JOHNSON CITY, TN – The Appalachian Resource Conservation and Development Council (ARCD) has expanded its commitment to outreach and communications with the announcement of two new staff members. Their talents and expertise will further enhance ARCD’s capacity to advance natural resource conservation, sustainable agriculture, and provide educational programs and support to local farmers, gardeners and farmers markets in northeast Tennessee.
Bethany Gray is ARCD’s new Community Outreach Assistant. Her appointment started April 24. She will work on Farmers Market initiatives and other local food access programs, as well as ARCD’s Build it Up beginning gardener training. She is currently a second year participant in the Build it Up program. Bethany returned to East Tennessee after decades in Florida as a Historic Preservation manager and a Curator of art and history museums, most recently at the Deering Estate in Miami, a 440-acre preserve in the Miami Dade County Parks and Recreation system. Her work there included maintaining historic structures, viewsheds and groves, restoring native habitats, and mitigating the effects of a changing climate on a coastal site. She ultimately returned to Appalachia to be near family, and to pursue the good work of restorative agriculture, strengthening local food systems, and mutual aid. She is an avid backyard gardener, who enjoys camping, local history, and genealogy.
James Harvey is ARCD’s new Marketing and Communications Director. His appointment started June 3. In this role, James will work on a communications and marketing strategy and manage ARCD’s marketing and communications initiatives. James brings to ARCD more than 30 years of communications experience covering higher education, public service and the not-profit arenas. His professional experience includes 11 years at Auburn University on the communications staff of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, where he worked with other media professionals in writing for and promoting Extension outreach programs.