UACC Blog
Rendville, Ohio: A Singular Portrait of a Small Appalachian Town by Mike Templeton
When we talk about Appalachian people it is crucial that we keep in our minds that we are talking about a diverse population. For the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition, advocacy has always been fo...
A Priceless Window into Pre-World War I Appalachia and Central Kentucky by Mike Templeton
The Urban Appalachian Community Coalition maintains an active role in research in the fields of Appalachian studies and Appalachian history. In addition to the Frank Foster Memorial Library, UACC sust...
Michael Thompson: Multimedia Artist, Designer, Poet and Urban Appalachian by Mike Templeton
Over the years, many talented and creative young people have worked with the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition. A number of our members are teaching mentors, several are professional educators, an...
Ways to Help Local Seniors Navigate the Challenges of Aging
This week’s blog is by guest writer Beverly Nelson of Stand up for Caregivers, a website that aims to protect and advocate for the health and well-being of adult caregivers. The blog provides a numb...
WordPlay Cincinnati Hosts the Cincinnati Youth Poet Laureate Program by Mike Templeton
We have focused rather a lot on the literary arts in recent weeks. That should come as no surprise since so many people within the urban Appalachian community and within the ranks of the Urban Appalac...
REPOST: A Conversation with the Poet Laureate of Ohio, Kari Gunter-Seymour, by Mike Templeton
***Enjoy this throwback blog post from July 22, 2020, when Kari Gunter-Seymour was appointed to her first term as Ohio Poet Laureate. Now, in 2022, Kari will be serving her second term as Ohio Poet La...
Emma Carlson Berne and Books by Horseback: The Horseback Librarians in Appalachia by Mike Templeton
One of the core concerns of the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition has been and remains literacy and education for urban Appalachians. Beginning with the Urban Appalachian Council and continuing to...
Core Member Pauletta Hansel takes on her New Role as Writer-in-Residence at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County by Mike Templeton
Cover photo by Steve France Ever resilient, members of the urban Appalachian literary community continue to push ahead no matter the adversity that surrounds us these days. Even as we struggle through...
Richard Hague: President of the Literary Club of Cincinnati
By Mike Templeton As we enter the New Year, we find that Core members and others involved with the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition are busier than ever in the literary life of greater Cincinnati...
Ways to Help Those Affected by the Tornadoes in Western Kentucky by Mike Templeton
Everyone is certainly aware of the tragedy in Western Kentucky, and the devastation that occurred earlier this month. Though not the Appalachian region, these are our neighbors directly west of Appala...
Jared Hamilton, Familiar Paths, Volume 1, and a Different Kind of Nostalgia by Mike Templeton
The theme of leaving home is, by definition, a core concern for the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition. The longing for home and the struggles of being in a new place are the very issues that give ...
ARC POWER Grant Planning Award through the University of Cincinnati Clermont by Mike Templeton
Our urban Appalachian neighborhoods have been completely transformed in the past few decades by the economic shifts that have impacted the entire country. The loss of the industrial jobs that brought ...
Out Now: Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel: Appalachian Witness by Mike Templeton
The most recent issue of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel is out. The publication of the Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative (SAWC) has been a leading medium for Appalachian writers, poets, and ar...
Omope Carter Daboiku and the Art of Living and Remembering by Mike Templeton
This week’s blog is a throwback to May 2020. Omope Carter Daboiku is from Ironton, Ohio. After leaving Ironton in 1971 to attend college at Ohio State University, Omope began the process of disc...
Award Novelist Carter Sickels Makes Cincinnati Home by Mike Templeton
When the winner of the 2021 Weatherford Award for Best Appalachian Book settles into our little corner of the world, the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition takes notice. A recent migrant to Cincinn...
The Poet Laureate of Cincinnati Program finds a new home with the Mercantile Library by Mike Templeton
It is not much of a stretch to say that much of the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition is made up of poets and writers. Advocacy on behalf of urban Appalachians seems to go hand in glove with creat...
Appalachian Identity Part II: Individual Experience by Mike Templeton
To follow up with the question of Appalachian identity, I begin with a conversation with Sara Webb-Sunderhaus. A member of the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition Research Committee and Associate Pr...
Exploring the Notion of Appalachian Identity by Mike Templeton
Following on the heels of the launch of Harvesting Our Stories: Urban Appalachian Story Gathering Project, it seems appropriate to take on some ideas that explore the depth and complexity of urban App...