The 2022 SOAR Summit begins next week in Pikeville. Keynote speakers and breakout sessions will cover topics from broadband to health outcomes in eastern Kentucky.
Colby Hall is Executive Director of Shaping Our Appalachian Region. He said the goal of the summit is to discuss how eastern Kentucky can level up to state and national averages.
“Broadband is one example of that, but we hope the overall goal of the summit is to talk about what some of these goals need to be so that we can start to get some buy in from these communities and everyone starts rallying around, ‘Yeah, that’s what we need to be focusing on, that’s what we need to be keeping our eye on,’” said Hall.
Speakers include Congressman Hal Rogers and Governor Andy Beshear, among many others.
Hall said the theme of this year’s event is Into the Future.
“If everybody’s kind of pulling in the same direction, that’s where we really get some scale and that’s really where we think we can start to move the needle in the next ten years, which is a relatively short amount of time, but we hope when we get together ten years from now that we can say that we’ve reached some of these regional targets,” said Hall.
Hall said another facet of the summit focuses on grant writing and identifying potential funding. The SOAR leader says around a billion dollars will be on the table in 2023 for broadband development in Kentucky.
Online registration for the event next Wednesday and Thursday closes at midnight Friday.
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