About the Authors

About the Authors

Ruthie Caldwell is the owner of Vision Granted LLC, a grant writing, project management, and facilitation consulting agency based in Eastern Kentucky specializing in community and economic development. Ruthie has a Master’s in Communication and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). She is a member of the pilot Appalachian Framers Action Cohort, a graduate of the 2019 BRIGHT Kentucky leadership program, and serves in various organizations including: Accelerate Kentucky, What’s Next EKY?, CEDAR, and her local Mainstreet program in Pikeville, KY. 

Robert Donnan is the Principal of Donnan Consulting. Robert is a community and economic development consultant and small business coach who focuses on creative economies, downtown revitalization, community investment, and building entrepreneurial ecosystems. Until Spring 2020, he was the Kentucky coordinator for a three-state Energizing Entrepreneurial Communities (E2C) Initiative funded by an ARC POWER grant. Robert has worked widely across Central Appalachia for the past two decades. Previously he was Senior Associate with Community Strategies Group at The Aspen Institute.

Melissa Levy is the Principal of Community Roots, a rural community and economic development consulting firm. For over 20 years she has been working with federal, state, and local governments, nonprofit organizations, foundations and citizens groups in natural resource-based industries like agriculture, forestry and tourism/recreation, as well as creative economies. She manages the WealthWorks Northeast Regional Hub, spreading the wealth creation approach throughout the northeast. Melissa has a variety of experience working in Appalachia as a coach and facilitator to Central Appalachian Ford Foundation grantees, as a measurement coach, and in feasibility research.

Barbara Wyckoff is the Co-founder of Creative Disruptors, Inc. and Disruptive Investments, LLC. Barbara works with entrepreneurs and teams to evaluate their purpose and core competencies through reimagining their potential impact. Barbara was formerly the executive director of The One Foundation in West Virginia, and a senior program associate with the Community Strategies Group at The Aspen Institute. In 2018 she developed a set of guidelines and best practices about downtown revitalization for the West Virginia Community Development Hub.