WASHINGTON (WOWK) — Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin spoke at the National League of Cities on Sunday in Washington, D.C.

According to Mayor Goodwin, the National League of Cities is a conference full of mayors, city managers, city attorneys and councilmembers from across the U.S. to, “listen and learn from one another.”

Mayor Goodwin spoke on Sunday at the conference alongside Mayor John Giles, Mesa, Arizona; Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, Jackson, Mississippi; and Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore, Maryland.

Goodwin talked about partnerships in the Mountain State and the compassion that West Virginians have for each other at the conference.

“Appalachia has suffered for so very long,” Mayor Goodwin told 13 News. “Top of mind and tip of tongue always is the opioid epidemic so we talked about best practices there, we talked about getting folks into recovery, what that looks like for cities who have a population of 2,500 to cities of a million.

Mayor Goodwin went on to talk about how Charleston has used ARPA and CARE funding to make investments, “to make that happen.” Goodwin said that investments in West Virginia are at an all-time high.

“We’re Appalachians, we fist-fight for every single thing we have,” Goodwin said. “It’s certainly no different every day but it’s nice to have a change here that we are now listened to and people are taking the time to say, ‘Hey, it’s important what they have to say in West Virginia.'”