The Mountain Association works to support a just and sustainable transition to a new economy in post-coal Appalachia. We know that a transition such as this cannot happen unless all people living in the region are considered and welcomed into the work of making it happen. We are proud of our organization’s efforts over the last 45 years to support small businesses, build value chains and test new ideas. But in recent years, we’ve begun to question how the role of white supremacy, racism, sexism, ableism, and the marginalization of people and groups, have impacted our region and how they show up in our own work. As a result, we are on an intentional journey to recenter ourselves around our core values of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA).
We are publishing updates on our progress in order to be transparent about our journey. It is our hope that this will be helpful for organizations and individuals who have similar goals.
Please find all of our updates dating back to 2018 here. Note: the first update provides additional context and dives into the history of our work in this area and the extensive training our staff participated in to get where we are today.
Significant milestones from January 2023 through June 2023:
Communications
- Published a series of blogs and videos focused on community members and organizations doing amazing work in the DEIA space, including stories on building more accessible and autism/sensory friendly communities in Floyd and surrounding counties, the work of the Lake Cumberland Diversity Collective, and the work of Unity Allies in Laurel County.
- Launched a sponsorship application in order to be more equitable about the way we issue sponsorships throughout our service area and to prompt event organizers to think about DEIA while they are planning their events.
Business Support
- Onboarded Maria Mendoza of Evolve Business Services to provide Spanish-language client services in the areas of Digital Marketing; E-Commerce; Logo; Market Analysis; Search Engine Optimization; Social Media; Business Consulting; Facilitation; Financing; Strategic Planning; Workshops; Customer Service.
- Added a DEIA consultant section to our list of available consultants and continue to look for consultants to add to it.
Energy
- Added demographic questions to our energy savings assessment application to help us better understand who we are serving and to prioritize clients as appropriate.
Lending
- Developed a plan for each Lending Team member to learn more about underserved communities in our region.
Organization-Wide
- Staff attended a four-hour trauma-informed approach training specifically designed for our organization’s work around financing. Staff also participated in an all-day strategic planning session that focused solely on equity.
- Continued to develop the purpose and structure for an Equity Stakeholder Advisory Committee. We met with community members in February and in June to discuss the idea and gather input.
- Sponsored two events focused on equity: Juneteenth Jubilee in Somerset, and the Mountain Grrl Experience in Pikeville.
- Continued our programmatic work to support communities in disaster recovery from July 2022 and other floods.
We invite you to contact us with any questions about our journey or about our path forward. Please find current updates here. Please contact Betsy Whaley at betsy@mtassociation.org (859) 671-0212.
