Appalachian Connection was founded in 2015 by a group of like-minded individuals who believe education is the key to unlocking Appalachia’s prosperity. Their vision was to create a scholarship endowment to financially assist college students from Appalachia who not only excel academically, but demonstrate a strong desire to give back to the Appalachian region.

The last part of the previous sentence is particularly key. It is Appalachian Connection’s goal to find extraordinary young people who have an innate love of the region, are deeply involved in their community, and plan to use their education to develop a vision to help lead Appalachia into a prosperous future.

To date, Appalachian Connection has raised over $10,000. It awarded its first scholarship in April of 2016 to a rising college freshman. The organization achieved 501(3)(c) status with the IRS in 2016, and is a fully tax-exempt organization.

For more information about how we started, check out this blog post.