CEO Supports Local, Sustainable Enterprise!

Sustainability: meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Sustainability is important. Sustainability of human resources values social responsibilities like working and living conditions of laborers, the needs of rural communities, and consumer health and safety today and tomorrow. Sustainability of land and natural resources involves maintaining or enhancing this important resource base for the long term.

The Center for Economic Options (CEO) is a non profit organization in West Virginia that works with entrepreneurs and innovators who share a commitment to development that is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

For nearly 30 years we have supported and encouraged local, sustainable business development. Our enterprise models have a strong focus on facilitating networks and clusters of entrepreneurs and connecting businesses to markets and the resources they need to succeed. We also work to make sure that people understand why local, sustainable businesses matter - to our communities, our economy, and our environment. CEO has a long history of small scale sustainable business development initiatives that have helped people become more economically self-reliant and thrive in their communities.

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Resources for Business Owners

	Whether you have been at it for years, or just getting started, it's as important to work on your business as it is to work in your business. Here is a collection of resources to help you find what you need to take your enterprise to the next level.
	Looking for a job in the emerging green economy? Want to sharpen your skills so employers will look your way? Here are some programs, resources and online tools help in all stages of job and career development.
	It may take money to make money, but the good news is that there are financial resources available to help. Check out this list of programs and services to find resources and sources of capital to help you grow your business.

Sustainable Business Sectors

Connect with resources for education, research, skills building, markets, certification options

	A local food system includes a region's farmers and food producers as well as distributors, marketers, and restaurants, retailers, and institutions that sell and serve food. It also includes customers because local food is produced for local consumption. Grow your business and help make local fresh food available for everyone.
	Generations of artisans have helped make West Virginia a place rich in culture and heritage. This tradition is providing abundant business and job opportunities in the creative economy where craft entrepreneurs like you are finding success in the business of artisanship.
	Business and job opportunities in sustainable building abound - in weatherization, architecture, carpentry, retro-fitting and much more.
	Creative eco-fashion knowledge and skills and/or "environmentally friendly" textile processing methods and supply chain strategies are key to business success in this sector.
	Tourism-related businesses can profit as they minimize negative environmental aspects and enhance the cultural integrity and economic opportunities of local people.
	Harvesting and producing forest products in a sustainable way helps ensure long term viability of forest resources, conserves biodiversity and positions businesses with a growing consumer base that is increasingly looking for products with these attributes.
	Renewable - constantly replenished and will never run out - energy resources constitute a rapidly growing industry sector. Find information on solar, wind, biomass, geo thermal, hydroelectricity and beyond to help your business grow.

 

Upcoming Events

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Revitalizing Neighborhoods Through Entrepreneurship: Stories, Opportunities, Lessons, Partnerships

September 30 - Oct 1, 2010

Who is the conference for?
• Microenterprise development organizations
• Main Street programs
• Asset building organizations
• Community development/revitalization organizations
• Economic development corporations
• Community development corporations
• Community action agencies
• Independent Business Alliances/BALLE affiliates

On Thursday, September 30, CEO will present a Track on CEO's Green Business, Green Jobs Accelerator program in West Virginia and will focus on entrepreneurship and the triple bottom line (economy, environment, and equity). Conference Co-Hosts are: Virginia Microenterprise Network and Virginia Main Street. Location: Stonewall Jackson Hotel and Conference Center in Staunton, VA. For more information:  Phone:  802-824-4624 and email:  vmn08@yahoo.com

Website: http://www.vamicro.org/2010FallConference; 2010FallConference

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Attention Buyers! West Virginia Made: a wholesale/retail show of fine crafts and specialty food products

Show Dates - September 10 & 11, 2010
• Friday, September 10, 1 pm until 6 pm – Wholesale Only
• Saturday, September 11, 10 am until 6 pm - Retail

The 35+ selected vendors are established businesses making limited editions products. Their work has been juried unto the top retail shops, galleries and shows in West Virginia. This show will offer a unique show of locally made products not seen on the big wholesale show circuit across the nation. Join the trend to “Buy Local” by adding these unique products to your inventory. Sponsored by West Virginia State University Extension Service and Preservation Alliance of West Virginia. Location: Lakeview Resort, Morgantown, WV. For more information call Connie McColley at 304-655-7429.

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Small Business Start-up Training Series - No charge!

Now registering. Explore how you can successfully start your own small business. Opening Soon, Inc. is a comprehensive8 week series of classes for entrepreneurs to provide the skills and knowledge needed to open a small business. Registration is required.  For more information contact: WVSU Economic Development Center, 1506 Kanawha Boulevard, West, Charleston, WV 304.720.1401.

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Sustainable "Green" Construction Training for Women

September 2010. Sign up now for the next Step Up For Women Sustainable "Green" Construction Training.

West Virginia Women Work has teamed up with green builders to spread sustainabile building practices and to help women get jobs in "green" construction. Registration is underway for the next 11 week training program in Morgantown that will offer hands-on training in construction, electrical, plumbing and solar technology. The green building ideas and techniques offered are specifically targeted tothe job market and union job opportunities in Morgantown's active construction sector. For more information call: 304.598.0114 or email: kristina@wvwomenwork.org. 

