Testimonials

Very grateful for Accelerating Appalachia’s farmer funding program enabling us to continue to be one of Oakland Farm Trees biggest customers. Over the next 3 years, we’ll be planting 700 native trees and shrubs! We picked up our first batch this week. These plants will provide shade for our alpacas, food, wildlife habitat, and greatly further our efforts to take carbon out of the atmosphere and put it into the soil. I am so grateful the USDA prioritizes projects like this!

— Alvina Maynard

Accelerating Appalachia Farmer Participant and Operator at River Hill Ranch

Our journey towards extending the Pineywoods Cattle foraging to include an additional 65 acres of forest is taking another step. With the help of funding provided in part by the USDA and Accelerating Appalachia, culvert and surge stone installation in a few of the steepest sections of the forest fenceline begins this week! This work will help reduce erosion and reduce the likelihood of the fence being washed out during heavy rains.

— Mike Hansen

Accelerating Appalachia Farmer Participant and Operator at Ozark Akerz Regenerative Farm

Working with the farmer funding program has allowed us to expand the scope of our soil enhancement practices, which will ultimately increase the resiliency of our farm operation. We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to improve existing infrastructure and implement new systems that were made possible, partly due to grant funding from the USDA and Accelerating Appalachia.

— Megan Cole-Jones

Accelerating Appalachia Farmer Participant and Operator at Kaluna Farm

The visionary women who run Accelerating Appalachia definitely make sure it lives up to the name ‘accelerator.’ During the few months of the program, our business probably moved forward two years as far as planning, financial projections, team building, etc. Accelerating Appalachia forced us to get tightly organized while providing the tools and resources to do so. We’ve also been introduced to a wide range of prospective impact investors that we might not have met otherwise. We’ve also been introduced to a wide range of prospective impact investors that we might not have met otherwise. Accelerating Appalachia has been the best investment we’ve ever made, and we can’t recommend it highly enough to other nature-based businesses that are ready to accelerate.

— Aaron and Susan von Frank

Accelerating Appalachia Participants and co-founders of Grow Journey

We were very excited to be selected to be a part of the program because we were at a point in our business where we needed to scale up but were not confident in the next steps. The business training we received was more in-depth than other courses we’d taken in the past, otherwise not available in our region. We also received immense benefits from connecting with peers and professionals in our industry and learned so much by hearing their stories and sharing one-on-one in a confidential setting.

— Jacob and Carolyn Gahn

Accelerating Appalachia participants and co-founders at Sweetgrass Granola

Congratulations to all of the business owners who were selected for Accelerating Appalachia! You will come out of this experience with more knowledge, motivation, focus and support from outstanding leaders within your local community for the future growth of your nature-based business.

— Laralyn Riverwind

Accelerating Appalachia Participant

As an entrepreneur working with Accelerating Appalachia is extremely rewarding because I truly believe in the importance of nature-based, sustainable, environmentally-conscious products, services, practices, and leadership. I am honored to help build and grow companies that are focused on making the world a stronger, healthier place.

— Sarah Benoit

Program mentor and co-founder at JB Media Institute

Accelerating Appalachia created a unique opportunity for Riverbend Malt House to interact with successful entrepreneurs, finance professionals, and business leaders throughout our region. Those interactions helped guide our company through a period of explosive growth that continues to the present day. Accelerating Appalachia creates a bridge between the new wave of nature-based businesses and an amazing array of mentors, venture capitalist firms, and business leaders who are eager to support a more durable, localized economic model for our region.

— Brent Manning

Accelerating Appalachia Participant and co-founder at Riverbend Malt House

As an investor, Accelerating Appalachia is an ideal partner that plays a high-value role in identifying promising nature-based companies that are investment-ready.  It is our pleasure to have a partner that not only provides a source of investment opportunities, but also shares our values to build a movement among entrepreneurs and investors for a healthy and prosperous world for people and planet.

— Shaun Paul

Program mentor and founder at Reinventure Capital

Accelerating Appalachia is convening a great eclectic group of entrepreneurs with experts who care about more than just making a pitch. The outcome potential from this hybrid vigor is exciting.

— David Wilcox

Program mentor and Principal at ReachScale