December 2022 News
Athens Ki-Aikido Celebrates Two Anniversaries
A unique Athens organization had an anniversary in November, and Head Instructor Stan Haehl would like to invite everyone to come and see – or better – experience what they offer.

ACEnet tenant Athens Ki-Aikido is celebrating two anniversaries: it is the 14th anniversary of offering Ki-Development and Ki-Aikido classes in Athens; for 4 years we offered classes through the City Parks and Recreation program in the Community Center. Then we organized and relocated: this month is our 10th anniversary as a non-profit corporation, in its own dedicated space (dojo) in the ACEnet campus at 94 Columbus Road.

Throughout that time, a dedicated core group has been the heart of the dojo, engaged in disciplined practice of the skills and principles; some members have come for a few months or years, and then moved on to other life interests; a small group has remained constant. Over the years many people (literally hundreds) have experienced Ki and Aikido practice with the Athens Ki-Aikido dojo, in classes, special workshops, or just by visiting the dojo for an introductory experience.
The COVID crisis has been a tough time, reducing us to that core membership, but we have persisted, and our practice continues. We do follow COVID/flu safety protocols in our dojo. Interested folks are welcome to come by, try it out, and join our community – a dojo is a community as well as a place.

Classes are offered four days a week, Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, starting at 6. Interested persons are welcome to stop by any class to watch, or try it out. At this time, classes are open to adults and teens (13-18 with parental permission). Currently we are not offering classes for kids.
Sprouts Garden Program
The Sprouts Garden program, a program of Community Food Initiatives, brings hands-on lessons about sustainable agriculture to elementary-aged children in Athens County. With help from the COMcorps Program, at the Heritage College of Medicine at Ohio University, hundreds of students at East Elementary, Morrison Gordon Elementary, and Amesville Elementary are given access to locally grown produce, which they have the opportunity to sample at school and then bring home.
New Root to Seed Podcast
Root to Seed is an Appalachian storytelling podcast dedicated to sharing unique stories about local food in Southeast Ohio. We speak to farmers, food justice activists, entrepreneurs, and other innovators in our local food economy.

The show is produced by staff and volunteers from ACEnetCommunity Food Initiatives, and Rural Action. These three nonprofits make up the Appalachian Accessible Food Network (AAFN), a collaborative project to accelerate the distribution of local foods into Appalachian Ohio communities.
Raya Abner and Lucy Peloso are COMCorps, an AmeriCorps program, members serving with Community Food Initiatives (CFI). Raya serves with the community gardens program and Lucy serves with education programs, including school gardens and the Sprouts program. These gardens play a vital role in engaging, feeding, and educating the community. Raya and Lucy share the benefits of gardening, success stories, and how to get involved with school and community gardens in Growing with Community and School Gardens.
ACEnet Virtual Holiday Open House Continues
In years past, we opened ACEnet's Food Ventures Center in Athens for a family-friendly event with local food, wine & non-alcoholic beverages, and local holiday shopping opportunities, while sharing more about what ACEnet does in our community.

In 2020 we pivoted to a virtual open house to make it easier & safer for you to meet many of the ACEnet family of entrepreneurs, both present & graduated, and shop their businesses. In that process, we realized a virtual open house is a great opportunity for us to introduce you to more small businesses than we would be able to fit in our in-person open house space!

We’re going to keep our Virtual Holiday Open House open until the end of the year, so thanks for stopping by, and shop local!

Food Ventures Tenant Milo's Whole World Gourmet Wins Multiple 2023 Scovie Awards!
We'd like to congratulate ACEnet Food Ventures tenant Milo's Whole World Gourmet on their multiple 2023 Scovie Awards in their Brownwood Farms product line! What's a Scovie Award? Named after Wilbur Scoville, the scientist who invented the Scoville Organoleptic Test in 1912 to determine the heat scale of chili peppers, the annual Scovie Awards recognize top fiery foods products from around the globe

The judging, which is not open to the public, consists of 80 to 100 judges, mostly food professionals, who sample products in coded cups in a “blind tasting.” They fill out judging forms and rate the products according to eye appeal, aroma, flavor, and heat scale, and the forms are later totaled and compiled by our staff.
Milo's racked up quite a few wins with their Slatherin' Wing Sauce (1st Place Wing Sauce: Traditional-Hot, 2nd Place BBQ Sauce: Mustard-Hot); Kickin' Ketchup with Bourbon (1st Place Hot & Spicy Condiments: Ketchup); Jalapeno Peach Salsa (1st Place Processed Salsa: Hot) & Jalapeno Cherry BBQ Sauce (2nd Place BBQ Sauce: Fruit Based-Mild/Medium)!

You can find these products in a variety of retail locations, and also purchase them online at https://igourmet.com/search?q=brownwood+farms
Paid Internships for Students & Local Businesses
The Building Bridges to Careers (BB2C) Internship Program offers paid internships to local businesses and high school students in 9th - 12th grades.

Students identify the type of organization, field, or industry they are interested in interning with, and BB2C matches them with a business who who asked to apply. An internship can run for a semester, a summer, or a year.

BB2C provides support to both the student intern and the organization the student is placed at.

