In a crowded Uptown restaurant in the depths of winter, a group of more than 200 officials and friends gathered to witness a ceremonious event in the history of Rural Action, one of southeast Ohio's most respected developmental organizations.
As a symbolic torch was passed from former to current executive director, Carol Kuhre said goodbye to a position she held for more than 13 years. Jane Forrest Redfern accepted the title of executive director and was reinitiated into a community from which she had been absent for nearly two decades.
Now having served as executive director for several months, Forrest Redfern envisions both a continuation and improvement on the initiatives that the 20 staff members of Rural Action have made successful in the past. Established with a different name in 1982, Rural Action, funded in part through area business partners, has affected most of the 29 counties of Appalachian Ohio through projects aimed at building environmental, economic and social sustainability.
This area is very environmentally degraded as well as socially degraded - in many communities there's a sense of hopelessness. But Rural Action is asset-based rather than need-based. No matter how run-down a community is we always tried to find something positive
Kuhre said. This will be Jane's challenge - to remain positive. We can rebuild these communities if we have the will to do that.
A native of Columbus, Forrest Redfern said she spent her college days at Ohio University and was inspired by a geography professor to work for the improvement of environmental concerns throughout the state.
When offered an internship at Ohio Citizen Action in 1986, she left the wooded hills of Athens for the culturally divergent plains of Dayton, Ohio. Seventeen years later, Forrest Redfern said she obtained a state-wide position with Ohio Citizen Action working on environmental issues ranging from the clean-up of hazardous waste sites to the improvement of drinking water in the Dayton area.
Ellis Jacobs, senior attorney for Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, a public interest, non-profit law firm, worked with Forrest Redfern in Dayton and said he was constantly impressed by her ability to empower both individuals and entire communities.
Jane is an extraordinary organizer. She helped a lot of people solve a whole lot of environmental problems in our area. She puts people on the path of being successful Jacobs said. She was very successful at helping people to help themselves. It takes a very unusual person to do this while constraining their own ego so that others can step forward and do critical things. She was extraordinary.
Awards from countless areas have been presented to Forrest Redfern for her work with Ohio Citizen Action, but when an e-mail arrived announcing Kuhre's retirement and the opening of the executive director position for Rural Action, she said she was unable to refuse the offer.
I certainly loved the Athens area and southeast Ohio when I was a student there. It's a beautiful area and having children now
I know that this is a great place to raise a family. The opportunity called and I just couldn't pass it up
Forrest Redfern said.
With her husband, Tom Redfern and two sons, Eli and Samuel, Forrest Redfern has replanted roots in the Appalachian countryside and said she desires nothing more than to devote her knowledge and expertise to creating a more prosperous future for area communities.
I think this will be a really good transition. She's very open
friendly and accepting of a whole range of people
Kuhre said. In the past she has been involved with some really tough issues. Those attributes will serve her really well in this position. I think she's going to be fabulous.
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