Description
“New Generation Change Agents in Appalachia” is a
documentary project of the Marshall University Graduate
Humanities Program led by 28th Distinguished John
Deaver Drinko Academy Fellow Luke Eric Lassiter (2023-
2025). The project documents the change-oriented work
now underway and advanced by a newer generation of
leaders based in local nonprofits and similar community
organizations. These mostly younger generation “change
agents” embody a shift in community-based organization,
leadership, and public service in West Virginia and
Appalachia, in process since at least the early 2000s. The
long-term goal of this project is to better understand what
motivates beginning to mid-level career nonprofit
professionals and how their public service work is shaping
new visions and possibilities for Appalachian futures.