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4th Annual Create West Virginia Conference

October 17 - 19, 2010. The Create WV Conference is a statewide training conference and celebration of creative communities that develop new economy opportunities for all West Virginia citizens. Location: Oglebay Resort, Wheeling, WV. For more information: createwv@visionshared.com

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Sustainable Schools West Virginia Summit

April 11, 2011. The free event is designed to bring together educational leaders in elementary, secondary and higher education – both public and private – to discuss the important roles schools, colleges and universities have in creating sustainable campuses across West Virginia. The summit will take place on Marshall University's Huntington campus and is open to public and private higher education, as well as public and private K-12 schools. Online registration is available at http://apps.dep.wv.gov/registration. An agenda is also available at this site. The summit is presented in concert and partnership with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, Marshall University’s Sustainability Department, State Electric Supply Company, and ZMM, Inc. For more information, contact MU Sustainability Manager Margie Phillips at The summit is presented in concert and partnership with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, Marshall University’s Sustainability Department, State Electric Supply Company, and ZMM, Inc. For more information, contact MU Sustainability Manager Margie Phillips at philli10@marshall.edu or 304-696-2992.

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Making the Connections for $$ and Health...

Local Food to Schools

CEO is working collaboratively to build sustainable local food systems. This includes helping to put the pieces in place for schools to include locally grown and processed food in their meal offerings and for local farm entrepreneurs to have incomes from these dependable regional markets.An important part of our work is to offer public information and ideas for consideration, such as the following letter to the editor that CEO sent to the Charleston Daily Mail:  "British chef Jamie Oliver and his “Food Revolution” came to our state to film a reality show about reconnecting people with the food they eat. His focus on increasing fresh foods served in school lunches has sparked debate and has been referenced in both a recent article and commentary.But the conversation started long before Oliver’s plane touched down at Tri-State Airport. ver the past few years, 9,000 schools in 43 states – including West Virginia -- have figured out how to bring fresh, local produce to their students. In Jefferson County in the Eastern Panhandle, and around the country, schools have found that serving fresh local food is possible, it can be affordable, and it is healthier for our children and youth." Read more...

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Click on the link below to participate in West Virginia's

Local Food Survey

In November 2009, several organizations including the Center for Economic Options, Natural Capital Investment Fund, and the Collaborative for the 21st Century, co-sponsored a convening on local food entitled "Growing Local Foods: Enhancing the Local Food System for Economic Development in West Virginia". This event was funded by the Benedum Foundation, and was an outcome of a regional local food gathering hosted by the Central Appalachian Network (CAN) in April, 09. CEO is a founding member of CAN, and through this network, is committed to advancing the local food value chain in the state.

The 130 participants at the November gathering identified the need for better communication and information about each other as a priority.

In response, we prepared a survey to gather this information, and to collect baseline data on the local food value chain. The survey results

and contact information were distributed to survey respondents and shared with local food partners.

Since the event, we have focused on broadening the outreach beyond those who attended in November. If you are interested, we would like to have your participation in this survey (click here). Also, if you know of anyone who would like to be part of our network, please refer them to the survey and/or forward contact information to info@economicoptions.org.

Working throughout the region

CEO is a founding member of the Central Appalachian Network (CAN) which is a collaboration of seven non-profit organizations working toward environmentally, economically, and socially sound community sustainable development. CAN is moving forward to increase the impact and potential benefits for this regional work. A special initiative of CAN's work is supporting sustainable agriculture and helping to create local food systems in the five member states - West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia and the Central Appalachian region.

On March 30, 2010 CAN presented a follow-up to the 2009 Local Food convening with the 2010 Growing Healthy Food Systems from the Ground Up conference which was held in Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio. The proceedings paper provides details of that important step in helping to create local food systems in the CAN states.

Three additional publications -  Growing Healthy Food Systems from the Ground Up;  Building Sustainable Economies in a Shrinking World and Building Sustainable Economies in a Shrinking World Proceedings Paper - provide additional information about CEO and CAN.

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CEO is actively engaged with the Central Appalachia Community College Alliance for Sustainability - a learning and innovation network, led by Stu Rosenfeld with Regional Technology Strategies (RTI), that is bringing together community colleges to focus on sustainable development. The Alliance is actively forging new partnerships to provide education about the importance of generating wealth in ways that produce triple bottome line outcomes - economic, social, and environmental.

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CEO participates in the Central Appalachia Prosperity Project (CAPP) which focuses on strategies to diversify the economies to create more sustainable industries and jobs in the states most affected by mountaintop removal coal mining - Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. CAPP gathers and shares ideas from local experts on a variety of topics ranging from early childhood education to the use of solar, wind, and other renewable energy technologies and is partnering with the Appalachian Transition Initiative led by two higly regarded local organizations: Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and the Mountain  Association for Community and Economic Development (MACED). The organizations' collaborative website - Appalachian Transitions - contains a wealth of information about the initiative.

CEO participates in the statewide A Vision Shared's Entrepreneurial initiative and has led the Market Access committee and a Made Right Here project for many years. CEO is also engaged in Vision Shared's spin-off non profit organization which is focued on building creative communities, Create West Virginia.

Newsletters

CEO is a sponsor of:  Solutions for a Sustainable and Desirable Future

CEO's Alternatives Newsletter - Local Food Special Edition    

      

CEO's Newsletter Special Issue - Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards

 

CEO Newsletter

Acknowledgements of CEO's work include:

• Presidential Award for Excellence in Microenterprise
• Designation as a Millennium Green Project by The White House Millennium Council
• US Small Business Administration's Regional Small Business Advocate
• US Small Business Administration's Rural Business Advocate
• FIELD MicroMentor Initiative by the Aspen Institute
• Home-based Business Champion of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration
• Celebrate Women Award in the category of Business by the West Virginia Women's Commission
• Private Industry Council's Outstanding Service Provider
• CEO's retail social purpose model - Showcase West Virginia - was a featured site in the National Geographic Map Guide to Appalachia.