 Friday, shaping our Appalachian region, SOAR, and CEDAR joined, a bit sourced to sign a partnership geared towards helping Eastern Kentucky kids shape the future of Appalachia. But more importantly, that students will have the opportunity to either stay here or leave. Now, I feel they don't have much of a choice, but they have to leave if they want to have any opportunity or be able to provide a good way of life for their family. So, hopefully this will give them that, plus it will give our people the opportunity to create their own narrative, and that to where we don't have other people outside come in and go out and give their version of what our narrative is to the world, we create our own. By providing seven pillars of regional development, Justice hopes to use the partnership to teach kids how to think to solve regional problems. Hopefully this will help advance us in that area to where my goal these days is rather than people coming here to help us, they come here, they come here to see how do we do what we did to bring ourselves out of the economic decline that we're in, job selection, not good quality life in some people's minds, but we turn it around, that our people turn it around. And hopefully this program will have a part in seeing that happen. Since partnering, SOAR Executive Director Colby Hall says they can spread out to more counties based on CEDAR's original plan. And so now, utilizing the systems and the people and the resources that are already in place, we have the chance to go spread the word about what's going on and get more people involved, because listen, for our region, there's plenty of room at the table and we need all hands on deck and our youth and our kids and our students more than anyone, right? So that's the importance of why the partnership is expanding and that's why it made a lot of sense for us to go at it together. Due to the internet, Hall says they're bullish to get into schools, adding that now is a perfect time. When you talk about the future of the work and the digital age and the things, it's great timing. So SOAR and I would assume CEDAR continues to believe that the region's best days are to come. And by getting into school systems and telling that story and making sure they understand how important it is, right? That's what's going to speed up the process for our return back to the top, right? Back to prosperity. So there's no better time than now. For Mountain Top News, I'm Joel Korgel.