Ep. 61: No Parachutes: Community-Led Resilience in Central Appalachia with Emma Kelly & Kara Dotten

Yes! We Rise Podcast Episode 61: No Parachutes: Community-Led Resilience in Central Appalachia with Emma Kelly and Kara Dotten, Appalachian Voices, and Christine Gyovai EPISODE DESCRIPTION What does it look like when a nonprofit stops parachuting in and starts following a community's lead? In this episode, Christine sits down with longtime colleagues Emma Kelly and Kara Dotten of the New Economy team at Appalachian Voices. Emma lives in Lee County and Kara in Wise County, both rooted in the coalfields of far Southwest Virginia. Through the Community Strong initiative, they've walked alongside five small towns—Dante, Clinchco, Pennington Gap, Pound, and Dungannon—listening, returning, and listening again, until residents' own priorities became a reality. Ideas turn into funded projects including: a flood-prone, abandoned grocery building demolished to make way for a flood-mitigating park, a historic train depot on its way to becoming a solar-powered resilience hub, and an aquatic center celebrating the Clinch River carrying a beloved mayor's legacy forward. Emma and Kara share hard-won lessons on building trust: respecting the hyper-local wisdom of each place even when you're from the region, showing up messy and honest instead of polished, compensating residents as the experts they are, and committing to communities “in perpetuity, as long as they want us.” They also open up about leaving and coming home, the humor and pride of people living Appalachia rather than touring it, and how they stay grounded (and avoid burnout) in work that always feels urgent. It's a warm, wise, and practical conversation for anyone who wants to help their community rise from the ground up. Welcome to the Yes! We Rise Podcast! KEY TAKEAWAYS FOR CHANGE-MAKERS · Go to the experts—the community. Residents at every level are the true experts in their place. Without them, you're working with an incomplete picture. · Don't just ask—return. Community Strong held three rounds of meetings in each town so residents could refine, prioritize, and help decide what to seek funding for, instead of a one-and-done listening session. · Respect the hyper-local. Even people from the region don't automatically understand the culture or flooding issues of the next town over. Bring a beginner's mind. · Be human, not polished. Being honest, messy, goofy, and vulnerable builds more trust than showing up as the experts. · Make participation possible. Food, stipends, welcoming kids (with giant sticky notes at kid level to draw on), and welcoming residents' knowledge as professional expertise all matter. · Go deep, not wide. Focusing on five communities for the long haul beats doing a half job in many places. · Tangible results build momentum. When people know construction funding is in place, they know they're not speaking into the void. · Take care of yourself. Take time off—this work can burn you out, and you need rest to return at your best. LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED · Appalachian Voices — visit the website, sign up for the (geo-targeted) mailing list, and follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky: https://appvoices.org/ · Community Strong — https://appvoices.org/community-strong/ · Mineland Releaf Project — https://appvoices.org/mineland-releaf... · Solar Workgroup of Southwest Virginia — https://swvasolar.org/ · Yes! We Rise Episode 9: Letting Love Lead with Mayor Horne of Dungannon, Virginia: https://yeswerise.org/podcast-9/ ABOUT THE PODCAST Now more than ever, our world needs brave, visionary leaders to create positive change on a global scale. We need individuals and community organizers to rise up and build a future that allows our granddaughters and grandsons to thrive. But where do these leaders come from? What inspires and motivates their impact? And how can the rest of us begin? How do everyday people take practical steps to “create the change they want to see in the world”? At Yes! We Rise, we have solutions. After 20 years helping individuals and leaders build a brighter future together, we know for a fact that real change happens based on the local ideas of local leaders. You already have the power to make a meaningful impact. We'll get you inspired and show you how. If you've ever wanted to make a bigger difference inside your own community, or you've struggled to imagine what it would look like for you to create a more sustainable life and world, the Yes! We Rise podcast is for you. Join us as we build collective resilience and community transformation. Because together, we rise. The Yes! We Rise podcast is produced by Dialogue + Design Associates, with music by Drishti Beats. Please rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast so we can continue spreading our message far and wide. See full show notes, episode transcript, and podcast app links to our show at https://yeswerise.org.