ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GREATER EAST (EDGE)

EDGE ALLOWS LOCALS TO THRIVE

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

EDGE allows locals to remain local through training in its THRIVE program in:

agripreneurship
entrepreneurship
mountain appropriate farming

EDGE cultivates & stewards key regional partnerships:

to develop remote and at-large work opportunities
and to support its Mountain Farm Community Grocery.

EDGE THRIVE Agripreneurship Cohort #2 is learning T & T Organics productions and EDGE partner productions in beekeeping, fruit and vegetable production, high tunnel production, meat rabbit production, and pastured poultry production at the site in Vallscreek, WV, with special presentations on business planning, ag economics, and land acquisition. See THRIVE participants and activities in the gallery below.

Please donate to Economic Development Greater East
for its THRIVE training program and please consider making your donation a subscription.

Learn more about the opportunities
for ag in McDowell and the coalfield region.
EDGE Co-founder Jason Tartt of T & T Organics discusses poultry and meat rabbit production at EDGE's farm training site.
He talks about the "gold mine"of opportunity

EDGE ALSO addresses food insecurity and field to market production through MOUNTAIN FARM COMMUNITY GROCERY--
A COMMUNITY GROCERY FOR MCDOWELL COUNTY, WV and beyond

Mountain Farm Community Grocery is a nonprofit grocery, which nurtures local ag and value-added producers, and reinvests profits into economic revitalization and jobs and entrepreneurship training.

EDGE recently completed a funding cycle through the WV UDSA to renovate section 1 of the Kasdin Brothers Building in Kimball, WV into its pilot of Mountain Farm Community Grocery.

Fall-winter 2021 priorities for Mountain Farm Community Grocery:

pay the remaining $7500 on the full site for Mountain Farm Community Grocery and its training site at 27926 Coal Heritage Road, Kimball, WV, 24853. June 9, 2021, with support from private donors, EDGE bought the remaining two sections of the Kasdin Brothers Building, and must pay the second 1/2 of the purchase price by Dec. 31, 2021.
Pay for flood insurance, $5500
Raise $7,000 to remediate the floor in Section 1
Raise capital for equipment and staff for Mountain Farm Community Grocery
Source additional vendors and products with a target goal of 300 products ready for a late winter launch
Source capital for full site build out.

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 issues the letters of donation.

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

More about EDGE's
THRIVE (TEACH, HEAL, RENEW, INVEST, enVIsion Entrepreneurship) Program

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. Five adults started training August 2021 as part of this same partnership.

Read more here...

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

regional coordination

EDGE also seeks to work regionally with partners 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

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.

Join our classes! Volunteer! Collaborate!
Get in touch at the tab above.
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