The Center for Rural Development

The Center for Rural Development opened its doors in 1996 as a national model for technological, cultural, and economic development. The impressive facility partners organizations in the areas of economic development, environmental issues, tourism,

entrepreneurism, commerce, and extension services, truly providing something for everyone’s needs.

From the very beginning, it has been The Center’s goal to create opportunity. Opportunity in Tompkinsville. Opportunity in Pikeville. Opportunity for young people searching to find their niche in the Kentucky economy and opportunity for people who have been affected by the unrelenting shift away from the traditional, but faltering, industries of the Eastern coalfields and Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky.

Our goal is being met. It’s not happening overnight, but through our diligent efforts to create and implement innovative developmental programs, it is happening. And it is changing the daily lives of individuals all across Southern and Eastern Kentucky.

Through youth programs like Rogers Scholars, The Center has touched the lives of hundreds of the best and brightest high school students in the service area. Every summer, after a week of intense leadership and entrepreneurial curriculum and daily interaction with regional business professionals, these Kentucky kids have returned home with the challenge to not only improve themselves but to make a contribution to their home communities.

Our business and educational training programs have helped aspiring entrepreneurs realize lifelong business dreams, enabled dislocated workers to develop marketable Classroom

skills for finding new employment, and assisted our region’s workforce in acquiring higher levels of technological skills to be competitive in today’s changing economy.

The Law Enforcement Technology program was developed and initiated by The Center in 2001 as a holistic approach to helping law enforcement agencies improve communications and in turn, public safety. To date, the multi-phase program has provided more than 100 agencies and over 1000 users with millions of dollars in hardware, software, and networking law enforcement applications. The next phase, a regional wireless communications network, is scheduled to be operational in 2004.

Our state-of-the-art facility, featuring the largest exhibition hall and conference site between Lexington and Knoxville, has enabled hundreds of thousands of people in the region and beyond to gather for an array of diverse events, meetings, and celebrations. Cultural events reflecting the spirit of Appalachia as well as the heartbeat of the nation have provided an engaging mix of entertainment for people in the region who previously had to travel to much larger metropolitan areas for such high quality performances.

Through our ambitious CenterNET project, created to overcome previous geographical obstacles in telecommunications, we have successfully ‘connected’ most of our counties to the regional network. Training, meetings, and other economic development initiatives can consequently reach each county easily and more cost effectively. Using the latest technologies, residents, businesses, and educational institutions in Southern and Eastern Kentucky now can communicate quickly not only with others in the region, but also internationally via videoconferencing capabilities or the World Wide Web.

Since 1996, The Center has made great strides and won the battle against adversaries who said it would never get off the ground. However, our successes have not made us complacent. Constantly vigilant, The Center remains dedicated to its mission: to provide, promote, and support innovative and sustainable community development solutions.