouncilCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you’re hearing, be sure to leave us a review. 

To support or learn more about our work creating resilient Appalachian communities and helping people unlock their full potential, power, and purpose, find us on social media or visit www dot coalfield hyphen development dot O R G. 

Thanks for joining us today. We’ll see you next month.