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Whitney Kimball Coe talks with Brother Hill (Brett Hill), folk musician, singer, songwriter, and humanitarian volunteer from southern Ohio, known for his dynamic voice, insightful lyricism, and engaging stage presence. Brother Hill performs as frontman in Appalachian folk-quintet “Hill Spirits” and also as American representative of the Ukrainian-Belarusian-American folk project “Slavalachia”, which has allied representatives of Slavic and American folk traditions together since 2019 to promote cultural solidarity and forge new bridges for creative cultural expression. Hill visited eastern Ukraine delivering donations of medical supplies and performing for Ukrainian troops fighting on the frontlines as part of the “From Ohio With Love” campaign, which he founded with colleague Benya Stewart within the first week of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. To date the grassroots campaign has raised over $86,000 for Ukrainian causes, primarily through folk concerts in Ohio. Funds raised support the hand-delivery of CAT tourniquets and Advanced Bleed Control Kits to mobilized units across Ukraine. Hill will be returning to Ukraine in May for another delivery of supplies, and to continue fortifying long-standing cultural support through performances across the country and collaborations with Ukrainian artists. Besides his work abroad, Brett Hill is an active partner with United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary in Meigs County, Ohio, as member of their Deep Ecology Fellowship. Since receiving this fellowship in 2020, Hill and United Plant Savers have collaborated with West End Distillery in Athens, Ohio to craft Hill Spirits Elder Gin- a sustainably and locally sourced botanical gin, the proceeds of which ($5000 since July 2021) go to benefit American Ginseng preservation in southeast Ohio. Hill has self-released three albums under the Brother Hill moniker (the Summoning of Brother Hill [2017], the Dereliction of Brother Hill [2019], and Blackfish [2021]) as well as two albums with Hill Spirits (Omens EP [2020], Hill Spirits [2020]) and a full length self-titled album with folk alliance Slavalachia [2022]. Released this Spring will be compilation album Three Gardens, featuring Slavalachia counterparts Benya Stewart and Siarzhuk Douhushau (of Belarus). The three began recording the compilation within two months of the invasion as a means of coping with the realities of war and separation from their Ukrainian bandmates who remained in Ukraine. It is a compilation of content varying from songs learned during their time in Ukraine, to original songs written about the war, to traditional Appalachian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian folk materials.
Whitney Kimball Coe talks with filmmakers Dee Davis, Mimi Pickering, and Joel Cohen about their new half-hour documentary, East Kentucky Flood. They share why they felt compelled to gather and share stories of those who witnessed the July 2022 flooding that devastated the region that Davis and Pickering call home. "I think the intensity of the moment is powerful," Davis said. "People will be able to tell these stories for 50 years. They're not going to forget them. There is this urgency at the time, which is, 'I have seen something, mister, and I have to tell you this.' That's important to be someone who listens deeply to those stories because within them are just the basic components of being human." The Center for Rural Strategies film tells the story of the flood by those who endured it. The stories reveal not just what happened July 2022, but what lies ahead for communities across East Kentucky. The half -hour program will premiere at 10 p.m. Wednesday, February 15, 2023, on KET, Kentucky's public television network, and will air other times throughout the month of February. The video will be available for streaming on Thursday, February 16 at dailyyonder.com. Learn more about our guests and the documentary at https://ruralassembly.org/podcasts/everywhere-radio-flood-doc/
Erickson "EB" Blakney grew up in Toledo, Ohio, but has a strong connection to the Mississippi Delta. A filmmaker, journalist, and philanthropy professional, Blakney talks with host Whitney Kimball Coe about his work in Mississippi, rural films, and his hope that that journalists and philanthropists will begin to focus on what the region's people have to offer. A program officer with the New York-based The Pinkerton Foundation, Blakney's is also an award-winning writer and reporter having worked for Bloomberg and CBS News. A member of the National Press Club, Blakney is the co-founder, along with author and award-winning filmmaker Dr. Lee Quinby, of the True Delta Project which produces documentaries about the Delta region which air on Mississippi Public Broadcasting Television (MPB) and screen at film festivals around the country. His most recent documentary, Zip Code Matters (2021, produced in partnership with Sena Mourad Friedman and The Fair Housing