Over the past two years, some Eastern Kentucky high school students entered local workplaces as interns and left with clearer career plans, stronger job skills and, in some cases, employment.
Those results were part of the goal behind EKCEP’s Prosper Appalachia initiative, which connected students with employers across the region to give young people real-world work experience before graduation while helping businesses and organizations take a direct role in developing future workers.
That goal was central to Prosper Appalachia’s design, said EKCEP Executive Director Becky Carnes-Miller, who credited the program’s early success in part to the employer partners who opened their doors to students.
“Prosper Appalachia was built with the idea that students need more than encouragement. They need real experiences and a clear view of the opportunities that exist here at home,” Carnes-Miller said. “When employers open their doors to young people, they are not only helping students make better decisions about their futures, they are helping Eastern Kentucky build the workforce it will depend on for years to come.”
Over the program’s first two years, dozens of Eastern Kentucky employers partnered through Prosper Appalachia to give students those kinds of workplace experiences. Together, those partnerships helped place more than 1,500 students into work-based learning opportunities, while more than 1,600 students moved into regular, employer-paid jobs.
Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH), one of the region’s largest healthcare providers, used Prosper Appalachia to help students see the wide range of career opportunities available within healthcare in Eastern Kentucky, said Dylon Baker, ARH’s Assistant Vice President of Workforce Initiatives.
“One of the really great things about Prosper Appalachia is it brought students into the four walls of our healthcare system, and it showed them the diverse career opportunities that exist,” Baker said.
ARH hosted more than 60 students through the program’s first two years, giving them exposure to both clinical and non-clinical areas and the day-to-day work that happens across a healthcare system. Baker said that exposure is especially important as ARH works to strengthen its future workforce, with a little more than 10 percent of its employees expected to be at or beyond retirement age within the next three years.
For some students, the experience confirmed they were already on the right path. For others, it helped them realize a particular career was not what they expected, which Baker said is also important.
“It’s really helping students confirm what their interests are so that when they’re graduating high school and they’re making that decision to go into college, they’re making well-informed decisions about what programs they’re actually going to be enrolling into,” he said.
The impact has already extended beyond career exploration. Baker said ARH has hired some students who participated in Prosper Appalachia internships, including one nursing intern who is now working as a nurse extern while attending nursing school.
“We’ve also seen that this program helps students go immediately into the workforce with our organization, which is a huge win and opportunity for the students as well,” Baker said.
That same kind of hands-on experience has been valuable for smaller employers and community organizations.
At the Bell County Chamber of Commerce, Executive Director Elizabeth Madon said Prosper Appalachia came at the right time for an organization with limited staff and resources. Through the program, student intern Emmie Dishman joined the chamber during her senior year at Pineville High School and quickly became a valuable part of its work.
“Emmie came into the picture and she has been a wonderful intern,” Madon said. “She has been a blessing to us. She’s handled all of our social media, anything that we might need.”
Dishman helped manage the chamber’s social media presence, communicate with local businesses, attend meetings and events, and support promotions highlighting women-owned and women-led businesses in Bell County. Madon said the experience also gave Dishman a closer look at the businesses, organizations, and career opportunities that exist in Bell County.
“I think just them learning about all the opportunities in Bell County and especially getting to job shadow and do some of the real work through the Prosper program will absolutely show them that they can plan their future in Bell County,” Madon said.
At Isom Resources in Letcher County, Operations Manager Willie Adams said Prosper Appalachia helped connect the company with intern Randy Isaac, a recent graduate of Letcher Central High School, who quickly became part of the team.
“He’s turned into a very valuable team member really quickly,” Adams said. “And I believe Randy enjoys work, and we enjoy having Randy here to do the work. And we’ve all grown and learned from it.”
Through the internship, Isaac gained experience with both field and office work, including project management, engineering concepts, drafting work, business documentation, construction, and daily office operations.
Adams said the internship also showed the importance of local workforce partnerships. Jordan Stidham, a Business Solutions Representative at LKLP Community Action, EKCEP’s local Prosper Appalachia partner in Letcher County, helped connect Adams with the opportunity to host Isaac. That connection gave Isaac a way into a real workplace where he could build confidence and practical skills, while giving the employer a chance to invest in a young worker who quickly became part of the team.
“All the positive things I said about our organizations and all the positive things I said about Randy, they’re not possible without Jordan making that connection,” Adams said.
Prosper Appalachia is funded in part through support from the Kentucky General Assembly, but private donations help EKCEP expand critical work experience opportunities for students across Eastern Kentucky. To invest in the future of the region’s young people, donate directly at ekcep.org/donate.
EKCEP, a nonprofit workforce development agency headquartered in Hazard, Ky., serves the citizens of 23 Appalachian coalfield counties. EKCEP is funded by the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, along with various federal and state grants and private donations, and is a proud partner in the American Job Center network.