Our Staff: Josh, Rachael, Ole, Debra, and Melinda.

RAIL VISTA POSITIONS, 2007 - 2010

1. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT – Rachael Candler
• Setting Mullens Opportunity Center on a course for sustainability.
• Build and implement programs that enhance community development.

2. DEVELOPING GROUNDWORK WYOMING COUNTY - Ole Bye
• Conducting study to determine feasibility of building a partnership between Wyoming County and Groundwork USA to seek funding for economic Development.

3. ESTABLISH BUSINESS PROGRAM & ARTISAN TRAIL - Josh Fangmeier
• Work to establish an artisan trail development plan that covers Wyoming County and the surrounding area in Southern West Virginia.
• Research existing artisan resources and develop a marketing plan for both recruitment of new artisan resources and tourists.
• Implement new Business Retention, Expansion, and Development program to connect new and existing businesses with the resources that they need for success.

4. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - VACANT
• Utilizing Brownfields Assessments for attracting business.
• Land use planning study.
• Prepare presentation for establishing building codes and zoning ordinances.

5. CULTURE AND HERITAGE PRESERVATION; RESIDENTIAL HOUSING UPGRADING – PENDING APPROVAL
• Identifying and placing historic structures and sites on National Register and finding funding to salvage.
• Reactivate Local Cultural and Heritage Preservation Commission.
• Set up land bank and take ownership of derelict housing for appropriate disposition.
• Set up system for housing repair for families that do not have means to help themselves.
• Set up one Habitat for Humanity chapter in the coalfields.

6. BUILD SUSTAINABILITY FOR PROGRAMS IN HEALTH AND ADULT EDUCATION – PENDING APPROVAL
• Set up fee based and agency funded system to make Adult Education system self supporting.
• Set up fee based and agency funded system to make health support system self supporting.
• Develop Partnership among private funding agencies, Goddard College, and WV Higher Education Policy Commission to offer scholarships for Masters Degree in a program to train professionals to deal with issues that reduce poverty.

7. ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES – PENDING APPROVAL
• Upon completion October 07 Corps of Engrs. study, seek support to implement their recommended initiatives to deal with flooding in the Guyandotte.
• Study methods for best ecological use of lands damaged/restored from mountain top removal, timbering, deep mining, and other industrial.

8. FARMING AND GARDENING FOR HEALTH AND WEALTH – PENDING APPROVAL
• Establish program to teach the art of gardening and using the land to support proper nutrition, supplement food supply, and produce additional income for family support.

Past VISTAs include:

Megan McMillan: Megan is an Arkansas native and Hendrix College graduate. Her VISTA position at RAIL was Director of the Mullens Opportunity Center. She focuses on maintaining the building, so that it can be used fully by the community. Additionally she was involved in community development work. This included developing youth programs and scheduling and organizing events at the MOC.

Allison Reddington: Ali is a New York City native and Dartmouth College graduate. She worked on Brownfield's Restoration, which takes abandoned mine sites and turns the land into profitable enterprises to generate jobs, money, and assets for the area.

Sam Petsonk: Born in Morgantown, WV, Sam is a former student at West Virginia University, and a graduate of Brandeis University. Sam has experience studying and facilitating land-use planning and community development in India, Mississippi, and West Virginia. He has a great passion for West Virginia history and culture. He is thrilled to be working in his home state to ensure that the creative powers of West Virginians are free to be exercised in order to produce the future of each West Virginia citizen and each West Virginia community through the democratic production of nature, of culture, of place.

Brittany Bauer: Brittany is a strong advocate of development efforts that respond to the regional priorities of Southern West Virginia. She has served as a Capital Region AmeriCorps*NCCC member, completing projects in the Gulf Coast and northeast region of the country in areas of education, environment, unmet human needs, public safety, and disaster relief. Prior to this, she coordinated clinical research on Left Ventricular Assist Devices for Baylor College of Medicine's Surgery Department. She is an alumna of the University of Texas at Austin, holding a BA in Biology and Art History.

Erica Peterson: Erica is originally from New Jersey and is a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, MN. Over the past eight years she's traveled through Appalachia working with the Appalachia Service Project, a home repair organization. At RAIL, she coordinated the GIVE (Guyandotte Initiative for Volunteerism and Enrichment) program, which coordinates volunteers for the Mullens area and facilitates the visits of out-of-town home repair groups.

Kelly Jo Drey-Houck: Kelly Jo comes to West Virginia from Wisconsin. As a VISTA at RAIL she coordinated the Upper Guyandotte Watershed Association (UGWA). The UGWA is a grassroots, community-based organization working to reduce sources of pollution in order to clean up the streams and make the watershed a better place to live. Kelly Jo is also involved in the efforts to solve the waste water issues of the area. Through the dedication, passion, and great skill of ordinary West Virginians working together with Kelly Jo, the UGWA has emerged as a strong and independent grassroots organization --exemplary in the region.