Stories

Economic Development

  • Appalachian Transition

    Appalachian Transition explores the emergent work by non-profit organizations and funders to advance a just and sustainable economic transition in the Central Appalachian region. The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation has a long history of investing in Appalachian people and places. To foster collaborative funding in the region and increase collective impact, MRBF helped co-found the Appalachia...

  • Appalachian Transition

    Appalachian Transition explores the emergent work by non-profit organizations and funders to advance a just and sustainable economic transition in the Central Appalachian region. The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation has a long history of investing in Appalachian people and places. To foster collaborative funding in the region and increase collective impact, MRBF helped co-found the Appalachia...

  • A Working Paper on Housing and Poverty

    Questions addressed in the paper include:

    When is housing an asset? What is the relationship between affordable housing and other tools for reducing poverty, including jobs, education and community development? How do regional and cultural differences shape housing strategies?

    Research for this paper on the relationship between housing and moving out of poverty was completed...

    A Working Paper on Housing and Poverty
  • Jobs-Centered Development: the Need for a New Approach

    Published in September 2009, this paper grew out of the MRBF commissioned report, "When Any Job Isn't Enough." It describes the potential and limitations of an alternative approach called "job-centered development" to increase the number and availability of good jobs for Southerners.

    Download the report

    Jobs-Centered Development: the Need for a New Approach
  • When Any Job Isn’t Enough

    The Babcock Foundation occasionally commissions learning papers to increase our board and staff knowledge of various pathways out of poverty, with a focus on the Southeastern US. This paper on jobs and economic development was begun in 2008 before the recession became apparent and completed as the recession unfolded and deepened. The paper recaps the history of economic and workforce...