About this Project

The Investment Playbook for Rural Appalachia is a result of years of collaboration by more than a hundred community development leaders across the region working to connect investment to underserved communities and, ultimately, support downtown redevelopment and revitalization. The Playbook was commissioned by the Appalachian Funders Network (AFN) and the Central Appalachia Network (CAN), and funded by grants from the Appalachian Investment Ecosystem Initiative (AIEI), Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, and Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky (CEDIK). Thank you to all the individuals that contributed to the development of this Playbook in the form of insight, case studies, photographs, and review. 

Is this playbook for you? 

If you care about developing a rural downtown and wonder how to pay for it, then this playbook is for you. So explore it, use it, and share it with others who care about developing rural downtowns. This playbook provides examples, tools, and inspiration to help both investors and communities alike create a pipeline of investments in Appalachian downtown districts, which can ultimately lead to transformative and positive returns on investment for everyone involved. This playbook is NOT a step-by-step guide for community organizing, real estate development, or downtown revitalization. You can find links to such resources in the Appendix. This playbook focuses on the inner workings of investment, and is divided into 4 modules: 

  1. Case Studies: 7 real-world examples of downtown development investments throughout Central Appalachia. 

  2. Readiness Factors: an Investment Readiness Assessment Tool with a description of various factors that signal when a community is ready for investment. 

  3. Helping Groups Organize for Investment: an overview of the stages of investment in a downtown development project. 

  4. Investment Strategies: a breakdown of specific strategies and types of investment. 

By utilizing real stories and drawing on decades of combined experience, this playbook will help investors and community members speak the same language. It also sheds light on innovative ways to blend multiple private and public sources to maximize return-on-investment for everyone involved. 

So, if you are an investor seeking ways to maximize your return on investment, or you are a community member seeking investment to revitalize a downtown, this playbook will help you to make it happen. 

Background

Primary Authors: Ruthie Caldwell (Vision Granted), Melissa Levy (Community Roots), Robert Donnan (Donnan Consulting), and Barbara Wyckoff (Creative Disruptors). About the Authors.  

Project Advisors: Hannah Vargason (Partner Community Capital), Deb Markley (LOCUS), Andrew Crosson (Invest Appalachia), Thomas Watson (Rural Support Partners)

Anchor Partners: AFN Downtown Revitalization Working Group, CAN Creative Placemaking Working Group, Invest Appalachia, Downtown Appalachia Center 

Financial Supporters: The Appalachian Investment Ecosystem Initiative – managed by LOCUS Impact Investing and supported by Cassiopeia Foundation, Danville Regional Foundation, Greater Clark Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Thompson Charitable Foundation, UnitedHealthcare, and Wells Fargo – is a multi-year effort that builds on years of locally led work to strengthen and fill gaps in the community investment ecosystem in Central Appalachia, with the goal of helping the region attract and absorb capital in ways that strengthen regional capacity and advance social and economic opportunity that in turn leads to better health and well-being in the long-term.