Educators, healthcare providers and community leaders learn community resilience strategies at annual Rural Resilience Summit
October 29, 2021
Around 200 educators, healthcare providers, elected officials and community leaders from rural Virginia learned strategies to encourage individual and community resilience Thursday at the annual Rural Resilience Summit. The event, which utilized a hybrid live-online program, featured more than 20 speakers in the fields of kindergarten readiness, workforce readiness, mental health and collective impact (collaboration).
“Over the last year-and-a-half, resilience has become a key to establishing, or re-establishing, a better quality of life,” said United Way of Southwest Virginia President and CEO Travis Staton. “Concurrent, modern, formidable issues are affecting our rural communities not only throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, but all across Appalachia, and indeed, all of rural America.”
The Conference Keynote Speaker was U.S. Army veteran J.R. Martinez, who survived extensive burns after being trapped inside a burning vehicle that had struck an improvised explosive device in Iraq. Martinez explained how he has been able, with help, to develop the personal resilience to lead a successful life and help others. “You have to find your ‘why,'” Martinez said, adding that he had found meaning and purpose in his life through service to others.
Morning Keynote Speaker Gayle Conelly-Manchin, federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission, discussed the ARC’s five priorities for bringing Appalachian communities to parity with other American communities. Afternoon Keynote Speaker Gerry Brooks, a school principal from Kentucky who has more than 3.5 million social media followers, demonstrated how the smallest moments of communication and understanding can have lasting impacts on children and teachers alike.
The Summit was hosted by presenting sponsors Ballad Health, the Virginia State Office of Rural Health and United Way of Southwest Virginia. Other sponsors included the East Tennessee State University Center for Rural Health Research, General Dynamics, LGE&E and KU Foundation, the Rapha Foundation, and Verizon.
