Working for Justice in Appalachia
The Sycamore Project is a grant-making and organizing initiative focused on reducing imprisonment rates in Central Appalachia by addressing root causes like criminalization of substance use and poverty, economic decline, and lack of community services, and by working with communities to examine the core question of what makes us truly safe.
Central Appalachia has one of the highest concentrations of imprisonment in the world. The Sycamore Project wants to change that. Using community investment, research, and on-the-ground organizing, we build towards a future for Appalachia that prioritizes just and equitable communities.
How We Work
Grantmaking
The Sycamore Fund supports:
- Community-based work
- Research
- Arts and Culture
Community Organizing
Developing projects that address the root causes of criminalization and imprisonment in Appalachia.
- Non-carceral responses to the opioid epidemic
- Re-imagining how communities understand public safety
- Building grassroots power for change
Grantee Highlights
Calls From Home
Here in Central Appalachia, at least eight prisons are located within a 100-mile radius of local radio station, WMMT in Whitesburg, KY. Calls from Home is a nationally-recognized radio program which, for more than two decades, has sent messages and songs out over the radio from family members to their loved ones imprisoned in the mountains of Central Appalachia. Calls From Home keeps families connected using the unique power of community radio.
Project Renew
In partnership with regional legal services agency Appalred Legal Aid, Project Renew is a reentry and recovery support project that connects people to critical resources such as housing, transportation, and treatment, while also providing legal support to minimize barriers to reentry success.
Concerned Letcher Countians, LLC
Concerned Letcher Countians, LLC, is a group of volunteers who care about Letcher County and its future. CLC works to protect the area and provide a future for youth that does not include the use of prisons as economic development. CLC believes Appalachia can thrive by prioritizing our environment, culture, and vibrant communities.
Hemphill Community Center
Founded in 1968, Hemphill Community Center is a gathering place for families, friends, and neighbors. Hemphill provides community support including crisis response, mutual aid, and cultural programming like traditional music, dance, craft, and cooking. It is also home of the Letcher County Coal Miner’s Monument and Black Sheep Brick Oven Bakery, which hires people who are returning home from imprisonment and addiction recovery programs.
The Hub
The Hub’s mission is simple yet impactful: meeting individuals where they are but not leaving them there. Since its opening in 2022, The Hub has worked to provide holistic, person-centered care to those in need by offering a broad range of services that address addiction, hunger, homelessness, mental health, employment, and housing. Sycamore has supported the expansion of the Hub model throughout Eastern Kentucky, and there are now Hubs open in eight counties.
Watch the video below to learn more about The Hub.
Contact us
Interested in learning more about our work? Contact Amelia Kirby by phone or email!
Email: amelia@appalachianky.org | Office phone: 606-439-1357
