Hemphill Community Center, located in Neon, Kentucky, is a gathering place for music, dance, art workshops and community resources. Located in Appalachian Kentucky, the center has reinvigorated a former coal camp in Letcher County, bringing new opportunities to the county’s 20,000 people. Hemphill acts as a hub for many kinds of community resources and programs, from good accessible jobs to affordable energy solutions.
One of these programs is Black Sheep Brick Oven & Bakery, which creates employment opportunities for people in addiction recovery. To help the community, Hemphill partnered with the Letcher County Drug Court to provide job training in the catering arm of the Center. “When the drug court began to place some of the court appointed community service workers with us, we were astounded to see the creativity and hard work of some of these folks. We began to employ them in our catering efforts on a part time basis,” Gwen Johnson with Hemphill said.
Hemphill is also part of the Letcher County Culture Hub, a county-wide network of grassroots groups that are committed to transitioning communities to the new energy economy. Hub members include an arts and media center, an affordable housing nonprofit, a volunteer fire department, and other gathering places such as Hemphill.
In 2019, members of the Letcher County Culture Hub found themselves at risk of closing their doors due to rising energy costs. Through a partnership with the Mountain Association, they turned to solar power to reduce energy costs, support a growing regional industry, and generate good jobs. The technical assistance team at Mountain Association facilitated energy audits and energy efficiency upgrades and financed the $48,500 solar installation. Since adding solar, Hemphill now saves nearly $7,000 a year on their electric bills. Now the facility is expanding their solar capacity and adding battery storage for resiliency in the face of future power outages and flooding, which is common in the area.
