Government Award - Hindman/Knott County Community Development Initiative

In 1997, a volunteer community group of Hindman and Knott County leaders and citizens began meeting to develop a strategic plan to diversify the region's economy and secure funding from the state and other sources for an array of community development projects. They decided to base their plan on the region's most valuable resource, its artisan population. The twenty-year revitalization plan included the expansion of Hazard Community and Technical College - Hindman Branch and a long-term push for an economy based on arts and heritage. The results of this agency's efforts are quite visible.

Taking the program's theme, "Using our Heritage to Build Tomorrow's Community" to heart, these civic leaders were successful in securing the needed funding. This national award-winning initiative has seen the establishment of a new city hall and Welcome Center; the Kentucky Appalachian Artisan Center; the Knott County Opportunity Center, which houses the public library; a day care center; the Knott County Adult Learning Center, a branch of Hazard Community and Technical College; county offices and distance learning classrooms. And recently the CDI celebrated the renovation and opening of the Kentucky School of Craft. Along with these completed projects there has been more than $10 million in infrastructure improvements made and hundreds of Knott Countians now have access to potable water and improved sewage disposal. Other CDI projects that are in the works include: the building of several new bridges and parking areas; the construction of a major pedway to connect the downtown with the Kentucky School of Craft; the renovation of a downtown structure for a Business Incubator; improvements of downtown Hindman as part of the Mainstreet Association; and the establishment of the Hillfolks Arts Guild.

It takes an enormous amount of money, time and effort to achieve this kind of success in such a short amount of time. The Hindman/Knott County Community Development Initiative's accomplishments are a tribute to the vision of its community leaders and the hand-in-hand partnership between a community's citizens and the contributing and supportive organizations and governmental programs.

Previous recipients: Senator David Karem, Mayor Scotty Baesler, Representative Jody Richards, Congressman Ron Mazzoli, Representative Harry Moberly, Sue Larison, Louisville Regional Airport Authority, Senator Wendell Ford, Mammoth Cave National Park, Mayor Pam Miller, Secretary Ann R. Latta, Center for Economic Development, Entrepreneurship & Technology, City of Paducah Artist Relocation Program, City of Berea