CEDAR, INC.
FUTURE of WORK in APPALACHIA – STUDY UNIT PROGRAM
PROGRAM GUIDELINES
2024-2025
TASK: Design a Unit of Study that will enable students to discover how they can be a part of shaping the Future of Work in Appalachia, and how that could help provide more sustainability for their community and our region as a whole. The Unit should address one or more of the seven Pillars in the SOAR Blueprint, as listed in the Program Prompt, (pages 3-4).
You are encouraged to include an innovative/entrepreneurial aspect in your Study Unit.
CEDAR encourages Unit Activities to be conducted outside, as well as inside the classroom, and for students to involve family members or others to assist them with any part of their participation, where such would be deemed appropriate by the teacher.
APPLICATION PROCESS: The Unit Proposal/Grant Request Application, pages 5-8 of the Program Packet, must be completed.
SUGGESTED UNIT TOPICS: CEDAR offers the following topics as suggestions only, and does not require that any particular one/ones be used, but any of them would fit well within the scope of the program. Please feel free to create your own topic as long as it fits within the above Task Statement, and you provide an explanation of such. Also, you are welcome to weave as many different topics as you would like within your Unit, and with a combination of your choosing. As you will see, the following two pages list examples of Topics that would address the seven SOAR Blueprint Pillars.
STUDY UNIT PROGRAM
SUGGESTED UNIT TOPICS
(By Prompt Pillar)
1. Broadband - Increase the availability of affordable high-speed broadband, through fiber, to businesses and residents; and increase adoption rates throughout the SOAR region: 1) On-Line Business; 2) Website Design; 3)Technology’s role in conducting business, past and present.
2. 21st Century Workforce - Develop our regional workforce to be competitive in the digital economy and other emerging industries: 1) Career exploration relative to various community jobs and needs; 2) Jobs and careers involved with the economic development process; 3) Various types of jobs created by economic development projects.
3. Entrepreneurship in the digital economy - To create new and expand existing small businesses within the region by taking full advantage of the digital economy:
1) What is an Entrepreneur; 2) Traits of an Entrepreneur; 3) Entrepreneurship Types – a) Innovation Driven Enterprise; b) Small and Medium Enterprise; 4) Identify local Entrepreneurs; 5) Economics; 6) Marketing; 7) Profits / Loss; 8) Small Business / Start Ups; 9) Create a “Class Business”; 10) Prototypes; 11) Explore brownfields/greyfields/greenfields/previously mined sites/coal camp communities, as possible sites for new business location and/or revitalization; 12) Develop new use for coal.
4. Healthy Communities - To reduce the physical and economic impact of obesity, diabetes, and substance use disorder, as well as any on-going significant health concerns throughout our region, i.e.: 1) Create an App that promotes healthy living; 2) Educational program; 3) Medical innovations; 4) Healthcare Careers; 5) Recognition and/or Tribute to Healthcare Innovations and/or Those Delivering Care/Treatment/Support Under Adverse Condition and at Personal Risk.
5. Industrial Development - Increase the amount of industrial employment which includes manufacturing, natural resources, processing, and distribution by expanding existing companies and attracting new ones: 1) Products & Services; 2) Budgeting & Finance; 3) Differences between Needs & Wants; 4) Relationship between Supply & Demand; 5) How to recruit business; 6) How to retain existing business; 7) Create a future city showing a well balanced offering of businesses meeting the community wants/needs; 8) Coal Camps – revitalize, repurpose, restore.
6. Regional Food Systems - Create a local foods movement by connecting local producers to markets for their products both within and outside the region: 1) How to grow plants through traditional methods (School Gardening); 2) Vermiculture – Worm Farming; 3) Composting; 4) Seed Production; 5) Soil quality; 6) Mushroom farming; 7) Pollinators; 8) Aquaponics, hydroponics, aquaculture; 9) Herbs; 10) Fruit orchards; 11) Vineyards; 12) From Where Does Our Food Originate?
7. Tourism and downtown revitalization - Establish Kentucky's Appalachian region as a tourism destination: 1) Adventure tourism; Cultural Exchange vs. Cultural Appreciation – a) Food; b) Coal; c) Quilting; d) Folk Art; e) Music; f) Stories
*NOTE* The Topic you choose should reasonably connect to one of the seven SOAR Pillars, so please feel free for you and your students to think-outside-of-the-box when choosing a topic and making the connection, but remember that the closer the connection is to the Pillar will result in higher points in the first component of the Scoring Sheet on page 23 of the Program Packet.