Open to students in Williamstown, WV and Appalachian Ohio counties including Washington, Vinton, Tuscarawas, Ross, Pike, Pickaway, Perry, Noble, Muskingum, Morgan, Monroe, Meigs, Lawrence, Jefferson, Jackson, Hocking, Highland, Harrison, Guernsey, Gallia, Belmont, and Athens.

For more information, general questions, or questions about counties outside our current region, contact Claire Ramsey, Network Resource Coordinator, at cramsey@bb2careers.org.
ACEnet Plays Part in Supply Chain Providing
Free Books to Families
Ohio University’s Patton College of Education is proud to announce an exciting initiative that will bring positive impact to many in the region. The Molina Foundation has granted the Patton College of Education’s Edward Stevens Literacy Center 30,000 books of high-quality literature to distribute to low-income, at-risk families throughout Southeast Ohio counties.

“On behalf of the Patton College’s Stevens Literacy Center, we are thrilled to be the stewards of this project. This grant will support a wide distribution of reading material in an effort to increase the accessibility of high-quality literature for all ages in our region,” Julie Barnhart Francis, director of the Stevens Literacy Center, said.
“We’ve distributed books through almost all the local school districts, the Athens library, both local medical systems, Integrated Services, Jobs and Family Services, Athens on Wheels, Ohio Rise, Appalachian Behavioral Studies, and a few local churches. Everyone is enthusiastic and excited about the books. We are grateful to our community partners that strengthen the chain of distribution from the ACEnet warehouse and into the hands of children, adults, and families across our region,” Francis added.

One important logistical consideration of this initiative was the proper storage of the books. The Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet) provided the much-needed warehouse space to accommodate the large volume of books while the Stevens Literacy Center built local community partnerships.
“We are glad that we had the opportunity and some space at our Nelsonville facility to help the Stevens Literacy Center obtain their Molina Foundation book grant. The quality and diversity of the new books is amazing, and we are excited to see them getting out into our communities,” said Executive Director Larry Fisher.

New ACEnet Staff
ACEnet would like to welcome Eric Matson to our staff! Eric Matson joined ACEnet in 2022 as Facility Manager – Nelsonville Business Center & Food Hub. Eric is responsible for managing warehouse operations, storage, delivery, and distribution logistics at ACEnet’s Nelsonville Facility. He works one-on-one with each building tenant to make sure that the facility is organized, orderly, and functions to meet their needs. Eric maintains the shared use-spaces, making sure that the facility is clean and equipment is operational and receiving regular maintenance inspections. He manages multiple leased office spaces in two different buildings, client inventory storage, and building ingress and egress.

Eric also supports and oversees the ACEnet shared-use Wood Manufacturing Center on the Nelsonville Business Campus that hosts and assists regional wood manufacturing businesses.
New Fees in 2023 for Food Production at ACEnet
Fees & Service Rates for the ACEnet Food Ventures Center and Food & Farm Enterprise Center will be changing in 2023. See below for details.
Holiday Pop-Up Event & 2023 Volunteer Opportunity
What?

A Fair Food System: A Summit on Scalable Solutions to Creating Community Food Systems, a series of half-day events presented by the Central Appalachian Network (CAN) in partnership the USDA, will be a learning environment regarding the problems related to nutrition security such as healthy food access and affordability. It will engage a coalition of organizations who are working to build and support resilient and accessible community food systems, and will work to attract federal, public, and private funding for scalable programs addressing nutrition security in Central Appalachia.

Summit #5 January 26th, 9AM - 1PM, stay tuned for details!
Summits will include educational presentations, panel discussions, opportunities for partnership building & collaboration, networking events, and state-focused breakout sessions to address community food system issues within Central Appalachia.
Stay tuned for speakers & agenda!
For more information about CAN & its network of nonprofit members:
Upcoming Events
Saturdays, 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM
The Athens Farmers Market takes place year round on Saturdays, and on Wednesdays April 20th - November 23. NOTE: New Market location.
UpBeat: Activities for Older Adults
Have you heard of UpBEAT? A program sponsored by OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital in Athens, Ohio, UpBEAT offers free programs for those in our community 55 years and older.

For UpBEAT in December, the UpBEAT History Group will explore the murals that are in our surrounding Athens area, with local muralist Keith Wilde. Members who join for this program will leave with information to take a walking tour or driving tour to see these works of art at their leisure. UpBEAT Food For Thought program will take a deeper look into breathing and how bringing attention to our breath can be an important piece to include in a healthy lifestyle. In addition to these topics, we will have additional opportunities to learn, socialize and remain physically active, through our book club and exercise class. Please feel welcome to share our UpBEAT newsletter with those you feel may enjoy joining us: www.ohiohealth.com/UpBEAT

Contact Caitlin Bond with questions and to receive UpBEAT newsletter: 740-566-4680; caitlin.bond@ohiohealth.com.
Your tax-deductible contribution helps ACEnet expand economic opportunities in the Appalachian Ohio Region! Thank you for your continued interest in and support of what we do here at ACEnet!
Sincerely,
h
Meggan Loveland
Appalachian Center for Economic Networks
94 Columbus Rd, Athens, OH 45701 
(740) 592-3854