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The Harlan County Chamber of Commerce heard an informational presentation from Rural Up, Inc. on the Southeast Community and Technical College campus during the chamber’s regular meeting for January.

Tina Wei Smith and Rosanna Hutcheson, both with Rural Up, provided the Chamber members with some information about their organization.

“We’re just going to continue the conversation about getting young people ready for the workplace,” Smith said. “We’re specifically focusing on Harlan, Hazard (Perry County) and Floyd County.”

According to Smith, Rural Up is focused on assisting the area’s youth to find a career path that allows them to stay in the region.

“Our mission statement is to empower Eastern Kentucky’s youth by bridging the education to workforce transition through career-connected learning and equipping them with the durable skills required for success in the 21st century,” Smith said. “Long story short, basically, we want to prepare them for the workplace, and we want to do that in collaboration with partners in the community.”

The Rural Up website states to compete in the 21st century, young people will require all the skills, tools, and knowledge that the best schools in the country offer.

Smith noted Rural Up is helping to provide valuable career tools such as mentoring to students.

“Mentoring is where a business or community employer is working one-on-one with a student,” Smith said. “This does not necessarily mean all the time…it might mean that you meet weekly or biweekly for an hour or half an hour. But you have a personal investment in that student; they can come to you with questions.”

Hutcheson provided some information on previous Rural Up work with students in Harlan County.

“In the summer of 2021, 15 students were served,” Hutcheson said. “In 2022, there were about 27 interns.”

She explained many of those students were placed with local businesses such as a local law firm, Backroads of Appalachia, and Harlan CAA.

Other areas Rural Up is focusing on include durable skills training and bridging the digital divide, including coding camps and other STEM related opportunities.

Rural Up is sponsored by the Foundation of Appalachian Kentucky and partners with Teach for America Appalachia to work toward career and college readiness for Eastern KY youth.

For more information, go to https://www.ruralup.org.