About Us
Center For Economic Options
welcome

Some Highlights of our work:

  • "Building Sustainable Economies in a Shrinking World." In partnership with the seven non profit organizations (MACED, ASD, The Jubilee Project, Ilgard, Rural Action, Natural Capital Fund, and ACENet) that are connected through the Central Appalachia Network (CAN), CEO is helping build a regional initiative that focuses on community sustainable development as a strategy to deal with the global issue of climate change.  CAN is aligning with colleague, resource partners, clients, and funding partners that are interested in supporting the next stages of this work.
  • CEO provided, through the seven years of operation of our Showcase West Virginia social purpose retail demonstration model, market access and related services to nearly 650 small scale manufacturers and artisans.
  • CEO's social purpose enterprise - Showcase West Virginia - was selected as the destination site in Charleston West Virginia for the 2005 National Geographic Map Guide to Appalachia. Only 40 sites were selected in the state and 356 in the region. The hard copy and web-based map provides cultural heritage tourists with a striking representation of Appalachia's distinctive geography, culture and heritage.
  • CEO's executive director, Pam Curry, received the West Virginia Women's Commission's Celebrate Women's Award in the "Business" category.
  • CEO was chosen the U.S. Small Business Administration's "Home-based Business Champion of the Year."
  • CEO helped form a collaboration with Advantage Valley, A Vision Shared, WVSBDC, Department of Education, The Charleston Area Alliance, the WV Community College Network, Association, and the Kentucky Innovation Center which was selected by the W.K. Kellogg foundation to receive a $2,000,000 grant for the development of a system to support entrepreneurial development.
  • CEO co-hosted, with the Central Appalachia Network, a Regional Rural Policy Roundtable that brought together non profit, private and public sector teams from West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky to discuss and explore policy actions to support entrepreneurial development in the region.
  • CEO co-hosted the Made Right Here: West Virginia Small Scale Manufacturing Summit with U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller and the Discover the Real West Virginia Foundation.
  • In partnership with Marshall University's Center for Business and Economics, CEO released The Importance of Small Manufacturing Firms: A Policy Review. This study was prepared for CEO by Michael J. Hicks, Ph.D, Marshall University.