Youth Flood Preparedness: Building the Next Generation of Resilience Leaders
In June 2025, the Center for Resilient Communities hosted its second Resilience Ambassador Program (RAP), bringing together over 15 high school students from three West Virginia counties. Over two days, students mapped flood vulnerability in their communities, learning how to analyze data, listen to local experience, and act as informed resilience ambassadors. Several alumni from the 2024 program returned as peer mentors, helping guide new participants.
Soon after, severe flash flooding struck Marion and Ohio counties, claiming nine lives and causing widespread damage. CRC staff joined Ohio Valley Mutual Aid to support cleanup efforts, while RAP alumni reflected on their workshop experience—connecting what they learned about preparedness and community resilience to the real challenges facing their neighbors.
Undergraduate Researchers Develop Water Security Tools for WV Communities
CRC interns Sam Bayne and Mathew Oliverio advanced the center’s work on water security this summer by developing a Community Water Assessment Tool to help residents visualize risks to their drinking water. Using ArcGIS dashboards, the team compiled publicly available data on infrastructure, contamination, and governance to reveal vulnerabilities across the state. Their research identifies how water security is shaped by actors and policies from the local to federal levels. This fall, Sam and Matthew are refining their findings into a community workshop model designed to help watershed organizations and local leaders better assess—and act on—water challenges across West Virginia.
Flood Resilience and Water Policy Coalitions
Assistant Director Grace Dever joined environmental partners in the Cheat River watershed this summer for a learning exchange on how Appalachian communities can plan for future flooding. Visiting key restoration sites with Friends of Cheat, the group explored how scientific knowledge and lived experience can come together to confront both flash flooding and the lasting effects of extractive industries on water quality. Grace also represented the CRC at the WV Environmental Council’s Annual Meeting in Ripley, WV, where advocates from across the state outlined shared environmental goals for the 2026 legislative session. Discussions focused on flood resiliency, air quality, public lands, and energy efficiency—highlighting how research and community organizing can shape a more just environmental future for West Virginia.
Advancing Diverse Economies Across West Virginia
The Community Economies Area of Inquiry is deepening its efforts to strengthen diverse and equitable economies across West Virginia. This summer, CRC interns Kyleigh Edwards and Haley Mosely played a vital role in organizing and analyzing five years of CRC’s work in community and economic development. Their efforts are helping to map the impact of CRC’s partnerships statewide.
Graduate Students reach major Milestones!
CRC doctoral scholars also advanced major milestones. Cameron Rishworth defended his dissertation proposal, Neighborhood Economic Development at the Grassroots: Navigating Racial Histories and Strategies for Socio-Economic Solidarity in West Virginia, and is now conducting fieldwork in Huntington. Kait Stewart defended her proposal, Take Me Home? The Role of the Welcome Corps in the Transformation of Refugee Resettlement Programs in the Appalachian Mountain Region, and began field research this summer. Meanwhile, Gabby Frazier continues her Masters research on affordable and community-controlled housing models, contributing new insights into equitable housing futures for the region.
Growing Solidarity at the Black Urban Growers Conference
In October, Cameron Rishworth and Heaven Smith joined West Virginia farmers and cooperative developers at the 13th Annual Black Urban Growers (BUGS) Conference in Detroit, Michigan. They attended alongside partners from New Economy Works WV, Keep Your Faith Corporation, Phat Daddy’s on Da Tracks, and Mear Mae’s Meadow. Detroit—home to more than 2,000 community farms—offered powerful examples of how vacant lots have been transformed into spaces of education, cooperation, and mutual aid. Cameron reflected on how the conference highlighted the role of farming as a vehicle for community building and social action, quoting the late activist Jimmy Boggs: “It’s only in relationship to other bodies that any body is somebody.” The experience strengthened regional ties and deepened CRC’s commitment to solidarity-based economic development.
Mapping Creativity and the WV Creative Network
This summer, Ph.D. candidate Kait Stewart, together with the Community GIS team, supported the West Virginia Creative Network (formerly Tamarack Foundation for the Arts) in mapping its 500-member artist network. The collaboration produced a statewide map displaying artists’ locations and primary disciplines, helping the organization identify underrepresented regions and opportunities for connection. The team’s work has inspired the creation of a StoryMap and interactive Dashboard to be unveiled as the Creative Network celebrates its 25th anniversary in December. Kait and Domenica Queen, the network’s Director of Operations, will present this project at the Appalachian Studies Association Conference in March 2026—showcasing how mapping and data visualization can strengthen creative economies and cultural networks across the Mountain State.
Realizing the Right to Food in West Virginia
The Food System Transformation Area of Inquiry continues to advance work toward the progressive realization of the Right to Food in West Virginia. This summer, with the leadership of Davide Zoppollato, Shelby Davis, and Heaven Smith, the CRC launched a major update to WV FOODLINK, celebrating ten years of connecting communities, data, and food system advocates. The team continues to accompany partners statewide who are building more equitable and resilient local food systems.
Nourishing Networks and Black Food Sovereignty
Undergraduate Research Assistant Heaven Smith organized a Nourishing Networks workshop at Phat Daddy’s on the Tracks in West Charleston on October 6th. Her work centers on restoring health and joy through food and education, inspired by her participation in the Black Urban Growers Conference and a study visit with the Detroit Black Food Sovereignty Network. Through her research with the Food Justice Lab, Heaven is helping to cultivate the emerging West Virginia Black Food Sovereignty Network by engaging communities in Charleston and Morgantown. She envisions a future as a community-based educator and grower, advancing nutritious, self-sufficient, and culturally rooted food practices.
World Food Day: Taking the Conversation into the Community
In partnership with Morgantown Community Kitchen and Voices of Hunger WV, the CRC will host a World Food Day discussion on October 15th focused on food access in Morgantown. This year marks a shift—bringing the event off campus and into the community.
Since 2014, the CRC’s Food Justice Lab has celebrated World Food Day through creative programming such as the Food Justice in the Libraries Art Exhibit (2022) and other campus events. Moving the gathering to the Community Kitchen reaffirms the CRC’s commitment to dialogue, collaboration, and solidarity with those most affected by food insecurity.
Policy Shifts and Statewide Collaboration
Joshua Lohnes, Food Policy Director, notes that major policy changes are reshaping the food and nutrition landscape in West Virginia. The federal H.R.1 “Big Beautiful Bill” recently eliminated the SNAP Education program, cutting vital funding for nutrition education and innovation. H.R.1 also introduces sweeping reforms to state-level SNAP administration that will impact thousands of residents. In response, the CRC continues to strengthen partnerships across the state. This fall, the team supported 11 advocates to attend the Black Urban Growers Summit in Detroit, co-hosts the upcoming WV Food for All Summit in Morgantown, and will present two years of action research at the Farm to School Summit (November 3–4). Each initiative reflects CRC’s ongoing commitment to advancing food justice and democratic participation in food system governance.