ACEnet’s Workforce Development Coordinator, Erica Peters, and Director of Operations, Adam Kody, recently shared ACEnet’s strategies for recruiting justice-impacted individuals for our Food Industry Ready program with STAR Community Justice Center.

This presentation was part of a larger collaborative project funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission’s POWER initiative to share replicable workforce development models with practitioners and partners across Appalachia and beyond.

Kiser’s BBQ is supporting ACEnet by donating 5% of their net sales every Tuesday in August as part of their Community Action Tuesday program! All you need to do is dine-in, call ahead or order online any Tuesday this month, and you’ll be supporting a local restaurant with deep community roots AND a local nonprofit committed to supporting local entrepreneurs.

A family-owned local business that specializes in slow-cooked pit-smoked meats, Kiser’s BBQ offers vegetarian options as well.

Pair those with some delicious house-made sides such as pickles, mac & cheese, or coleslaw, and then cool down with their hand-dipped milkshakes, ice cream, or Ohio-brewed Frostop Root Beer Floats!



Did you know that Kiser’s BBQ has been supporting our local community with Community Action Tuesday since 2013?? Stop by Kiser’s BBQ at 355 E State Street in Athens any Tuesday in August & support local!

ATHEN Root to Seed is an Appalachian storytelling podcast dedicated to sharing unique stories about local food in Southeast Ohio. We speak to farmers, food justice activists, entrepreneurs, and other innovators in our local food economy.

The show is produced by staff and volunteers from ACEnet, Community Food Initiatives, and Rural Action. These three nonprofits make up the Appalachian Accessible Food Network (AAFN), a collaborative project to accelerate the distribution of local foods into Appalachian Ohio communities.

Meet Molly and CJ, the owners of MoSo Farm in Athens! They raise grass-fed beef and pastured pork. Tune in to learn more about this small farm. For more information about MoSo Farm: https://mosofarm.com/

Did you know ACEnet has a full-time, in-house multimedia designer who works with our clients? Most recently our Multimedia Designer, Avery Snyder, created this logo for Wills, a new restaurant in Corning, Ohio! The logo pays homage to the restaurant's building, which was a hardware store for many decades and has historical significance to the town of Corning.

Wills serves up hearty home-cooked meals, including burgers that are freshly ground every day. Stop in Wednesday through Sunday, 8 AM-8 PM, website coming soon! 

ATHENS, OH – The Appalachia Regional Food Business Center (ARFBC) has over $16 million in Business Builder Subaward grants to award to farms and food businesses to help them achieve their goals and become long-lasting drivers of community health and wealth.

Business Builder Subaward grants are integrated with business counseling offered by ARFBC partners across Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, including the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet) and Rural Action in Athens, Ohio.

The maximum amount awarded will be $100,000 per entity (both for-profit and non-profit entities are eligible), and no matching funds are required.

“These Business Builder Subawards are an incredible opportunity for food businesses across the Central Appalachian region to scale their operations and keep up with Appalachian consumers’ growing demand for healthy, locally-produced foods and products,” said ACEnet’s Director of Operations, Adam Kody. “Food businesses who access these awards while taking advantage of the Center’s many technical assistance resources will be setting themselves up for sustained success across our region.”

There will be 5 cycles of grant funding beginning in the Fall of 2024 and ending in the Fall of 2027. Each cycle will award approximately $3 million. The first Business Builder Subaward solicitation period opens on September 3rd and closes November 1st. More information to come. You can prepare now by applying for a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number. It takes time to process and will be required for all awards. Not sure what is a UEI number or how to apply for one? You can access UEI application instructions and video here.

More info & updates: https://www.appalachiarfbc.org/business-builder-sub-awards

Photo Credit: Appalachian Girls Cannabis; ACEnet Director of Programs, Leslie Schaller

Canna Pure Relief, founded by Ohio native Matt Osler, is a multifaceted small business focused on growing & producing quality hand-crafted products, in Nelsonville, Ohio, in a responsible & sustainable way. Cultivated naturally and sustainably, and free from pesticides, additives, and synthetics, their products are rigorously tested for purity and compliance.

Canna Pure Relief's pride lies in their commitment to the "soil food web." This conscious decision significantly reduces their overall environmental footprint by eliminating the need for bottled nutrients. Their cultivators rely on a blend of knowledge, education, and soil testing to master the art of providing nutrition to their cherished plants while minimizing fossil fuel consumption.

