Avery Connect: Changing outcomes for our community’s youth

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead

By Dr. Heather Kilbourne, NC Rural Center Director of Faith in Rural Communities

Charley Dearmin believed applying to participate in Connect Church was the right opportunity at the right time for his church, Elk Park United Methodist Church (UMC) in Avery County, North Carolina. Located in the mountains on the Tennessee border, Elk Park UMC sits on the hill overlooking HWY 19E, giving it the perfect perch to watch young people and others in their community drive daily into Tennessee for jobs or move hours out of the county for opportunities in larger cities. The young people who stay in the county are often part of a future of low wage jobs leading to challenging long-term outcomes. As a local business leader, Charlie knew there were career opportunities in Avery County and many of those jobs remained chronically unfilled.?

Connect Church is an asset-based community development program offered through the NC Rural Center and funded by The Duke Endowment.? It provides nine in-person, monthly coaching sessions to church teams.? During the nine months, the church team explores the church’s assets, their community’s needs, and develops a ministry where those assets and needs overlap.? Each participating church creates an action plan for a new or expanded ministry.? An implementation grant is provided to assist in launching their project.? Since 2018, 55 churches have participated in Connect Church.?

The overwhelming church support for Connect Church was seen when over a dozen people showed up to the first coaching session. As part of the Connect Church 2022 cohort, Elk Park UMC formed a Connect team with the leadership of their minister, Rev. Rhonda Campbell, and started meeting monthly with the Rural Center’s coach Heather Kilbourne. The Connect team dove into the hard questions that face many small, rural communities: Why are people living in poverty and how can we change their economic prospects? How can we effectively and compassionately respond to the ever increasing challenge of drug abuse? How do we help high schoolers transition to a career that includes a living wage, benefits, and future advancement? What can we do to help our small town thrive economically? Elk Park worked with their coach to name their church assets and study the economic challenges in their community. They were guided by 1 Peter 4:10 : “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

They landed on a vision to empower high school students to build relationships to support vocation exploration through tools, connections, and mentors. “We were numbingly overwhelmed, almost to the point of surrender, at the needs of our community…our world. We were coached to look upstream and God exposed His plan, a butterfly effect to expectantly change the outcome of our community’s youth, one at a time.” explains Mr. Dearmin.?

They created Avery Connect, an initiative that provides rising high school juniors and seniors mentorship, life skills training, and paid apprenticeship placements with local employers. Interested students can choose between 16 potential career placements including electrical, plumbing, and culinary opportunities. Avery Connect partners with Mayland Community College, their local Economic Development Committee, and Avery County High School. They received a grant of $15,000 from the NC Rural Center to support the launch of this program.

Elk Park UMC is passionate about creating community, one relationship at a time, that will transform young adults, local businesses, schools, and Avery County. Is your faith community interested in supporting young adults to transition into well-paying careers? Here are some ideas to help you get started:

1. Fund a scholarship at your local community college. Allow the funds to be used to support the often unseen costs of college such as transportation, child care, and books.
2. Volunteer to support a first-generation college student manage the transition from high school to college.
3. Set-up a clinic at your church to help high school seniors complete the FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid. North Carolina loses out on over $100 million dollars in unclaimed financial aid each year because students do not complete the FAFSA. Find out more at MyFutureNC.org.
4. Offer to partner with a community college to use your church building as a location to provide career training and other classes.?
5. Set-up a mentorship program at your local high school to connect students with adults in successful local careers. Give them opportunities to meet and build relationships.?

?The NC Rural Center has worked since 1987 to develop, promote, and implement sound economic strategies to improve the quality of life of rural North Carolinians. The Rural Center serves the state’s 78 rural counties, with a special focus on people with low-to-moderate incomes and communities with limited resources. To learn more about how the NC Rural Center is developing and supporting rural leaders across the state, visit?www.ncruralcenter.org.?