Center-Toledo, examines racial and socioeconomic inequalities in health. EB is a board trustee of the DreamYard Project, an arts and social justice organization in the Bronx. He plays a similar role on the board of the Clarksdale Animal Rescue Effort and Shelter (CARES) in Clarksdale, MS. Because of his filmmaking and philanthropic work in the rural Delta, he was invited to serve as a board member for The Center for Rural Strategies in Whitesburg, KY. Blakney also serves on the grant review and finance committees of The Needmor Fund. Founded in 1956 by Duane and Virginia Secor Stranahan, the Perrysburg, Ohio-based philanthropy, supports grass-roots groups organizing to bring about social and economic justice. Blakney is a graduate of Hobart College and Maumee Valley Country Day School in Toledo, Ohio. Find the transcript at www.ruralassembly.org/podcasts/everywhere-radio-ericksonblakney
On this episode of Everywhere Radio, a group of neighbors from McMinn County, Tennessee, discuss book banning and how it played out in their own community when the school board pulled Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize winning novel "Maus" from the 8th grade curriculum. They talk about the book ban in McMinn as indicative of a broader national trend, how their community is addressing it, and what they feel is truly at stake in this moment. Join Whitney Kimball-Coe, Vice President of National Programs Center for Rural Strategies, and her McMinn County, Tenn., neighbors: Stephen Dick, Austin Sauerbrei, Alex Sharp, Liv Cook, Cynthia McCowan and Dr. Patricia Waters. Everywhere Radio, hosted by Whitney Kimball Coe, features rural leaders and allies and spotlights the good, scrappy, joyful ways rural people are building a more inclusive nation. New episodes of the podcast release every other Thursday. Everywhere Radio is a production of the Rural Assembly, a program of the nonprofit Center for Rural Strategies, which also publishes the Daily Yonder. Everywhere Radio: https://www.ruralassembly.org/podcasts Subscribe to Rural Assembly: https://www.ruralassembly.org/newsletter-subscribe #rural #bookbans #libraries #bookchallenges #ALA #rurallibraries #Maus #McMinn #ruralassembly #everywhereradio #ruralpodcasts #schoollibraries #publiclibraries #artSpiegelman #books
The Rural Assembly's Whitney Kimball Coe and Tracy Staley talk all things Rural Assembly Everywhere — the Assembly's virtual gathering coming May 10 and 11th. Learn what we're looking forward to, you can connect with other rural advocates during the conference, and more during this special episode of Everywhere Radio. ⭐️ Register for Rural Assembly Everywhere at https://www.crowdcast.io/e/rural-assembly-2022
On this episode Whitney Kimball Coe from the Rural Assembly shares a conversation with Anthony Flaccavento, a farmer in southwestern VA, as well as an author, political candidate, and most recently co-founder of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative. This interview comes from the Everywhere Radio podcast produced by the Rural Assembly. Following that are remembrances from three folks who spoke at a memorial for bell hooks held at Berea College on April 14th. bell, who was born Gloria Jean Watkins in Hopkinsville KY, died dec 15, 2021. She came back to Kentucky to serve as Distinguished Professor in Residence in Appalachian Studies at Berea College in 2004 and from that point on made her home there. The international outpouring of grief and love for bell hooks that came with her passing may have surprised many in this region and state who were unaware that such a renowned figure lived amongst us. Linda Strong Leek who was Berea College Provost before becoming provost at Haverford College in Philadelphia, introduces Paige Melman, and Beverly Guy Sheftall, and then concludes the program.
Our guest Teri Carter writes about rural politics, and now she's living them. Carter talks with Everywhere Radio about why she's a progressive running as a Republican for magistrate in her Kentucky county, how she stays in relationship with neighbors, and how she became a political writer. About the guest: Carter lives in Anderson County, Kentucky, where she writes about rural politics. You can find her work at the Lexington Herald-Leader, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Daily Yonder. She has a BA in English from the University of Minnesota and an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from San Jose State University. She teaches at The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in Lexington, Kentucky, and is working on a book about stepfamilies. About the podcast: Everywhere Radio, hosted by Whitney Kimball Coe, features rural leaders and allies spotlighting the good, scrappy, joyful ways rural people are building a more inclusive nation. Everywhere Radio is produced by the Rural Assembly. All the links:
Center for Rural Strategies national programs director Whitney Kimball Coe discusses the diversity of American rural communities and the aspirations of women.
How did planning for a potential ICE raid lead to a festival celebrating immigrant communities in rural Nebraska? Hear this and other stories about living as an immigrant in rural America as community organizer Gladys Godinez and host Whitney Kimball Coe discuss the importance of inclusion, welcoming, and being seen.
Don't miss a new podcast from the Rural Assembly. Launching Thursday, March 4, Everywhere Radio, hosted by Whitney Kimball Coe, spotlights the good, scrappy, joyful ways that rural people and allies are building a more inclusive nation. Our first slate of episodes features guests like Wendy Feliz of the American Immigration Council, Krista Tippett of the On Being Project, Kiran Singh Sirah of the International Storytelling Center, rural community organizer Gladys Godinez, and more.
Whitney Kimball Coe provides a preview of the Rural Assembly Everywhere, the first time the gathering will be online beginning Monday October 26 and wrapping up Friday October 30. The Rural Assembly is a nationwide movement of people and organizations building a smarter, greener, more inclusive rural America. Coe is the Director of National Programs at the Center for Rural Strategies, the home base of the Rural Assembly. For more information or to register (it's free!) go to www.ruralassembly.org.
Michelle chats with Whitney Kimball Coe, director of National Programs at the Center for Rural Strategies and the leader of the Rural Assembly, about the upcoming Rural Assembly Everywhere Festival, and with three presenters at this landmark event including, Kathleen Sebelius, former HHS Secretary, Benya Kraus, co-founder of Lead for America and Executive Director of Lead for Minnesota, and Norma Flores Lopez, chair of the Child Labor Coalition’s Domestic Issues Committee and an activist with Justice for Migrant Women. Rural Assembly Everywhere is a free, five-day (October 26-30) streaming virtual conference/festival, where you can tune in at any time to find out what’s happening in this critical time in rural America, Coe explains. The festival includes “main stage” keynotes from various authors and thought leaders, including Sarah Smarsh, author of Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, Dr. Richard Besser of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Rural Everywhere will cover vital issues and headlines from The Daily Yonder, such as the rural vote in the 2020 elections, and racial justice in rural America. Breakout sessions will focus on more specific issues, including climate change, resiliency, and developing the next generation of rural leaders. Also, Coe notes, there will be a happy hour every day, at which attendees can network with other attendees. To register for this can’t miss virtual festival, visit ruralassembly.org. The major rural health issues today, according to Sebelius, include access to providers and hospitals; the promise of telemedicine to provide that access in, for example, specialty care and mental health; how resiliency in rural America can attract new providers and residents; and access to fast broadband, especially in education and health. Kraus, who will be facilitating a conversation with author Sarah Smarsh at the Everywhere event, discusses her rural outreach efforts in Minnesota, her relationship with immigrant and other entrepreneurs in Waseca, and the inspiring experience of “working your way back home.” At Lead for America, she explains, potential rural contributors can be matched with rural communities to earn two-year fellowships to enable them to bring best practices back to their hometowns. The Justice for Migrant Women, Lopez says, protects and advances rural and migrant women’s rights through education, public awareness, and advocacy. Rural America is not all white, as some politicians believe, but is actually diverse, and her organization tries to make sure that rural women are truly heard. In this election year, that means getting out the vote, she notes. Migrant farmworkers are essential works, she adds, and while they are starting to get more recognition, that doesn’t mean they’re getting needed workplace protections, such as overtime pay and the right to organize.
