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The Regional Nonprofit Alliance combines existing community and university resources to address previously unmet needs within the nonprofit sector. Its mission is to strengthen nonprofit organizations in rural Appalachia by providing online resources, workshops, and hands-on help. As a collaborative effort between local nonprofits and the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, public administration students get hands-on training, and local nonprofits receive valuable support to help enhance the capacity of their organizations.

Visit the Regional Nonprofit Alliance homepage.

The Community-Appropriate Technology for Staple Seeds Project endeavors to develop and build a thresher for small farms to grow staple crops—grains, beans, and oilseed—in the Athens area. It seeks to address the loss of farmland, farmer unemployment, and food insecurity in southeast Ohio by developing energy efficient, appropriate scale technology for small-plot farmers to put fallow land back into production. The project is a collaborative effort between the Ohio University Department of Mechanical Engineering, Community Food Initiatives, and regional farmers.

Learn more about the CATSS Project here.

The Service Living Initiative connects students from Ohio University with citizens of southeastern Ohio through immersive service opportunities. The project enables students to build healthy relationships with the surrounding community and fosters mutual understanding through interaction with others in different life situations. The initiative is a collaborative effort between Good Works, Inc., Ohio University Residential Housing, and southeastern Ohio communities.

Visit the Service Living homepage.

Connect with Service Living on Facebook.

The Green House Project provides an energy audit for student rentals in order to reduce energy waste in off-campus residences and thereby reduce the carbon footprint of Athens, Ohio. The audit encourages landlords to correct energy waste and educates tenants in energy conservation. The project promotes the use of energy-efficient practices and raises awareness about the relationship between energy use, utility costs, and climate change. Ohio University’s Office of Sustainability and the Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development collaborate in this energy-saving initiative.

Visit the Green House Project homepage.

The Sunflower Project attempts to develop a transportable oil-seed processing system to encourage the use of biodiesel within the southeastern Ohio community. The Ohio University Department of Mechanical Engineeringworks with the students and faculty of a local alternative high school to develop the technology for distilling bio-fuels from locally-grown sunflowers. This project is simultaneously a “problem solving” vocational education initiative for students and a “green” experiment in sustainable energy production within the local community.

View more photos of the Sunflower Project.