Appalachian Ohio’s Local Development Districts (LDDs) leveraged investments of more than $71.9 million in 46 projects through support from the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Governor’s Office of Appalachia in 2020. These projects helped the region create 614 jobs, retain an additional 1,079 jobs, and represent investments in local infrastructure, workforce development, transportation, and broadband expansion.
Ohio’s Appalachian communities are served by four LDDs: Buckeye Hills Regional Council, Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association, and Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission.
The Return on Investment report serves as an annual report prepared by all four LDDs to demonstrate the return on investment from funds received from the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Governor’s Office of Appalachia.
Ohio is home to 32 Appalachian counties and bolsters federal ARC funding with a matching state investment. Within this region, the four Appalachian Ohio LDDs organize community-driven projects and target funds for distribution from federal and state partners to ensure positive movement toward the mission of the ARC: to bring the region to socioeconomic parity.
The most important role of LDDs is to identify the priority needs of their local communities. To ensure that funds are used effectively and efficiently, and to strengthen local participation, Ohio’s project selection process includes a grassroots approach through which local governments prioritize both the state and federal investments across the region for the greatest regional impact.
With 420 counties, the Appalachian region includes all of West Virginia and parts of 12 other states including: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Appalachia is home to more than 25 million people.
With the goal of bringing the region to socioeconomic parity with the rest of the nation, the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) has focused investments into fundamental community and economic development needs, including basic infrastructure, education, job training, health care, entrepreneurship, and capital market development.