Their soil boasts a harmonious blend of "food-sourced" compost from Tilth in Cleveland, Ohio, alongside ingredients like rice hulls, crustacean meal, kelp, gypsum, basalt, oyster shell flour, carbonatite, and neem seed. However impressive these ingredients may be, they pale in comparison to the rich biodiversity thriving in the soil and root zones of their plants. Beneficial bacteria, fungi, nematodes, protozoa, and earthworms create a vibrant ecosystem that sustains their plants.

Canna Pure Relief specializes in growing premium CBD flower, edibles, extract oils, and topical products. Unlike industry standards that employ hydrocarbons like propane and butane as solvents, their hashes, concentrates, and edibles are produced using solventless methods, relying on mechanical separation. This choice ensures a cleaner product, free from impurities and harmful environmental impacts, aligning perfectly with their commitment to a more sustainable future.

Canna Pure's Matt Osler and Josh Crosier are also dedicated legacy growers for Appalachian Girls Cannabis and they can teach you all about soil as Soiled Obsessions

ServSafe Person-In-Charge (PIC) Certification in Food Protection is a mandated training for the designated person in charge for each shift of a risk level I, II, III, and IV food service operation or retail food establishment.

Join Adam, our Director of Operations, 10am – 4pm, August 20th to earn your Person in Charge Certification!

Registration: Free to attend but you must register.

Registration includes:

• 1-day classroom based training & activities
• Slideshow presentation style w/video presentations
• Workbook

Attendees will receive their ServSafe Person in Charge Certification.

ServSafe PIC training supported by Rural Action and the ARC INSPIRE Initiative.

Register here: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/9t9hpv4

ACEnet's Business Counseling Specialist & fellow entrepreneur, Cameron Shasteen, got to meet some great people at last month's "Small Business Consultation Drop In Times with ACEnet" at Rural Action's UpCycle Ohio Community Makerspace.

One pair on entrepreneurs he talked with is opening an art gallery and furniture refurbishing store in downtown Pomeroy called Gallery 14. Their Gallery 14 Grand Opening event is tomorrow, Friday August 2nd, so be sure to stop in and see what they have to offer!

Tomorrow is also the Pomeroy Merchants Association's Discover Pomeroy | First Fridays event, so after you visit Gallery 14 get yourself energized at River Roasters Coffee Co. and head to the Makers Market on Court Street. There's also a Kids Corner at O'Brien Park, live music, and food trucks on the levee.

Featured Tenant by ACEnet Business Builder Coordinator, Reggie Morrow

Photo Credit: Hei Hei

ACEnet Food Ventures tenant Hei Hei, an artisanal gem based in Athens, is redefining the dumpling experience with its handcrafted offerings. Pronounced like “Hey Hey,” this innovative brand is the creation of Irene Kim Chin Vincent and her husband Kurt Vincent.

Hei Hei currently offers frozen dumplings with seasonal ingredients, Spam musubi with side pickle, and kimbap (Korean seaweed rolls) made from scratch with fresh local ingredients.

Inspired by Irene’s Chinese and Korean heritage and the fresh gourmet ingredients grown in the Appalachian Ohio region, you can find Hei Hei's dumplings at the Athens Farmers Market on Saturday and in the freezer section at Kindred Market. They'll also have shiso & ume boshi onigiri at the market this weekend with shiso from local Veggie Vision Farms!

For those seeking guidance on how to best prepare their dumplings at home, Irene provides an invaluable resource through Hei Hei Time. This instructional video, available on their website, offers detailed steps to ensure perfect preparation every time.

Looking to the future, Hei Hei is poised for growth with plans to introduce local delivery and expand into retail locations. The Vincents’ dedication to their craft and community is palpable, from the superior quality of their ingredients to their active engagement with customers. Hei Hei is not merely a purveyor of dumplings; it is a celebration of culinary heritage and entrepreneurial spirit, encapsulating the essence of fine dining within the comfort of a humble dumpling.

Growing Farm to School Processing During Summer Break,

by Alisha Bicknell

Every Wednesday morning for the past six weeks, I've pulled into the parking lot at ACEnet's Food & Farm Enterprise Center in Nelsonville, floral head scarf on, ready to wash, slice, and bag fresh local produce. Sometimes, it seems this is a forgotten step in the farm to "insert location here" world; fresh local produce means nothing if the group on the receiving end doesn't have the time or capacity to process it. Thankfully, our team at Rural Action has been set up to succeed in offering processed local produce to institutions serving children!

The shared-use kitchens at ACEnet allow our team, including staff and AmeriCorps service members, to utilize the large clean prep areas, produce wash sink, and three-compartment dish sink to take the fresh local produce and create portion-sized bags and frozen bulk servings so that those local buyers can serve the food straight to children in Appalachia, Ohio. Last winter, I took the ServSafe Food Protection Manager training from Adam Kody, the Director of Operations at ACEnet, in preparation for leading this team of produce handlers.

