Experience our legacy of giving with care, sharing and cultivating the light in ourselves and others, and tending to struggling communities to yield an abundant future in Central Appalachia and beyond.
Enter this site with an open mind
and open heart.
We are not defined by what we have been given, but by our intentions and ability to direct or manage our attention.
We all share similar essential basic needs. We cannot find personal or communal peace without fair and just access for all to resources provided by abundant nature.
In order to give, to serve appropriately, we begin with attention to the ground, to understand the root causes of disharmony, hardship and realities facing our communities.
Our core strategy is to partner with individuals and organizations to build and lead initiatives that regenerate community, the planet, and self. This approach is much like that of a farmer, who cultivates the ground and tends to the roots so that there can be healthy growth. We foster a strong entrepreneurial environment to ensure change is both systemic and transformational.
Our supportive methods include collective voice and policy development, leadership development, building skills and offering technical assistance, increasing access for low-income community members, leveraging innovative capital, and engaging other funders. This means energizing communities to connect their priorities to local entrepreneurial solutions and accomplishing cumulative, long-term sustainable outcomes.
Our Partners
Food Justice Lab is advancing a new collaborative experiment to raise up human resources for food system change through the Appalachian Food Justice Institute and promote cooperative agricultural enterprise development through the Growing Food Equity initiative. The Food Justice Lab is an education, leadership and action research center at West Virginia University. The mission is to facilitate food system transitions that ensure improved access to food for low-income families, fair prices for farmers and dignified wages for workers, to conserve natural resources and promote healthy food for all.
The Appalachian Food Justice Institute intends to cultivate a youthful ecosystem of food system change-makers in Appalachia, based on the belief that Appalachian youth are leaders who can and are rebuilding the economy from the bottom up. They need encouragement that they can succeed. They need to navigate obstacles on their path. And most importantly, they need to know that they are not alone. Indeed, they need living proof that they have friends, mentors and partners to lean on. If we want to cultivate a new social enterprise ecosystem, particularly agricultural enterprises in Appalachia, we need to tend to the energetic seeds of youth and the transformative initiatives that they are germinating. Visit Food Justice Institute.
From the early age, I was tempted to seek freedom and light while maneuvering through the demands of modern life.
Based on my entrepreneurial nature and good fortune, I am committed to One Foundation & The Attar Family DAF, in search of intelligent creative altruism.
Reflections
At Generation West Virginia, the organization dedicated to attracting and retaining young talent in the state, we're working hard to reverse the loss of young people by accelerating the creation of new jobs, strengthening quality of place, and sharing lessons learned with decision makers across sectors to inform policies and programs. Like the Foundation, we strive to be inclusive and ground-up through our chapters. We share with the Foundation a deep belief in the positive impact of young people on the economy and social fabric. Visit http://generationwv.org
Princeton Renaissance Project: RiffRaff, based in a multi-faceted creative zone in downtown Princeton, WV, believes in the power of music and the arts to heal and transform lives. We provide venues for expression and produce events and experiences that inspire and uplift. RiffRaff is the anchor for a dynamic, full-scale transformation of downtown, called The Princeton Renaissance Project. Reflecting the One Foundation's commitment to place and ground-up community activism, RiffRaff is building a creative place for all people. A critical partner, Stages Music School, works with young people to deepen self-awareness and acceptance through music. Visit https://princetonrenaissanceproject.org
FIRSTHAND Cooperative is a worker-owned coffee company located in Morgantown, WV in the heart of Appalachia. Inspired by the principles of the fair trade movement, we connect producers and consumers in mountain communities through our fair share guarantee. This commitment to mutual aid and our vision for a sharing economy along coffee supply chains supports social enterprise development abroad and right here in our mountain home. We share with the One Foundation a deep commitment to challenging corporate models and focusing on empowering workers and communities. Visit https://firsthand.coop
The West Virginia Community Development Hub (The Hub) works directly with community leaders, local teams, and development organizations across the State to support community development that puts the priorities and vision of local leaders first. We operate from the belief that dynamic communities spur economic growth. Communities - even small, rural ones - that are active, have engaged, diverse leadership, and are working towards a common vision of a vibrant future, create space for business growth and investment. Similar to One Foundation, we believe this focus on the ground, on people and vision, make it possible to grow a tree that bears the fruit of lasting economic growth. Visit http://wvhub.org
YES! connects, inspires, and collaborates with change-makers to build compassionate, generous, and just ways of life for all. Through our Leadership Jams, multi-generational leaders come together to engage in deep self-reflection and hold space for each other's joy and suffering -- a powerful practice dedicated to healing our world. From Jordan to Canada, from the U.S. South to South Africa, Jams are opportunities for change-makers to co-create an environment of interdependence and rigorous loving kindness, where all voices are valued as integral to the whole. Over 1500 visionaries, healers, artists, activists, social entrepreneurs, and more, from 80+ countries have participated in YES! Jams impact millions of people around the world, towards a healthier, thriving, just and regenerative present and future. Visit http://yesworld.org
