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$46.4 million announced for 57 new POWER grants

September 23, 2021
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By: Jordan Kendall

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) recently announced its largest POWER (Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization) grant package to date, investing nearly $46.4 million into 57 projects across 184 counties. The award aims to leverage entrepreneurship, workforce development, and infrastructure to bolster re-employment opportunities, create jobs in existing or new industries, and attract new sources of investment. To date, ARC has awarded over $287 million and supported 362 projects, benefitting 353 coal-impacted communities.

Funding for the awards is made available through the POWER Initiative, which aims to help communities and regions that have been affected by job losses in coal mining, coal power plant operations, and coal-related supply chain industries due to the changing economics of America’s energy production.

Among the awardees are the Ben Franklin Technology Center of Central and Northern PA and West Virginia University. The former was awarded $1.5 million for the Igniting Innovation in the PA Wilds Region project to support and enhance opportunities for tech-based entrepreneurs and manufacturers. The latter received $49,974 for the Equity in Entrepreneurship: Strategic Planning for Youth Entrepreneurship project to conduct strategic planning for the expansion of youth entrepreneurship education, specifically focusing on rural and low-income youth.

A full list of this year’s awardees is available here.

ARC, appalachia, grants