Appalachian Sustainable Development: Supporting Small Business Marketing
Appalachian Sustainable Development (ASD) supports entrepreneurs focusing on high value organic and other sustainable agriculture products. ASD has held several outreach meetings and technical assistance workshops to encourage farmer participation, leveraging the support of Cooperative Extension and Virginia Tech. It has also developed and marketed products under the Appalachian Harvest brand. To strengthen the Appalachian Harvest identity, Tom Peterson, manager of ASD's sustainable agriculture program, oversaw the redesign and expansion of the Appalachian Harvest image. With the help of marketing students from nearby East Tennessee State University, Peterson and his team developed a logo and created profiles of participating farmers. They then made the materials available to the stores handling Appalachian Harvest produce—about 60 of the 86 Food City stores in Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky; approximately 22 Whole Foods Market stores in the greater Washington, D.C., area; and about 20 of the 30 Ukrop's grocery stores in central Virginia, as well as several other commercial outlets.

Creating Jobs and Helping the Environment: Brownfields Development in Appalachian Pennsylvania
Cooperative networks of government and community organizations are helping redevelop three brownfields sites in Appalachian Pennsylvania. Such areas, previously contaminated with industrial waste, often cannot be reclaimed without extensive cooperation between local, state, and federal regulators and public and private partners.

The North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission decided to purchase and redevelop old industrial sites, creating multi-tenant complexes for new companies. This move met a locally identified need for low-cost industrial space for start-up companies. As these companies grow they can relocate in the area, continuing to provide local jobs while freeing space for new entrepreneurs. The first site was acquired in 1985; the most recent in 2001.

Today the commission manages 87 acres of industrial park space, with over one million square feet of useable space occupied by 30 companies. Over 650 new jobs have been created. In addition to environmental regulatory agencies, partners have included county and municipal governments, regional planning organizations, chambers of commerce, utility companies, banks, realtors, and industrial organizations.

Developing New Markets for Entrepreneurs: Center for Economic Options
Christmas shoppers in Charleston, West Virginia, had new choices in 2000—the products of nearly 60 small-scale entrepreneurs from throughout the West Virginia mountains. A new retail store in the Charleston Town Center indoor mall—the state's largest—was the latest effort of the Center for Economic Options, which has been helping microbusinesses find new higher-end markets since 1990. Showcase West Virginia now features the products of over 100 microbusinesses, and the center is planning two more retail locations. Over 60 percent of gross revenues go back to individual entrepreneurs.

Market access has been a formidable barrier for these small-scale crafts, forest, or farm producers from isolated communities. By providing shoppers ready access to entrepreneurs, Showcase West Virginia is creating new markets that will allow self-reliance and sustainable business growth. The center partners with community representatives and organizations across the state. Other successful efforts have included the Appalachian Knitwear Project, spun off as a separate nonprofit entity, and Appalachian by Design, Inc., which began with nearly 50 home knitters producing products for the Esprit Corporation.

Showcase West Virginia grew out of preparations for a subsequently cancelled West Virginia products expo. Now it helps entrepreneurs sell products while also offering them invaluable experience in cash flow, inventory control, accounting, pricing, marketing, and product development.

Putting It All Together: Small Business Development Center Outreach Program
For many years, residents seeking to start or expand businesses in Greene County, Pennsylvania, had little immediate access to local business information, counseling, or assistance in planning and financing. However, with help from the University of Pittsburgh, Greene County has implemented a key part of its strategic economic development plan.

An outreach office of the University of Pittsburgh Small Business Development Center, open one day a week, was launched in late 1996. Despite its limited operation, the office assisted over 70 residents and helped six clients receive almost $1.5 million in financing in its first year. The outreach office opened on a full-time basis in 1998 and continues to provide one-on-one business management counseling, as well as informational and educational programs of interest to growing numbers of start-up or small business owners.

Community involvement makes the outreach effort more successful. The Small Business Development Center is an active member of the local chamber of commerce. Its local coordinator is involved with numerous area work groups and serves as a county representative for several regional activities.

Shoals Business Incubator: Helping Businesses to Grow
Problem
Many rural Appalachian communities have high unemployment rates, often due to declining industry, agriculture, or mining. For several decades, employment in northwest Alabama—an area known as the Shoals—was tied to the health of a few large industries. Little effort was made to cultivate small home-grown businesses, which generate local wealth and reduce communities' dependence on branch plants (plants belonging to large companies whose headquarters are outside of rural Appalachia).

Solution
The Shoals Entrepreneurial Center (SEC) was established in 1992 as an all-purpose business incubator that assists new or fledgling businesses to grow in a sheltered, often shared, environment until they can sustain themselves within the business community.

Obstacles
At first, possible stakeholders were skeptical about the potential of a business incubator. These supporters expected a consistent stream of viable businesses to graduate from the incubator to provide the community's business support infrastructure with new clients. SEC overcame this problem by graduating businesses after a specified period, without allowing them to remain in the incubator long after they are self-sustaining. Many start-up incubators also have a hard time finding funding. However, SEC made good use of available funding from ARC, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and others. To begin operating, SEC acquired two years of operating income from outside sources.

Keys to Operational Success

• Stakeholder support
• Good location
• Adequate funding
• Quality staff
• Recruitment of potentially-viable tenant-clients
• Appropriate assistance to tenant-clients

Outcomes
Of 88 businesses passing through SEC's two locations (Shoals and Sheffield), 80 are still operating. Fifty-one clients have graduated to the Shoals-area business community, creating 882 jobs. A 6,000 square foot kitchen incubator opened in 2001, and a 43,000 square foot facility is scheduled to open in May 2003.

Additional best practices:

• Community Infrastructure
• Business Development
• Education
• Health
• Leadership Development
• Telecommunications
• Transportation

Business Development
Sources of Funding
Best Practices
Examples of ARC Business Development Projects
Research and Data
News & Events
Education and Training
Spotlight on Business Development Themes
Building and Sustaining a Business
Attracting Financing Sources
State-level Resources