By Kit Cottrell

Community and nonprofit leaders from the Central Appalachian region gathered at Berea College September 12-14, 2007, for the third Brushy Fork Annual Institute.  Approximately 135 area leaders took part in 11 different tracks on community economic development topics ranging from leadership and executive problem solving to website design.  Nationally-known speakers including Becky Anderson, director of HandMade in America, and Dr. Vaughn Grisham told inspiring stories of other communities that had created their own successes.  Carpetbag Theatre, a theatrical troupe from Knoxville wove stories of the communities attending the Institute into a musical digital video.  A networking café and a new system of web-based communications in coordination with the University of Kentucky was introduced so that participants may continue to communicate as a group and stay current on the region’s issues.  Proceedings from the sessions will be published in BrushyFork Institute’s newsletter Mountain Promise.  For a copy, or a subscription to the newsletter, see Brushy Fork’s website, www.brushyfork.org.