Companies all over the world are investing in rural Kentucky, and more investment—and jobs—seem likely.
That is the indication from the state Economic Development Cabinet’s Department for Business Development whose officials told the legislative Subcommittee on Rural Issues today that 51 percent of economic development projects and 53 percent of newly announced capital investments announced in the past year will be locating in rural Kentucky — with many of those projects and jobs found in the state’s reviving manufacturing sector.

Department Commissioner Mandy Lambert said 57 percent of newly announced manufacturing projects and 53 percent of new capital investment in manufacturing were in rural Kentucky over the past year. Rural counties also benefited from 64 percent of manufacturing job growth over the past year.
“We are seeing significant interest in rural Kentucky,” Lambert said. “That doesn’t mean there are not areas and pockets that we still need to work on significantly, but we feel good that Kentucky’s business climate is moving in the right direction,” said Lambert.
Over half of all foreign-owned economic development investment in Kentucky in the past year has been in rural areas, too, according to Deputy Commissioner John Bevington, who detailed the Cabinet’s various economic development programs benefiting rural Kentucky. Those include programs like the state Build-Ready program which accelerates the site selection process for companies (six sites have been certified so far, and six more are in process) and KY FAME, a one-year-old company-sponsored training partnership that puts high school students, older students and even those in the military who are transitioning to civilian life on a fast track to jobs in manufacturing trades.
Programs like KY FAME narrow the “skills gap” by training workers for immediate employment, said Bevington. Sixty five students have graduated from KY FAME so far.
The plan is to expand the KY FAME model past manufacturing to other industries since it can “be replicated across the board,” according to Lambert.
Subcommittee Co-Chair Sen. Stan Humphries asked Lambert if there is a clear path communities can take to find out what state incentives are available to recruit, and keep, employers. Bevington said the state’s tack is to work on a “case by case basis to how we come up with solutions to those problems.”
Subcommittee Co-Chair Rep. Mike Denham, D-Maysville, said preparation at all levels is critical throughout the economic development process, from workforce training to company recruitment.

“You’ve got to make it easy for them, because there are hundreds of locations in this country where they can go and build the same plant,” or expand, said Denham.
Lambert agreed.
“The most important thing … we can do is have answers to the questions before they are even asked,” she said.
Kentucky had a record $3.7 billion in new and expanded capital investment in the state in 2014 with nearly 15,000 new jobs created across the state last year alone, according to the Economic Development Cabinet.
Kentucky’s water resources and the USDA Rural Child Poverty Nutrition Center—a national center established at the University of Kentucky to help reduce child hunger in “persistently poor rural counties” nationally— were also discussed by the subcommittee. Denham asked University of Kentucky Extension Professor Dr. Janet Kurzynske, who gave the presentation on the NRCPNC, what three things she would recommend to reduce persistent poverty in the state, especially among children.
“Jobs, jobs, more jobs,” said Kurzynske.
That drew a brief response from Denham, who said his legislative district has had a poverty ratio of around 29 percent over the past two to three decades. That ratio didn’t decline even during a period in the 1980s and 1990s when around 3,500 jobs were created, he said, leading him to wonder if the problem runs deeper.
Kurzynske said there are two kinds of poverty: generational and situational. The latter, she said, can be caused by major job loss or a catastrophic expense, like a serious illness. The former “is more difficult,” she said. She said economic opportunity is limited in rural areas yet many stay in those areas because of what she called “ownership of place.”
“A lot of people do not want to leave—that is where their families are. And I believe wholeheartedly that is wonderful,” said Kurzynske. “The issue is: they are in locations where they can’t get jobs and so, to me, that’s one of the major things. But there isn’t a good solution because it’s going to be very difficult without the infrastructure to bring in good paying jobs.”
From Legislative Research Commission
* * * *
See also the NKyTribune’s story on NKy’s FAME