New programs for 2022! Are you a Nature-Based Business (respectful of nature’s wisdom) in food, beverage, textile, shelter, wellness and the outdoors looking to expand? Do you buy your raw goods such as grains, botanicals, produce, proteins, fibers, forest products from small growers? Reach out to saraday@acceleratingappalachia.org. We are providing one on one support until more »
We are honored to announce the Nature-Based Businesses selected for Accelerating Appalachia 2019! These businesses are supporting a regenerative economy built on the values of soil and soul. Program participants will travel to Kentucky, Ohio, and North Carolina to learn, grow, and connect with thought leaders and communities. Accelerating Appalachia has been providing accelerator services more »
CHANGE EVERY DAY: EAT YOUR VALUES Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 7:00 PM Hosted by WNYC’s Shumita Basu Guests include our own Sara Day Evans, founding director of Accelerating Appalachia, plus Rachel Armstrong, founder and executive director of Farm Commons, and Jeffrey Neal, founder of Loop Closing. What do composting or legal contracts have to do with more »
SaraDay Evans, the CEO and Founding Director of Accelerating Appalachia, is a sixth-generation Kentuckian with over 20 years of experience supporting communities and small businesses across the southeast. Her remarkable work in economic development, entrepreneurship, and environmental protection has leveraged over $270 million in funding and served more than 300 communities in the southeast and more »
Le’Shae Robinson is passionate about people and nature. Her journey began at Berea College, where she witnessed the power of integrating students into the college farm, providing food for the community. This experience ignited her passion for growing food, feeding people, and caring for the land. In 2019, through her marketing and operational expertise at more »
Accelerating Appalachia founder Sara Day Evans was interviewed by Erin Axelrod for The Lift Economy Podcast in an episode fittingly titled “Making America Regenerative Again.” Erin is a Partner at LIFT Economy, helping to accelerate the spread of climate-beneficial businesses, specializing in businesses that address critical soil and water regeneration. LIFT’s mission is to create, model, more »
Laura Lengnick is an award-winning soil scientist who has explored agricultural sustainability for more than 30 years as a researcher, policy-maker, educator, and farmer. Her work in sustainable farming systems was nationally-recognized with a USDA Secretary’s Honor Award and she contributed to the 3rd National Climate Assessment as a lead author of the USDA report Climate more »
Jennifer is Accelerating Appalachia’s former C.O.O. and now advisor to the program. Before her recent move to Michigan, she worked and lived in North Carolina as the owner of a natural products company and the former brand manager for the North Carolina Natural Products Association’s Blue Ridge Naturally program. She is an ecopsychologist and permaculturist more »
We are bouncin’ back with exciting news in 2018! Lush Cosmetics North America, the globe’s most ethically sourced cosmetics company has just announced support for our new regenerative business curriculum “Building Soil and Soul”! So, we hit the road. We traveled our LUSHOUS Appalachian region from Kentucky to North Carolina and points in between with more »