Recover Appalachia’s 2025 Impact Report: Expanding Opportunity for Returning Citizens Through Entrepreneurial Mindset Education
As we close the books on 2025, we’re pausing to reflect not just on numbers but on what they represent.
Recover Appalachia was officially launched this year with a clear purpose: to expand opportunity and empower rural communities by equipping people in recovery and re-entry with an entrepreneurial mindset. The year ahead of us is about scale and thought leadership, but the year behind us was about laying a foundation strong enough to support that growth.
Our newly released 2025 Impact Report captures this first chapter.
2025 Impact Report Snapshot
A Year of Building, Listening, and Testing What Works
From January through September, Recover Appalachia operated firmly in startup mode, focusing on strategic planning, relationship-building, and learning directly from the communities we aim to serve. Those early months were spent listening to recovery providers, workforce leaders, funders, and people with lived experience to ensure that what we built would be grounded, relevant, and responsive.
In the fourth quarter, we moved from planning to practice.
That transition mattered because it allowed us to pilot our flagship program with returning citizens and test a core belief: that mindset education—when delivered with dignity, relevance, and real-world application—can help people see themselves as capable contributors to their communities and as the builders of their own economic futures.
The results affirmed our belief.
What the Data Tells Us
In the final quarter of year one we served 35 returning citizens, 86% of whom showed positive growth across key mindset indicators, with nearly one in three taking a concrete next step toward a new opportunity—whether that meant employment, education, or the fulfillment of a personal initiative.
This progress didn’t happen in isolation. It was supported by a growing ecosystem that included:
13 advisory team members and volunteers contributing time, expertise, and lived experience
5 organizational partnerships established with recovery and community-based organizations
4 guest speakers who helped participants connect mindset lessons to real-world paths
A growing alumni network that keeps participants connected beyond the classroom
Financially, the organization demonstrated early sustainability, generating $34,000 in earned revenue, securing vital grant funding to help us build capacity and tell our story more effectively in 2026, and receiving community donations that signal trust and belief in our work.
Why This Matters: Beyond One Program
What we’re building at Recover Appalachia is not a one-off intervention; it is a model for socioeconomic revitalization in distressed rural communities.
Entrepreneurial mindset education is often associated with startups or business creation, but in our work, it functions as something broader and more human: a way of helping people reclaim agency, recognize opportunity, and navigate uncertainty—skills that are especially critical for individuals rebuilding their lives in the wake of incarceration or substance use disorder.
This first year confirmed that when people are treated not as problems to be managed, but as individuals with untapped potential, they rise to meet that expectation.
Looking Ahead to 2026
Our work in 2025 positioned Recover Appalachia for what comes next.
In 2026, we will broaden this impact through:
A Returning Citizens Community Forum to elevate lived experience and inform policy and practice
The launch of a podcast and year-round webinar series to share insights at the intersection of recovery, entrepreneurship, and inclusive economic development
The publication of a white paper to contribute evidence-based thinking to regional and national conversations
Expanded programming that incorporates innovative features such as AI literacy workshops and entrepreneurial learning labs
Each of these efforts builds directly on the foundation established this year.
We’re grateful to our partners, participants, volunteers, and supporters who made this first chapter possible. The story of Recover Appalachia is just beginning, but it is already rooted in real outcomes, real people, and real progress.
As we approach the new year, we remain committed to one simple idea: rural communities thrive when people are inspired to believe in themselves and are given the tools to shape their own futures.