For ten weeks this summer and last summer, our main processed food destination has been the Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development (COAD) summer food program. COAD delivers over 500 free food boxes(!) each week for ten weeks during the summer to children in Appalachian Ohio counties.

The Eastern States group of MKF Dojo (Franklin NJ; Athens OH; Howard County, South Mountain, Maryland Ki Society MD; Blue Ridge VA) are holding a coop-seminar on August 2nd - 4th at ACEnet tenant, Athens Ki-Aikido. Seminar includes six classes over three days, with instruction by MKF EAST Group Head Instructors: Mort Melman, Athens Ki-Aikido Head Instructor Stan Haehl, Russ Dauber, Joe De Capua, Bill Fairweather, and Jonathan Doner.

All MKF and Ki Society members are invited, others please reach out to Athens Ki-Aikido for more information.

For more info & to register: KiAikidoAthensOH@gmail.com

Athens Ki-Aikido is an officially registered dojo of Shinshin Toitsu Aikido Kai (Ki Society HQ — Tokyo Japan) and an Affiliated Dojo of Midland Ki Federation (USA/Canada). They are the the only Ki Society International affiliated dojo in Ohio or the immediate multi-state region, and (as far as we know) the only Aikido dojo of any style within 50 miles of Athens.

Community donors and supporters, along with our generous local, state, regional, and federal funders, help us drive our mission of growing the regional economy by supporting entrepreneurs and strengthening economic sectors.

We have dedicated an Our Donors page and an Our Funders page on our website to individuals, small businesses, foundations, and local, state, regional & federal organizations who love to see local people thrive, and have chosen to help us empower small businesses. 

Buying from a farmers market or produce auction in Southeast Ohio means keeping money in our local food economy. It means preserving farmlands and rural livelihoods, and connecting with the farmers who grow your food. You get to leave a smaller carbon footprint on the Earth, while tasting what fresh really means.

Athens Farmers Market

• 701 E. State Street | Athens Community Center Parking Lot | Athens, Ohio
• Saturdays 9AM – 12PM | All Year
• Wednesdays 9AM – 1PM | April – December
• SNAP/EBT Worth Wouble with Produce Perks
• Accepts WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program
• Accepts Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program
• Has Donation Station

Chesterhill Produce Auction

• 8380 Wagoner Road | Chesterhill, Ohio
• Mondays & Thursdays 4PM – 7PM | May – October
• Has Donation Station

Meigs County Farmers Market

• Main Street | Levee Parking Lot | Pomeroy, Ohio
• Saturdays 10AM – 1PM | May – October
• SNAP/EBT Worth Double with Produce Perks
• Accepts WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program
• Accepts Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program
• Has Veteran Vouchers Program

Lancaster Farmers Market

• Chestnut Street between Broad & Columbus | Lancaster, Ohio
• Saturdays 8:30AM – 12PM | May – October
• SNAP/EBT Worth Double with Produce Perks
• Accepts WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program
• Accepts Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program

Perry County Farmers Market

• On The Square | Somerset, Ohio
• Saturdays 9AM – 12:30PM | May – October
• Accepts WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program
• Accepts Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program

Shawnee Farmers Market

• 88 Walnut Street | Shawnee, Ohio
• First Fridays 5PM – 7PM | May – October

If you're not in Southeast Ohio, you can check here to see if your local Farmers Market accepts SNAP/EBT: https://jfs.ohio.gov/ofam/JFS-00569-Farmers-Market-Directory-2023.stm

The Annual Bridal and Event Expo in Athens, Ohio, at the Dairy Barn Arts Center is the ultimate one-stop location for anyone planning a wedding or special event. With over 30 vendors attending each year, this expo provides all the resources you need to create a memorable and seamless event.

Date: Sunday, September 29, 2024

Time: 1 pm-5 pm

Registration deadline: August 5th

Your support helps us provide 1-1 training and assistance to entrepreneurs, in all sectors, on a daily basis on everything from business planning & financial management to brand development and marketing. Your support also helps us provide our Food & Farm entrepreneurs with the space and equipment they need to grow their businesses.

You can support us when you shop at Kroger by participating in the Kroger Community Rewards program! By designating “ACE NET” (the space in the middle is necessary) as the recipient of your Community Rewards points, Kroger will contribute a portion of the proceeds to ACEnet.

More info & sign up here: https://www.kroger.com/i/community/community-rewards