Three area residents chosen for BRIGHT Kentucky

Johnson County residents Hanna Gabbard and Jennifer Wilson, along with Kayla Jude of Martin County were chosen as members of the BRIGHT Kentucky Class of 2020.

By TONY FYFFE
BSN Editor

FRANKFORT — Three people from Johnson and Martin counties have been chosen as members of the BRIGHT Kentucky Class of 2020. Johnson County residents Hanna Gabbard, representing Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR), and Jennifer Wilson, representing the Kentucky Cancer Program, along with Kayla Jude of Martin County, representing the Kentucky Career Center, are among 41 program participants from 30 different Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) counties representing a variety of public and private sectors. BRIGHT Kentucky, which began in 2019, engages “bright, entrepreneurial minds from various occupational sectors to offer non-partisan, ethical leadership training, expanded networks, and mentors designed especially for residents of the 54 Kentucky counties” of the ARC, according to a press release. The program is made possible by a $500,000 ARC grant and private funding from the Whitaker Foundation, SOAR, and others. BRIGHT Kentucky consists of five, three-day sessions where the major focal point is to help participants fully understand the local economic context and to build robust skill sets in communication, collaboration, consensus building, visioning, and community engagement. The program, which runs July through November, began two weeks ago in Somerset. Other programs will take place in Ashland this month, Berea/Frankfort in September, Pikeville in October and Hazard in November.