Highlights from the President's FY17 Regional Commissions Budget Request

The president’s FY17 budget proposal includes requests for four regional commissions, which work to develop the economies of economically distressed regions. 

• Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) – $120 million to provide development and technical assistance to 420 counties in 13 states.  ARC’s base area-development activities, which support economic development across Appalachia, would receive $70 million including funding for the  the 73 multi-county Local Development Districts (LDDs) to promotes diverse and sustainable economic growth. In FY17, ARC would receive $50 million in new funding to implement a competitive grant program, as part of the Partnership for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization Plus (POWER+) Plan, for communities severely impacted by the declining use of coal to develop economic diversification activities in emerging opportunity sectors.
• Delta Regional Authority (DRA) – $15.9 million to build and sustain strong economies in 252 counties and parishes in eight states.  The FY17 budget would support multi-state planning, small business development with an emphasis in entrepreneurship, and workforce development as well as basic and transportation infrastructure projects.
• Denali Commission – $15 million to improve health, safety and economic strength in the rural areas of Alaska.  Under the proposed budget, the commission would continue to coordinate cost-share infrastructure projects, with a 50 percent matching requirement on funded projects.  Grants to distressed communities would have a 20 percent matching requirement. In 2015, President Obama announced the Denali Commission would serve as the lead for federal, state, and tribal resources to develop and implement both short and long-term solutions to address the impacts of climate change such as coastal erosion, flooding, and permafrost degradation. To support these efforts, the FY17 budget proposes language that would allow the agency to waive the non-federal cost-share for grants and, when necessary, to use Denali grant funds to meet the non-federal cost share match requirement of other federal agencies.
• Northern Border Regional Commission – $5 million to support the federal-state partnership addressing economic distress in a 36-county region in Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont.