The President of United Way of Hall County, Jessica Dudley of Lula, is among the 40 fellows recently selected for the Appalachian Regional Commission’s (ARC) 2025-2026 class of the Appalachian Leadership Institute (ALI).
The ALI is a training opportunity that equips Appalachian community leaders to use economic development as a tool to drive positive change, according to the ARC website. The seventh ALI class comprises a network of public, private and nonprofit leaders from all 13 Appalachian states.
The eight-month program, which kicked off with an orientation session in Ashland, Ky. last week, is anchored by six multi-day seminars across the Appalachian Region. Each seminar focuses on one of ARC’s strategic investment priorities and will prepare these fellows to build effective economic and community development strategies, integrate their local assets into wider regional development strategies and use new connections to forge strong regional partnerships.
The 2025-2026 Class of ALI fellows were selected via a “competitive application process to reflect the region’s wide range of economic development challenges, opportunities and strategies.”
To learn more about the program, visit: arc.gov/leadership.