On January 15, 2020, more than 160 attendees were in Ashland, Kentucky for ARC’s Regional Workshop to learn more about how to prepare competitive applications for ARC’s POWER Initiative to diversify the economy in Appalachia’s coal impacted communities. Topics discussed included project development, budgeting and matching, evaluation and performance measurement, as well as partnership development. This was one of three field workshops to prepare potential applicants. Short tutorials on the same topics are available online as a virtual workshop.
To date, ARC has invested over $190 million in 239 projects to strengthen the economies of 326 coal-impacted communities. Competitive POWER projects are regional, strategic, and transformational in their approach to the economic revitalization of coal-impacted communities.
The first steps to applying for POWER funding are to:
- Read the Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) Initiative: FY 2020– Request for Proposals (RFP) available here.
- Contact the ARC State Program in the state(s) included in the proposal to review project ideas and confirm they’re in alignment with relevant state(s) economic development priorities. Contact information available at www.arc.gov/power.
The required Letter of Intent, which is a one-page snapshot of your POWER application, providing ARC and its state partners with a general idea of the proposed scope of work and the players involved, is due by February 28th. Final applications can be submitted here by March 27th.