Many Eastern Kentuckians have ideas for improving their communities and building something new. Maybe it’s an idea to make their community better, an idea of launching their own business, or an organization that can give back to those in need. 

The potential for social enterprise is everywhere. 

Social enterprises play a crucial role in economic development and workforce participation. These businesses for social good are designed to maximize profits while creating positive impacts in the region. Instead of paying shareholders, profits are reinvested into advancing the social mission. Focused on revenue, sustainability, and a clear social cause, they blend financial success with meaningful change.

The problem though, is that many people are unsure where to begin. How does someone go about taking an idea and turning it into something that has a social impact? 

The Eastern Kentucky Runway Program’s Social Enterprise Accelerator 

The Social Enterprise Accelerator was designed to help you do just that. 

Created for the Eastern Kentucky Runway Program by Shaping Our Appalachian Region, this program’s goal is to assist our community’s entrepreneurs in turning their social good business dreams into reality.

The 2025 Social Enterprise Accelerator Cohort will help Eastern Kentucky entrepreneurs gain access to practical tools, expert guidance, and help navigating the process to potential funding opportunities to help bring their vision to life. Participants will get free hands-on support, one-on-one mentorship, and resources to tackle common challenges. 

And the amazing thing is, there’s no cost for it.

So, whether you’re starting a brand-new business, scaling up, or transforming your current one to create a greater impact, the 2025 Social Enterprise Accelerator Cohort can guide you each step of the way. 

Social Enterprise Businesses in Eastern Kentucky

Transformation Transportation

A real-life example of a social enterprise business is one from two Eastern Kentucky residents: Sarah and Robert. While in recovery, they launched a transportation initiative aimed to help others in recovery find transportation to resources and services. 

The initiative offers rides for individuals reentering the community, especially those leaving jail or treatment. That first ride can often be a pivotal moment for those in recovery. When no one shows up to get them to a safe location, the likelihood of relapse within 24 hours is alarmingly high. 

For Sarah and Robert, this work is not just about getting someone from point A to point B. It’s about creating connections, offering support, and showing up when it matters most. 

Our Social Enterprise Accelerator team has helped their company, Transformation Transportation, refine its business model, navigate transportation regulations, and learn how to build a strong network of potential clients and community supporters to ensure a successful launch and sustained growth.

Elkhorn Creek Village

Another example of a social enterprise business is Elkhorn Creek Village and its soon-to-open Shining Stars Daycare, currently in the construction phase in Jenkins, KY.

Founded by Tom and Chrissy Lane and led by CEO Sherri Paules and Director Chrystal Bentley, Shining Stars has a state-approved, innovative model designed to improve outcomes for both students and teachers. It’s poised to address the region’s critical need for affordable, accessible early childhood education.

Elkhorn Creek Village supports its community in many ways beyond childcare. It operates a business incubation space, Coal City Coffee, and an outdoor recreation site that fosters tourism and local engagement. 

Among the entrepreneurs housed in the incubator is Jay Spencer, founder of TheUglySwing Indoor Golf Simulator located in Suite 3 of the Shops at Elkhorn Creek Village. Jay’s business has also received personalized coaching through the Social Enterprise Accelerator.

Our team has worked alongside SmileFaith Appalachia and Elkhorn Creek Village to explore sustainable funding and creative marketing strategies, including crowdfunding through GiveButter, to help ensure a successful launch and long-term impact.

Together, these efforts reflect the power of local collaboration and community-rooted support in turning bold ideas into real solutions.

Building the Future of Eastern Kentucky Through Social Enterprise

As our region continues the work of getting Eastern Kentuckians back into the workforce and providing them with meaningful employment opportunities, the launch and growth of new initiatives and social enterprise businesses are crucial to helping overcome workforce barriers and provide employment opportunities.  

Small businesses that aren’t built just to make money, but to make life better for the community and tackle key workforce barriers provide not only employment themselves, but solutions to these overarching employment challenges for Eastern Kentucky residents.

New childcare services can provide a place for residents’ children to go while they’re working, new housing initiatives can repair and remodel old homes into viable housing solutions, and new transportation services can help employees get to and from work. 

Each social enterprise created helps to remove workforce barriers holding Eastern Kentuckians back from employment and move the economy forward. 

These new ventures become stepping stones to something bigger: Long-term change, new opportunities, and economic renewal for communities all driven by the people of Eastern Kentucky themselves. 

Join the 2025 Social Enterprise Accelerator Cohort

Through the Social Enterprise Accelerator, our team is helping local entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses that tackle real community challenges like childcare, housing, transportation, healthcare, and workforce issues. 

These challenges have become real roadblocks to employment and the economic development of many Eastern Kentucky communities. Through training and mentorship programs like the Social Enterprise Accelerator, we can tackle these challenges head on. 

The 2025 Social Enterprise Accelerator Cohort will give budding social enterprise entrepreneurs:

• • Weekly virtual workshops to guide your business journey: Training in business basics and sector specifics
  • Occasional strategic and fun in-person events to build community
  • Mentor network access with matching, guidance, and feedback throughout the cohort
  • Connections to technical assistance programs
  • 1:1 coaching
  • Access to coworking spaces in Pikeville, Whitesburg, and Corbin, KY
  • A Demo Day to showcase your idea and celebrate progress

If building a business that makes a difference sounds like what you are hoping to achieve, we’d love to help you get there. You don’t have to navigate the process alone! 

• Applications Due: Friday, August 29, 2025
• Program Timeline: September to early December 2025 (12 weeks plus Demo Day)
  • Weekly online sessions on Tuesdays, 6-8 p.m. ET
  • Hybrid format: Online sessions + scheduled in-person events
• Cost: Free

Join our community of Eastern Kentucky dreamers, doers, and innovators who are building businesses that make a difference today.

Apply for the 2025 Social Enterprise Accelerator Cohort HERE.