ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GREATER EAST (EDGE)

EDGE is honored to have such support for mountain farm community grocery from the editors at the gazette-mail.

Gazette-Mail editorial: Effort to bring fresh food to McDowell a huge step
 Mar 16, 2021

It’s rare to see a Walmart go out of business. The stores change their locations in the same communities all the time — usually when locally granted tax breaks are about to expire. A branch of the retail behemoth actually shutting down, though, is almost unheard of.
Yet, that’s what happened in McDowell County in 2016, when the Walmart near Kimball closed its doors for good.
When something like that occurs, it’s devastating for a community on multiple fronts, especially rural ones, like those in McDowell County. There’s the loss of local jobs to consider. Like it or not, Walmart is one of the largest employers in the state.
Of course, with lower prices and so much under one roof, Walmart’s business model long ago began eliminating locally owned outfits looking to compete in small towns across the country. When the Walmart goes under, there’s typically nothing left close by for important goods, especially when it comes to necessities like groceries.
There are several places in West Virginia that are classified as “food deserts” — communities with no nearby places to obtain fresh meat, produce and other staples required for basic nourishment. This leads to a decline in health, as residents rely more on fast food or heavily processed junk foods available at local convenience marts or dollar stores. And so, health and quality of life — two categories in which West Virginia typically ranks near the bottom in the country — take another hit.
For the most part, the plight of these communities goes perhaps not unacknowledged but largely unchanged. That’s why local action to address these problems is so important.
A good example is Economic Development Greater East, a nonprofit in McDowell County gearing up to open a community grocery store in Kimball. The group also works to establish and explore local agricultural projects. The two aims merge well together, when considering how important a local food supply can be.
A community grocery store selling items produced by local farmers and artisans lifts all boats. It also helps to get local residents interested in agriculture, bolstering the amount of food or other goods available while perhaps putting some extra money in their pockets.
It’s a fledgling effort, but McDowell County is one of the poorest communities with one of the lowest life expectancies, not just in West Virginia, but the entire country. If no one is going to come to them, local initiatives like the Mountain Farm Community Grocery are a necessary step forward. And any step forward is a sign of hope and the potential for a better tomorrow in a place so many have simply forgotten.

Mountain Farm Community Grocery featured
in the Charleston Gazette!
Click the photo below to read the article!

EDGE's Mountain Farm Community Grocery featured on wvns!
click the photo below to watch the feature!

Many thanks to the bluefield daily telegraph and Greg jordan for the following article about mountain farm community grocery!

Learn more about mountain farm community grocery in this video

Mountain Farm Community Grocery is a nonprofit grocery, which addresses the food desert in McDowell County, nurtures local ag and value-added producers, and reinvests profits into economic revitalization and jobs and entrepreneurship training.

EDGE needs immediate support of $50,000 to:

complete purchase of the full site for Mountain Farm Community Grocery and its training site at 27926 Coal Heritage Road, Kimball, WV, 24853 (EDGE currently has access to one portion of this site).
use as a revolving fund for reimbursement on a $134k it has received from USDA’s Rural Business Development.

As of May 2021 EDGE has raised $18,000 of these funds!!

If you support Mountain Farm Community Grocery, EDGE could be piloting this store and workforce training in remote and at-large work, entrepreneurship, and agripreneurship by fall 2021.

Here is the breakdown on that $50,000:

$20k for the purchase price for the full site + insurance + legal fees: $15k for the building, $3k for flood and liability insurance, $2k in legal.
$25k as a revolving fund for renovation-- reserved then for other federal grants EDGE is currently pursuing such as from the ARC and EDA.

The $134k USDA Rural Business Development grant will then be used:

for mold remediation
two new heat/air conditioning pumps--the building is technically in two separate sections, with separate electrical boxes for each, thus two pumps are needed.
Tear out the carpet and seal the floors
Fix the roof/re-roofed
Turn the water back on

Pictures of the space for current renovation visible at this zipped link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11OMmWvNS4yq3VzP21G4GOuZqylE75xKb/view?usp=sharing

EDGE
(Economic Development greater east)
seeks
corporate, government, and nonprofit partners in
community grocery store development
entrepreneurship traininG
mountain farming training
remote work training and at-large work training.

Depopulation devastates communities leading to tax base drain,
schools closing permanently, businesses fleeing, and massive community decline.

EDGE allows locals to remain local through training in:
entrepreneurship
agripreneurship through mountain appropriate farming
IT (information technology)
medical coding
CDL (commercial drivers license)
and other entrepreneurial, remote, and at-large work opportunities.

--MOUNTAIN FARM Community Grocery--
a community grocery for mcdowell county, WV
PHASE ONE OF MOUNTAIN FARM AND FRIENDS

why a community grocery?

Grocery stores are huge economic drivers for rural places.
They improve wealth and health.
They serve as an anchor to other business development.
The Walmart in McDowell County used to earn 45 - 65m gross each year--that potential remains.
Walmart's 7% growth per year over the last five years has all been in food.
The cooperative grocery that had opened in Alderson, WV some years back was successful. Unfortunately it was wiped out in the floods of 2016. However, that small grocery in a town of only 1200 people grossed $300k+ a year. Route 52 has 100,000 ATV riders pass by it each year, not counting the local population of 16k. The potential for being sustainable quickly and being an engine for community reinvestment is real.
It makes sense that groceries be owned locally... as they are literal staples of the community.

To support Mountain Farm Community Grocery,
you also can donate at seedhcooperative@gmail.com at PayPal
@seedhcooperative at Venmo.
You can also mail a contribution to: SEEDH FBO Mountain Farm Community Grocery, 37 Valerie Street, Vallscreek, WV 24815.
We can also accept Bitcoin donations on Cash App at: $seedhcooperative

EDGE will be issuing the letters of donation.

Check out the slide shows below and read more here>>>

Mountain Farm Community Grocery from Crystal Cook Marshall

THRIVE (TEACH, HEAL, RENEW, INVEST, enVIsion Entrepreneurship)

EDGE provides training and partnerships for training in agricultural entrepreneurship, other entrepreneurship, and workforce training for the WV and SWVA coalfields and beyond through its THRIVE initiative.

It focuses on entrepreneurship and work to allow locals to THRIVE and remain local.

EDGE partnered with Coalfield Development Corporation to train nine young adults for 35 hours per week for seven months in 2020.

May 2021 EDGE starts its second cohort of five locals.

Read more here...

See more of EDGE's THRIVE training participants in the video and photos below!

regional coordination

EDGE is building out and empowering a local Prosperity Council.

In 2018, EDGE was visited by the national office of the USDA and invited to participate in a private-public-faith based initiative to increase local community grasstops coordination.

The Prosperity Council works together to achieve the goals of locals remaining local and thriving, jumpstarting regional agripreneurship and entrepreneurship, and facilitating remote, flexible, and at large work training and work opportunities

More about EDGE's current Prosperity Council Participants and designation below.

EDGE overview

VISION

Economic Development Greater East (EDGE) envisions vibrant land-based, tourist, creative, and trade sectors in the greater Eastern United States supported through a thriving work and entrepreneurial force.

core mission

EDGE curates and cultivates the greater East’s economic edge through education, entrepreneurship, and innovation in land-based (ag+) and creative industries, tourism, and the trades.

EDGE provides essential regional coordination across counties and state borders to address cross-regional economic development, economic sector support, and the socioeconomic needs for economic sector upgrowth and resilience.

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