Explore the Capacity Track at the 2025 SOAR Summit

Sponsored by:

Transformation doesn’t happen without infrastructure, and we’re not just talking roads and broadband. The Capacity Track dove into what it really takes to move rural regions like Eastern Kentucky from possibility to prosperity: strong partnerships, community trust, and the ability to scale impact across place and time. These sessions offered a front-row seat to national conversations and on-the-ground alignment that could fuel what’s next.

Wednesday, August 27

Bridging the Divide: What Rural America Needs Now — from Policy to Practice

10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. | Corbin Center

The future of rural America won’t be built on soundbites — it requires shared commitment and real-world solutions. This session brought together two of the country’s most respected rural thinkers for a candid, cross-sector conversation on what was working, what was broken, and where opportunity lived. From policy shifts to trust-building and new talent pipelines, this dialogue invited both challenge and alignment.

11 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. | Corbin Center

Rural America captures 3% to 7% of large-foundation grant dollars, yet those private funds often make or break federal matches and unlock systems-level change in places like Eastern Kentucky. To help SOAR’s audience move from short-term projects to durable policy victories, this session examined how rural nonprofits and their funders could use philanthropic capital as flexible risk capital, fueling advocacy, capacity-building, and coalition work that led to legislative or regulatory wins.

This session equipped rural leaders and their funders with concrete strategies to convert philanthropic dollars into long-term public-policy outcomes—modernizing state & local systems, closing the rural funding gap, and strengthening civic power across Appalachian Kentucky. Participants left with a playbook for:

• Attracting mission-aligned philanthropy and positioning it as catalytic match for federal and state programs.

• Building local capacity and narrative power so communities could champion their own policy agendas.

Meet the Speakers

Pathways to Prosperity: A Regional Approach to Paid Work & Internships

1:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. | Corbin Center

How can we connect more young people to meaningful, paid work experiences? This session brought together students, educators, employers, and workforce partners to explore regional strategies for internships and youth employment. Through panel insights and small-group discussion, attendees dove into success stories, surfaced challenges, and co-created solutions to expand opportunity for ages 16–24 across Eastern Kentucky.

Presented By

The New Neighbors: How Eastern Kentucky is Winning the Remote Worker Revolution

1:45 p.m. to 3 p.m. | Corbin Center

This session brought together new residents, community leaders, and the EKY Remote team for a candid look at how Eastern Kentucky is welcoming remote workers and reversing outmigration. From broadband expansion to local leadership and storytelling, the session explored what was driving relocation, how communities could attract talent, and what it meant to reimagine rural prosperity.

Meet the Speakers

Thursday, August 28

Pathways to Prosperity: A Regional Approach to Paid Work & Internships

1 p.m. to 3 p.m. | Corbin Center | Room 103 A-B

How do we create more pathways to meaningful work for the next generation? This session, led by Partners for Rural Impact, explored how internships and paid work experiences could serve as powerful tools for upward mobility, skill-building, and regional retention.

Through a dynamic mix of panel discussion and interactive group dialogue, attendees heard directly from students, educators, employers, and workforce partners working to bridge the gap between education and employment for youth ages 16–24. The conversation lifted up successful models across the region, identified barriers to equitable access, and crowdsourced real solutions for building work-based learning systems that reflected both local aspirations and community needs.

This session was designed to move beyond theory — attendees walked away with concrete ideas, new connections, and a renewed commitment to expanding opportunity for young people in Eastern Kentucky.

2025 SOAR Summit Sponsors

Take a look at the 2025 SOAR Summit Schedule