Policy Work

For more information regarding Broadband / Telecommunications, click here.
For more information regarding Local Control of Assets, click here.

As CARN has progressed as a network, members identified four broad policy areas on which to focus their efforts for collective action:

• Education
• Health
• Environment
• Economic Development

In 2010, CARN hosted the Central Appalachia Policy Summit and brought together over 140 people from diverse organizations. The purpose was to explore these four policy areas and further refine CARN's policy focus. Participants identified the following three policy priorities on which to focus their efforts:

• Green Jobs
• Local Control of Assets
• Broadband

These priorities were identified because they would benefit the larger region of Appalachia rather a single locality and span more than one of the four original policy focus areas of Education, Health, Environment, and Economic Development. These policy priorities serve as core issues that provide the basis for discussion as CARN continues its regional efforts to promote a higher quality of life for the people of Appalachia.