SOAR strategy summit agenda features U.S. Labor Secretary

Event is Feb. 16 in Pikeville

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Feb. 6, 2015) — Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) is hosting a “strategy summit” on Feb. 16 at the East Kentucky Exposition Center in Pikeville. Guest speakers are U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez and Michael Botticelli, acting director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

SOAR_Kentucky_logo Registration is available online for $10 until Wednesday, Feb. 11; on-site registration is $15 beginning at 8 a.m., with the opening session at 9 a.m. A full summit agenda for Creating Our Future.

Kentucky Educational Television will offer both televised and live, online coverage on Feb. 16, it said in a news release on its website. KET will broadcast complete, live coverage of the summit on its KET KY channel and via live online streaming at KET.org/live continuously from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (8-4 Central) on Feb. 16.

KET’s Bill Goodman and Renee Shaw will present highlights at 8/7 pm Monday, Feb. 16. Goodman and Shaw also will interview Gov. Steve Beshear and U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers, who helped co-create the SOAR initiative, about the project’s goals for the coming year.

Topics slated for coverage on the SOAR Summit 2015 agenda include:
• Working with SOAR’S Federal Partners • Translating Broadband into Economic Growth • Preparing Tomorrow’s Workforce, Today • Engaging the Next Generation of Leaders • Tourism, Arts, and Heritage as an Economic Driver • Recruiting Industry in Rural Communities • Community Health: What is It and How Can You Impact It?

Beshear and Rogers began the SOAR initiative in late 2013 to address economic issues in the region, build on strengths and find community-generated solutions to chronic challenges. Breakout sessions will offer participants information on tourism as an economic driver, recruiting industry and building entrepreneurship, coding, local food, community health and much more.

SOAR working groups present recommendations

SOAR receives $750,000 start-up grant from Appalachian Regional Commission