Appalachian social entrepreneurship ecosystem: A framework for rural development

ABSTRACT

This paper contributes to the gap in the understudied, but increasingly salient, topic of the development of social enterprise ecosystems (SEEs) in rural areas using the Appalachian Ohio SEE as a framework for understanding the development of rural SEEs. Building on prior studies of the successful rural entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) in Appalachian Ohio, this paper relates the relationship between the EE and SEE in Appalachian Ohio to the context of traditional economic and community development. The case studies reviewed here illustrate the importance of the social capital of regional champions, university as convener and place for ecosystem overlap, and multiple capitals approach to community regeneration. The commonalities identified among cases suggest that a fourth wave of economic development will depend on a healthy intersection of community and economic development that recognizes the need for maintaining real ecosystem services. The SEE framework is especially suited to catalyze this intersection.

KEYWORDS:

• social entrepreneurship
• social entreprise ecosystems
• economic development
• rural development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

^1. The True Pigments approach is unique in that it does not add more chemicals to the water to counter-act AMD or cut off the stream’s flow of water in order to extract the valuable minerals. Thus, the stream is able to continue to support life and act as a clean water source.