West Virginia presents a striking paradox: extraordinary natural wealth alongside persistent challenges of poverty, health disparities, and out-migration. For more than a century, industries such as coal, steel, timber, and chemicals powered the nation’s growth and provided stability for many communities. Over time, however, mechanization, market shifts, and eventual decline have left today’s generation to navigate volatile labor markets, distressed counties, and environmental legacies. New strategies—tourism, renewable energy, health care, agriculture, and data centers—are emerging with the potential to diversify the economy. The question is how do we learn from past lessons to foster more sustainable and resilient livelihoods across the region.
Traditional measures of economic progress often emphasize jobs, workforce development, or growth in gross domestic product. While important, these indicators may not fully capture how families and communities sustain themselves, build livelihoods and plan for the future. Beyond paychecks, well-being depends on access to land and water, family and care networks, skills and know-how, reliable services, and the ability to take part in shaping local priorities. In coalfield towns, university centers, health care hubs, and farm valleys alike, people combine seasonal work, caregiving, informal exchange, public benefits, small businesses, and mutual support. Moreover, they develop a range of livelihood repertoires and diverse enterprises that break the mold. These everyday practices and enterprise dynamics, though less visible in official statistics, are central to whether people can remain in their homeplaces and how communities weather the shocks of economic and environmental change.
How do we more effectively account for and support grassroots development efforts and livelihood dynamics that make lives liveable in West Virginia and the greater Appalachian region? How can we rethink economic development as more plural and place-based?
Are you interested in this area of inquiry and action? Contact Cameron Rishworth - cgr00006@mix.wvu.edu