Khadi Oaxaca's work is based on the Khadi Movement founded by Mahatma Gandhi. Our purpose is to support family wellbeing, prosperity, and independence as well as to strengthen the social fabric of villages and homesteads in Oaxaca, Mexico, via conscious community development. We do this by engaging in meaningful, culturally appropriate and materially sustainable artisan production as cottage industry. Our textile production is based on the local Zapotec traditions of spinning and weaving, using native Oaxacan cotton and local wool. The spinners (200 women) work at home on a spinning wheel designed by Gandhi and constructed by local carpenters. Weaving is also done at home while other members of the Khadi collective (100 families) dye with plant materials, embroider the clothing and sew the fabric into finished pieces. The funds generated from the sale of fabric, home décor items and clothing go to support community health and education initiatives. Visit https://khadioaxaca.com
Through its solutions reporting, insightful commentary, and readers' engagement, YES! Magazine inspires people to build a just, sustainable, compassionate world. Our vision is a world of diverse communities, where all people live in dignity and the Earth's vitality is preserved for generations to come. Daily online and quarterly in print, our stories showcase pioneering people and communities who are working to build a better world. We show readers that they are not alone in their commitment to a world that works for everyone, and how small changes at the personal and community level come together to create big change. Thanks partially to the support of the One Foundation, we are able to highlight some of the many outstanding initiative in Central Appalachia. Visit http://www.yesmagazine.org/
We work to increase the economic well being of low income and working individuals and families by engaging in legislative advocacy, popular education, strategic organizing, and coalition building. With economic well being the primary lens, other focuses include anti-racism work and issues related to mass incarceration and reentry. We work closely with our sister program, Appalachian Center for Equality, to promote youth civic engagement and leadership, with the goal of developing leaders and allies who can advocate for social change. One Foundation, with its commitment to low income and working individuals and youth, has been a long-time supporter of our work. Visit the WV Economic Justice Project Page
Fruits of Labor trains students from across the state of WV in its Farm-to-Table Training Program, including a Café and Bakery and a 218-acre Agricultural Center. Strengthening and uplifting the whole person, the Seeds of Hope Program focuses on youth aging out of the foster care system as an addiction prevention program, and the Seeds of Recovery Program is for those in recovery from addiction. We share with One Foundation, a core belief that change comes from the "inside out"; from not only access to opportunity, but also self-awareness and emotional and spiritual growth. On-going dialogue with foundation staff helps both organizations to together reach greater impact and new understanding of how to radically transform communities to a place of healing and wholeness. One Foundation's deep devotion to visionaries on the ground, local food systems, healthy individuals, and transformative impact continues to expand the ecosystem of organizations poised to make lasting change. Visit http://fruitsoflaborinc.com
The Ananda Learning Center is located in an indigenous, Zapotec village in the Southern Sierra mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. The learning center offers alternative education to indigenous and international children between the ages of 2-12, along with the support necessary to help them to grow up joyful, creative, and conscientious of the world.
This form of work is based on the child, his/her interests and abilities, using the methodologies Montessori and Reggio Emilia. The prepared environment and the diversity of options the center offers favors a truly holistic development in an environment where children can be free within clear and simple limits based on respect.
We believe that it is important to transform the standard approach to education in order to meet the needs of a global society in search of awareness and harmonious learning. To this end, Ananda offers training in alternative education to educators in our regional public schools. Visit https://www.facebook.com/ecovillananda
The Yew Mountain Center, an educational non-profit on 500 acres outside of Hillsboro, WV, provides programs that explore Appalachian ecology, culture, and the arts while promoting community and personal wellness. With a botanical sanctuary, an educational forest farming project and programs for local youth, the Yew Mountain Center shows a path forward for the region that is compatible with thriving forests and prosperous, healthy people. Visit https://www.yewmountain.org
The New River Gorge Learning Cooperative is a Montessori-based educational center in Fayetteville, West Virginia. Thanks to funding from the ONE Foundation, our Middle School is will be opening for the 2018-2019 school year. Our core values of Permaculture, Mindfulness and Social Justice are fundamentally integrated into our pedagogy, which is taught experientially- in the field and forest- as often as possible. We believe that people learn best through reflection on experience, and go to great lengths to provide those experiences for our students. Visit www.nrglc.org
Zero Waste Event Productions LLC is a social enterprise based in Southeast Ohio that helps festivals and events reduce their environmental footprint by diverting as much waste as possible from the landfill. Our recycling and composting efforts are designed to help events reach “Zero Waste Status” (90% or more of material diverted from the landfill). As a small group of worker-owner entrepreneurs, we share the One Foundation’s belief in grassroots, compassionate entrepreneurship that creates livelihoods and improves our Appalachian region. Visit Zero Waste.