The Appalachian Kentucky Impact Community, led by Partners for Education (PFE) at Berea College and in collaboration with upwards of 15 partners, is focused on accelerating educational outcomes cradle-to-career in Appalachia Kentucky. As a Promise Zone partner, they first encountered service years through VISTA placements and quickly saw the benefit of increased capacity in their programming. Over time, their focus on K-12 school outcomes expanded as they saw how corps members benefited from their service year as a pathway to continued education and an on-ramp to education and youth-serving careers.

PFE believes that service years have a triple bottom line: service provides support to the kids and families, service provides the opportunity for residents to get back on the path of economic mobility, and service provides the organizations and the community a workforce now and for the future. They are now bringing their success to other rural communities nationwide.