Tourism has a credibility problem in economic development circles. It gets treated as a consolation prize. It is something you pursue while you’re waiting for a real industry to show up. That framing is increasingly out of step with what the data shows. In communities with strong natural or cultural assets, tourism is not a […]
What replaces a high-wage mining job? It’s the question that keeps economic developers in post-industrial communities up at night, and there’s no easy answer. Healthcare fills the employment gap in most of these communities. Retail follows. But neither sector pays what industrial jobs once did. A recent diversification study of six counties in Southern West […]
When most people think about economic development in rural Appalachia, they picture infrastructure projects, industrial parks, or workforce pipelines into healthcare and manufacturing. Agriculture rarely leads the conversation, but it probably should. Across Southern West Virginia, local food production, specialty crops, and agritourism are quietly becoming some of the most promising and practical tools for […]