In the News
When he started at the company 20
years ago, Michael Watkins never dreamed he would one day own LaCrosse
Enclosures. He was hired to be a quality control manager after earning an
associate’s degree in applied science from Somerset Community College.
But over those 20 years, he learned
every aspect of the business, which specializes in custom metal fabrication,
machining …
Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation's President & CEO Jerry Rickett recently penned the annual op-ed for America's first rural Promise Zone. View the featured article on the Lexington Herald-Leader website:
Promise Zone projects promise new growth in Eastern Kentucky | Lexington Herald Leader
Kentucky
Highlands Investment Corporation announced a $450,000 community facilities loan
to the Burkesville-Cumberland County Industrial Development Authority for the
purchase of 93 acres for a business-industrial park.
“This is
a great move – a big move,” Cumberland County Judge-Executive John Phelps said.
“This loan will help us manage our payment well with the package Kentucky
Highlands put together. We also will …
University of Kentucky alumna, Raenae Moore, turned to the Kentucky Highlands Innovation Center for business mentorship and website training in the past. Recently, Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation worked with Rural LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) on a digital inclusion grant to expand access to internet access. Raenae Moore’s company and another organization both joined in …
Funding expected to leverage
more than $4 million in private investment
LONDON, Ky. —Today, Kentucky Highlands Investment
Corporation was awarded $1.5 million by the Appalachian Regional Commission
(ARC) for a project to increase access to capital and technical assistance for
businesses as well as boost employee skills and training.
This award is part of a $46.4 million package supporting 57
projects …
Kentucky Highlands Community Development Corporation (KHCDC)
is pleased to announce it has been selected as a recipient of an Open for
Business grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation. The grant funding will be used
as a working capital concessionary loan product to provide cash to small
businesses that have been impacted by closure or restricted access during the COVID-19
pandemic. …
Sandi Curd, Promise Zone Coordinator for the Kentucky
Highland Investment Corporation, recently joined the podcast, EIGL (Engaging
Local Government Leaders) to talk about her work supporting communities and
small businesses through placemaking. She shared how the Promise Zone impacts
the 22-county service area in southeastern Kentucky and how placemaking can
serve as an economic incubator. Sandi also discussed placemaking examples …
Your company need to train employees, but you’re
concerned about:
Large
gatherings during the pandemic;Not
having enough equipment to conduct hands-on training for everyone; orExpensive
equipment that you don’t want someone who is in training to accidentally break
it.
EK Media Group, based in London, can help your company
with D) All of the above.
It uses augmented reality and virtual reality to
provide 3-D, …
It started with a Sonic
Drive-In franchise in London in 1996. Since then, Chuck and Mindy Newnham have
acquired a total of seven franchises with Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken and Sonic.
They now have about 140
employees and closer to 210 employees in the busy summer months. Their
franchises stretch from Richmond and Lexington to Russell Springs, Columbia, Stanford
and Monticello …
In a family accustomed to using medicinal herbs and making soap, it was a natural way to reduce the symptoms of dermatitis and ease issues with sensitive skin. Then it expanded to gifts for family and friends. Now, it is a family business. Positive Attraction Soaps in Lee County has online sales for dozens of …
Kentucky Highlands Innovation Center helps local entrepreneurs and business owners grow, meet and collaborate. What does success look like? How about three tenants needing more space – all in the same year!
Inquiry Technologies (InqTech) and PrivateLabelLawyer.com moved into bigger space within the center, and Symbiosis Media Group relocated to downtown London.
Inquiry Technologies
InqTech received a grant …
The new owners of Somerset Pet Lodge don’t fit the traditional mold of business owners. Drew Miniard is just 24 years old. He formerly was the inventory manager for guns at The Castle Jewelry. His fiancée, Callie LeMaster, is 25 and previously worked as an entomologist for a company that was funded by the CDC …
Small businesses and entrepreneurs throughout Kentucky Highland’s service area recently took advantage of a unique opportunity to expand their digital presence. Since Summer 2019, Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation participated in the first large-scale national rollout of Empower presented by GoDaddy in association with AEO (Association for Enterprise Opportunity).
GoDaddy
GoDaddy is the world’s largest online service …
Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation continued its tradition by supporting this year’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (ELI) presented by the Center for Rural Development along with Eastern Kentucky University.
25 Students participated
While the 2020 ELI was conducted virtually, there was no difference in the innovation and effort put forth by the 25 highly motivated students selected from Southern …
Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation (KHIC) has created an innovative training series to help emerging and existing entrepreneurs and housing contractors living in rural counties of Southeastern Kentucky start or expand their businesses.
With support from the U.S. Small Business Administration, KHIC is launching the inaugural “Business Builder Basics” training series.
For no charge, entrepreneurs and small business …
More than 25,000 jobs created or maintained; $423 million in direct financing
SOMERSET –Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation celebrated its 50th anniversary at the Center for Rural Development in Somerset on Monday, October 22, 2018.
Kentucky Highlands, formed during the War on Poverty in 1968 to stimulate job creation and economic investment, has helped create or maintain more than …
After an in-depth field study, landscape design students from the University of Kentucky discussed their analysis of downtown Manchester, Kentucky in a recent meeting. Their study included recommendations for building restoration, traffic flows, parking and community gathering locations. Downtown revitalization has been shown to spark renewed interest in civic engagement, promote small businesses and improve …
Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation has long been a champion for small businesses and entrepreneurship throughout eastern Kentucky. In support of those efforts, Kentucky Highlands recently worked with the South Central Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to locate an office in the Kentucky Highlands Innovation Center.
Kevin Norvell, South Central SBDC director spoke to the benefits this …
Technology allows Kentuckians to showcase their products to the world and brings the world marketplace to Kentucky products – if they have high-speed Internet access.
Creating a homegrown entrepreneurial culture can’t exist without it. That’s why the British government has declared that its citizens and businesses will have a legal right to high-speed broadband by 2020.
And …
For many counties in the region, out-migration is a problem. Owsley County is hoping that nurturing local entrepreneurs will not only create more businesses, it will create more employment and people will come back to the county.
That’s where initiatives like the Energizing Entrepreneurial Communities (E2C) come in. People want to start businesses but need direction …
CrossFit HardCharger – located on Dormitory Street in London, KY – is a personal fitness center that offers personal training and nutritional services to their members. The gym is owned and operated by Jacob Floyd, a Laurel County resident.
Born and raised in London, Kentucky, Jacob Floyd played football at North Laurel High School as well …
Over the decades, there have been countless conferences and meetings focused on bringing more jobs to the Appalachian region of Kentucky. This past fall, the Kentucky Highlands Promise Zone and SOAR (Shaping Our Appalachian Region) decided to take a new approach: If faith can move mountains, then why can’t it create jobs?
That question led to …
LONDON, KY – Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation today announced the expansion of its partnership with the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund and Grow Appalachia for the SOAR Small Production Loan Fund.
A new $200,000 grant from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund will provide $175,000 to KHIC to recapitalize the loan fund and $25,000 for Grow Appalachia to …
To Help Rural Communities Attract/Retain Future Leaders
May 16, 2016
LONDON, KY - As a component of their “Next Generation: The Future of Rural Arts and Culture Placemaking” initiative, Art of the Rural (AOTR) and the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) today announced the formation of a Kentucky working group to help rural communities attract and retain …
PINEVILLE, KY – A USDA loan, along with strong partnerships among Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation, First State Financial and Pineville Community Hospital, have saved more than 300 jobs and created 12 new jobs at the hospital.
Local, state and federal officials celebrated this achievement today as they announced a $3.1 million USDA Business and Industry Guaranteed …