It’s your turn to connect and make a change. Working Groups are actively seeking new participants to make an impact in the region. Find your place and make a difference.

CAN participants approach sustainable economic development through a variety of sectors, including energy, forestry, food systems, waste and recycling, health, social enterprise, entrepreneurship, and green business development. CAN recognizes the importance of all these sectors and believes that the collective impact of a network can create powerful changes by focusing on one or more sectors at a time.

Strengthen the region by joining one of these Working Groups:

  • Clean Energy Working Group – A broad coalition of practitioners accelerating Central Appalachia’s equitable clean energy transition through collective power-building, collaborative funding models, coordinated policy advocacy, and peer learning.
  • Ecological Restoration Working Group – Regional collaboration, sharing best practices, minimizing duplication, and reaching underserved communities through the overarching topic of ecological restoration.
  • ReUse Corridor – A coalition of businesses, individual stakeholders and communities throughout central Appalachia who are building a market around reuse, upcycling and recycling.
  • Beginning Farmer Working Group – A gathering of individuals working to support the next generation of farmers.
  • Healthy Food Access Working Group – Welcomes all community partners working towards a fair food system to create healthy, local food for all.
  • Processing, Aggregation, and Distribution (PAD) – A network of caring professionals who strive to accelerate the culturally responsive, small-acre mountain farming and local food economy in Central Appalachia.