WHAT IS STAY?
WHAT WE DO:
The youth-led STAY Project is doing what few other organizations have done:
1. Having youth ask each other what they want and need in order to stay and work in their home communities;
2. Connecting them with the resources and skills they need to make their visions for Central Appalachia come true;
3. Recognizing that there are young leaders in the region who already creating change.
OUR HISTORY
In 2008 at an Appalachian Studies Association Conference, youth participants from West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee expressed that they didn’t know how to participate in movements for social change, that there were few access points for them as young people, and few opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge that would allow them to contribute to social change efforts. These young participants created the STAY Project.
The STAY Project began as a consortium supported by Appalshop’s Appalachian Media Institute in Whitesburg, Ky, High Rocks Educational Corportation in Hillsboro, WV, and the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, TN. Highlander still serves as STAY’s fiscal sponsor.
OUR CHALLENGE
Central Appalachia faces an exodus of young people due in large part to the lack of economic and educational opportunities. Youth from this region grow up in communities with an average high school completion rate of 68% and a 7% college completion rate. Roughly 17% of residents in these counties live in poverty, with young people disproportionately affected. Because of this, many organizations provide direct services to youth and struggle to consistently offer basic personal and leadership development opportunities.
OUR VISION
We envision an economically and environmentally sustainable Central Appalachia where young people have the power to build and participate in diverse, inclusive, and healthy communities.
OUR MISSION
As young people from Central Appalachia, we are connecting across our region to make our home communities places we can and want to STAY.
OUR CORE BELIEFS
We Believe that....
As mountain people, we are experts of our own lives. We have the ability to shape and share our own narrative about the past, present, and future of the region.
The land called “Appalachia” is the unceded territory of the Osage, Cherokee, Shawnee, Catawba, Muscogee/Creek, Moneton, and Tsoyaha peoples.
Everyone deserves basic human rights no matter where they live, their economic background, race, ability, language, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, presentation or cultural background.
We are stronger when we bring together and support diverse voices in our region.
Our communities should support our youth of color and LGBTQ youth living in the region.
We believe that young people have the right to stay in the region and deserve viable opportunities and pathways to success.
When young people are connected to resources, skills and each other, we can realize our vision for change in the region.
Despite having few avenues for community participation, leadership and decision-making, young people in our region are already creating change and working towards making Central Appalachia economically and environmentally sustainable.
We believe in intergenerational space and collaboration that prioritize youth leadership/power and values shared learning.