In this final segment of our four-part, in-depth series. “Rural Communities: Conquering Challenges, Optimizing Opportunities,” produced in association with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Michelle talks to three major thought leaders about pressing challenges and the future of living in rural America: Tom Morris, the Associate Administrator for Rural Health Policy in HHS’s Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), who oversees the work of the Office of Rural Health Policy; Dr. Allen Pratt, Executive Director of the National Rural Education Association (NREA); and Whitney Kimball Coe, the director of National Programs at the Center for Rural Strategies, where she leads the Rural Assembly, a nationwide movement striving to build better policy and more opportunity for rural communities. The three big challenges in rural education today are teacher shortages, broadband and connectivity, and access to jobs in rural regions, according to Pratt. He notes Montana is trying to make it easier for potential teachers from rural areas to get licensed. Morris says that if you train people in rural areas, it’s more likely that they’ll stay in rural communities, noting that his office funded 27 new rural residency planning grants this year. Through its grant authority. Morris’s office engage in outreach in rural communities, such as it recent four-year pilot on obstetric services, which links the major stakeholders in this area. As far as success stories are concerned, Pratt cites a coding program in Montana, a wildlife initiative outside of Buffalo, NY, and scholarship to teacher aides in Arizona, while Morris mention what rural communities in Missouri and Maine are doing to combat COPD and projects in rural areas in Washington and Kentucky that are improving the population’s health status. Coe discussed the takeaways from the recent Rural Women’s Summit in Greenville, NC, including the leadership roles played by women in creating healthier rural communities (with or without the leadership titles) and the fact they should be better supported and the level of optimism that was bursting at the seams at the conference and how that could lead to changing of the narrative on rural communities. Finally, Coe cited the influence of the nonpartisan Vote, Run, Lead, which held a workshop at the Summit for women considering running for public office. This episode and the entire four-part series was sponsored and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, rwjf.org.
Michelle chats with two very important advocates in the rural space: Whitney Kimball Coe, coordinator of the National Rural Assembly, a rural movement comprised of activities and partnerships geared toward building better policy and more opportunity across the country; (the Rural Assembly is part of Rural Strategies, which also includes Daily Yonder, a definite go-to read for anyone interested in rural matters); and Edyael Del Carmen Casaperalta, Fellow at the American Indian Law Program at the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder, where she researches and writes about federal Indian law, international human rights, indigenous peoples’ rights, and telecommunications and technology. Coe has established a focus on building civic courage in communities and is directly tied to a practice of participation in her hometown of Athens, TN. Del Carmen Casaperalta is a budding attorney dedicated to serving indigenous peoples and poor communities in telecommunications and technology law matters. The National Rural Assembly is holding its first Rural Women’s Summit Oct. 28-29 in Greenville SC. The Summit will begin with a panel comprising women journalists and will include sessions covering running for public office, curating your own story, gender, identity, and power. Rural Matters will be recording a podcast live from the Summit, #ruralwomenlead. For more information, visit ruralassembly.org. This episode was sponsored by Bryan Telemedicine, https://www.bryanhealth.com/services/telemedicine/; Phynd, www.phynd.com; REC Foundation, roboticseducation.org; For the Win Robotics, frw-robotic.com; and the Rural Assembly, ruralassembly.org.
If you use the Internet, or are one of the many rural residents who hope to get the Internet, December 14 was a big day. Under a plan proposed by Anjit Pai, President Trump’s choice for chairman, the Federal Communications Commission voted 3 to 2 to dismantle Net Neutrality, the open Internet principles that more than 80 percent of Americans support. FCC commissioners also voted along party lines to eliminate Internet as a utility, or Title II service. That will result in a loss in universal service requirements and consumer protections. What does this mean for rural parts of the country that are still struggling to get high speed Internet services? What does this mean for rural parts of the country that are still struggling to get high speed Internet services? We asked Whitney Kimball Coe, a young woman raising a family in Athens, TN, a small town south of Knoxville. She also coordinates the National Rural Assembly and is director of national programs for the Center for Rural Strategies. For our report, she adapted an editorial she wrote for the Daily Post Athenian in which she relates her concerns about the impact the FCC changes will have on rural communities such as those in our WMMT listening area.
No challenge before us is more important — and more potentially life-giving — than that we come to see and know our fellow citizens, our neighbors, who have become strangers. Journalist Anand Giridharadas and Whitney Kimball Coe of the Rural Assembly have two very different histories and places in our life together. But they are both stitching relationship across the ruptures that have made politics thin veneers over human dramas of power and frailty, fear and hope. We spoke at the Obama Foundation’s inaugural summit in Chicago. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Anand Giridharadas and Whitney Kimball Coe —The Call to Community in a Changed World.” Find more at onbeing.org.
No challenge before us is more important — and more potentially life-giving — than that we come to see and know our fellow citizens, our neighbors, who have become strangers. Journalist Anand Giridharadas and Whitney Kimball Coe of the Rural Assembly have two very different histories and places in our life together. But they are both stitching relationship across the ruptures that have made politics thin veneers over human dramas of power and frailty, fear and hope. We spoke at the Obama Foundation’s inaugural summit in Chicago.