An Innovative Model to Produce Service Leaders for Appalachia and Beyond

According to the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), the best hope for stabilizing and diversifying Appalachia’s economy lies in the creation and expansion of businesses that provide jobs, build local wealth and contribute broadly to economic and community development. The research on Appalachian communities, specifically, how entrepreneurship can be used as a tool to revitalize the region, is the focus of this paper. Exploring the need for understanding rural communities, the culture and climate for entrepreneurial activity and how educating the region’s youth can limit out migration will be covered. The need to expand and support entrepreneurial activity as a means for revitalizing Appalachian communities led to the creation of an entrepreneurship program to teach students about entrepreneurship in an effort to make a positive impact on the Appalachian region and beyond. Development in Appalachia The paper looks at the limited research on Appalachian and rural community development, tracking how entrepreneurship is used to revitalize the area (Childress, Smith