CAN’s New Working Group Coordinators

Tessa Wieneke will be supporting CAN’s seven Working Groups. She is passionate about capacity building and networks as a source for innovative collaboration. Previously she coordinated the Appalachian Accessible Food Network(AAFN), a partnership between the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet), Community Food initiatives, and Rural Action. The AAFN supports local healthy food access with programs that focus on community food security through education, promotion, and access of local foods in Appalachian Ohio. She developed her interest in the Appalachian region through her studies at Ohio University where she has a degree in Wildlife and Conservation Biology with a certificate in environmental studies. Tessa is also very passionate about sustainability, knitting, and cats.

Kim Ross will be focusing on our Climate Resilience Working Group. This work is an extension of her love of everything Appalachian. In 2013, she received her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Bluefield State University, an HBCU located in Southern West Virginia. She has dedicated the past two decades of her life to collaborating with other passionate people to improve the quality of life in Appalachia. Most of her work falls in community economic development, with a focus on entrepreneurship and real estate development. She has been her husband’s biggest supporter in his decade-long work of energy-efficiency implementation in Virginia and West Virginia.