The Athens Area Chamber of Commerce is honoring ACEnet's own Leslie Schaller with their 2022 Distinguished Service award for her integral role in our local food economy!!

The Distinguished Service Award is presented by the Chamber to an individual who has shown tremendous service to the community over an extended period of time.

Leslie has been a driving force behind ACEnet for over 20 years, is one of the original worker-owners & currently Business Director at Casa Nueva Restaurant & Cantina, played a lead role in creating Community Food Initiatives, is a partner in the Central Appalachian Network & the list just goes on.

We're very excited about this honor and invite you to join us in congratulating Leslie if you see her around town!

Here's some exciting Food Ventures news, Arjee Richmond is going to be featured in an upcoming documentary from the Ohio University School of Film! They filmed the entire process of Arjee making these amazing looking Siomai in the ACEnet Food Ventures Center kitchen. We can't wait to watch this documentary!

In 2020 we began hosting a Virtual Holiday Open House to introduce you to many of the ACEnet family of entrepreneurs, both present & graduated, and shop their businesses.

Our 2022 Virtual Holiday Open House introduced you to 46 local small businesses, from arts to wellness, on our website and through daily posts to our Facebook and Instagram.

Our website saw more than 1,200 sessions, with visitors spending an average of 7 minutes and 52 seconds on the Open House page. Our social media posts reached a total of 7,307 users, and garnered 432 post engagements on Facebook & 149 engagements on Instagram.

Thanks for stopping by, and as always, thanks for supporting your local businesses!

Recently, our friends at Shagbark Seed & Mill recently received a large order from the Ohio Food Banks for all retail bagged products that Shagbark offers (chips, beans, flour, hot cereal). They needed labor to fulfill this order, as it was above and beyond what they could manufacture with their current staffing. ACEnet's Food Ventures Coordinator, Adam Kody, suggested a partnership between New Leaf Marketplace/SAOP and Shagbark. He then coordinated a meeting between Michelle Ajamian & Brandon Jaeger from Shagbark and Rene from SAOP.

January 9th was the first production day for New Leaf Marketplace staff in providing labeling of packaging for Shagbark products; initial delivery of 2000 bags and labels was made to New Leaf Marketplace in Nelsonville.

New Leaf Justice Enterprises — home of the New Leaf Marketplace — is a nonprofit social enterprise division of the Survivor Advocacy Outreach Program (SAOP) that provides individuals and their families impacted by trauma, substance use, and or incarceration with:

When life gives you apples, you make applesauce!

"Casa Applesauce Day" was last week, a very exciting time at ACEnet as it only comes once a year. Casa Nueva workers turned local apples into golden applesauce that they will be serving at Casa Nueva Restaurant & Cantina throughout the year. Be sure to order some the next time you're there, it was bottled in the thermal processing room at our Food Ventures Center in Athens!

Every year ACEnet reaches out to our community to ask for help in supporting our local businesses, and 2022 was no different. We would like to thank all of our supporters for helping us advance our mission of growing the regional economy by supporting entrepreneurs and strengthening economic sectors!

We would also like to send a special thank you to the University Libraries staff! They created their own "Investing in Appalachia Ohio with ACEnet" fundraiser amongst staff and raised over $900.00 to support our Small Business Development Program & provide us with resources we need to help new and growing local businesses succeed.

If you missed our fundraiser in December, we still need your help!

We're launching a new program this year, and your donation will support our new Individual Development Account (IDA) Program in 2023. With this program, ACEnet will provide economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs with assistance & training in Business Planning, Financial Literacy & Management, and Access to Capital.

Your support and commitment will help us develop and implement this program and bring these resources to our area at such a critical time.

* Your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. ACEnet is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Please visit our website to donate to ACEnet through PayPal, and to learn about other ways you can support our work in the region: https://acenetworks.org/support-us/

Our friends at the Visit Athens County office are offering the Tourism Development Grant program for 2023! They want to encourage local agencies, event planners, and community organizations that feel they qualify for financial support from Visit Athens County to apply. Please note that this grant program will be the primary source for requesting support funds from the Visit Athens County office.

To be considered for a grant, non-profit attractions and organizations must complete an application for funding, which outlines the applicant's needs for marketing, promotional and advertising assistance. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis, with primary consideration given to new or expanded events, and initiatives that attract visitors from more than 100 miles and/or attract overnight visitors to Athens County.

For full info & grant application:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeLbBqFhhX_VNq-btyFbRCbZMcGdYDUYUE4h8lw52AGUQKMuQ/viewform

Interested in serving with AmeriCorps this summer? You can make a difference in as little as 3 months with the Appalachian Accessible Food Network (ACEnet, Community Food Initiatives & Rural Action), supporting the Athens Farmers Market, Chesterhill Produce Auction, and CFI's Veggie Van & Donation Station programs.

See flyer for more details & apply here: http://tinyurl.com/aafncohort2023

The Building Bridges to Careers (BB2C) Internship Program offers paid internships to local businesses and high school students in 9th - 12th grades.

Students identify the type of organization, field, or industry they are interested in interning with, and BB2C matches them with a business who who asked to apply. An internship can run for a semester, a summer, or a year.

BB2C provides support to both the student intern and the organization the student is placed at.

Open to students in Williamstown, WV and Appalachian Ohio counties including Washington, Vinton, Tuscarawas, Ross, Pike, Pickaway, Perry, Noble, Muskingum, Morgan, Monroe, Meigs, Lawrence, Jefferson, Jackson, Hocking, Highland, Harrison, Guernsey, Gallia, Belmont, and Athens.

For more information, general questions, or questions about counties outside our current region, contact Claire Ramsey, Network Resource Coordinator, at cramsey@bb2careers.org.

Fees & Service Rates for the ACEnet Food Ventures Center and Food & Farm Enterprise Center for 2023 are below:

The Athens Farmers Market takes place year round on Saturdays. NOTE: New Market location.

Have you heard of UpBEAT? A program sponsored by OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital in Athens, Ohio, UpBEAT offers free programs for those in our community 55 years and older.

For UpBEAT in January, Exercise class offered during the first week and on a once a week basis to follow. UpBEAT History Group will explore World War II Strategy and the Media. UpBEAT Food for Thought program will take a deeper look into Effective Communication Strategies to have meaningful connection with people in early, middle and late stage dementia. Quarterly Food for Thought: Technology for All program, in partnership with the Athens County Public Libraries will be happening Thursday the 19th at 2pm. Our focus this month will be learning more about eResources available on the Athens County Public Libraries website.

In addition to these topics, we will have additional opportunities to learn, socialize and remain physically active, through our book club and exercise class. Please feel welcome to share our UpBEAT newsletter with those you feel may enjoy joining us: www.ohiohealth.com/UpBEAT

Contact Caitlin Bond with questions and to receive UpBEAT newsletter: 740-566-4680; caitlin.bond@ohiohealth.com.