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Community Development

ARC Announces 2021 POWER Projects

September 17, 2021

The Appalachian Regional Commission announced its largest POWER package to date: Over $46 million for 57 projects in 184 coal-impacted counties. This year’s announcement includes more than $4,750,000 for projects in Noble, Athens, Monroe, and Morgan counties to improve broadband, grow our workforce, and open new economic opportunities for our region. These projects include:

  • $1,500,000 to Washington Electric Cooperative for Noble County grid modernization and make-ready for broadband deployment. The affected electrical distribution routes will also extend into adjacent areas of Morgan, Monroe, and Washington counties.
  • $1,493,716 to the Outdoor Recreation Council of Appalachia in Athens County for asset-based community and economic development investments in trail and gateway community infrastructure in Athens, Hocking, Meigs, Morgan, Perry, Vinton, and Washington counties.
  • $1,314,880 to the Switzerland of Ohio Local School District for the Ohio River Valley Workforce Development Initiative to serve unemployed, underemployed, and displaced workers and veterans transitioning to new job skills. The Initiative will enhance in-person and remote education and workforce training programs centered at the Swiss Hills Career Center in Monroe County, enabling workers to obtain the skills and industry credentials necessary to access jobs in regional industry growth sectors, including healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and the transportation/automotive sectors.
  • $404,856 to Noble Local School District for Green Acres: A Regional Workforce Education/Training Ecosystem. This phase of a multi-phase project will provide vital funding for essential agribusiness training-related equipment and upskilling programming that targets six counties (Belmont, Guernsey, Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, and Noble) to create a regional ecosystem to support agribusiness.
  • $50,000 to Morgan County for Broadband Technical Assistance. This project includes broadband asset mapping in Morgan County to identify unserved and underserved areas. The final comprehensive report will also include an analysis of broadband demand in the county, recommendations for potential broadband projects, and strategies for converting broadband demand into economic growth.
  • Additionally, Appalachian Community Capital received a $1,500,000 technical assistance grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to expand the Opportunity Appalachia program and to help bring investment into Central Appalachian communities in five states: Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia. Ohio Southeast Economic Development (OhioSE) is a lead partner in Opportunity Appalachia. The initiative is designed to provide targeted support for downtown and rural development to build entrepreneurial communities where local businesses can thrive, creating quality jobs for residents that revitalize local economies. More information on Opportunity Appalachia regarding upcoming outreach meetings and how to participate will be provided shortly at: appalachiancommunitycapitalcdfi.org/oa-program/

The full list of this year’s 2021 POWER awardees is available HERE.

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