Appalachian Capacity Builders

A hand drawn quilt design with a square border, featuring a layered design with smaller squares and triangles inside.

Who are capacity builders?

Capacity builders include, but are not limited to, facilitators, strategic planners, website builders, consultants, volunteers, organizers, and many others who may not identify as capacity builders.

The Appalachian Affinity Project

The Appalachian Capacity Builders project supports individuals and organizations that have traditionally built movement capacity.

As part of the project, we created a capacity builder’s affinity group that consists of members from partner organizations working towards change. The affinity group meets to fine-tune the project structure and foster a culture of sharing resources, aiming to eliminate the need to compete for them.

In addition, the project will award grants to individuals and organizations identified as having capacity-building expertise. Members of the affinity group will have the opportunity to serve on the grant review panel. Funding will go towards honing skills, updating/developing websites, general support, technical support, and even basic needs: foremost, those things that strengthen the capacity builder’s ability to do their work.

The purpose of this pilot program is to foster a culture of sharing and collaboration rather than one of competition, ensuring that Appalachian capacity builders can do more than survive—they can thrive in their field of interest.

For more information, contact us.

An abstract digital art featuring purple vertical lines of varying heights with beige outlines, set against a black background.

Listen Up

Our inaugural cohort was inspired by music. They took that inspiration and put together a song. Need to get motivated for social change? Give it a listen.

Close-up black and white photo of a dandelion seed head on a textured ground background.

Appalachian Affinity Group

A Capacity Building Circle

The Appalachian Affinity Group was created to offer resource-sharing experiences and direct support to current and emerging capacity builders in Central Appalachia.

We have been organizing together as a capacity-building group in Appalachia, making strategic goals and developing a framework for this project.

Members: