AIA receives nearly $1.5 million under latest ARC POWER grant awards
Appalachian Investors Alliance (AIA), a regionally based non-profit organization, has just been awarded a $1,496,719 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) under its 2021 POWER Initiative. POWER stands for “Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization,” and is an initiative of the 13-state organization to target federal resources to help revitalize the economy in fossil-fuel impacted communities.
“Receiving the POWER award is validation that our vision for Appalachia is being realized,” said Scott Ewing, AIA Co-Founder and Principal Business Analyst, in this news release (AIA_ARC POWER Press Release). “Revitalizing heartland communities is about doing more than stimulating investment opportunities. Hope and dignity for everyday, good people must be restored where changes in the coal and traditional manufacturing economy have resulted in far too many layoffs and job losses.”
This is AIA’s second POWER award; the organization received a prior grant in 2019 to address imbalances in know-how and technical support that otherwise hold back locally minded investors from funding higher-risk new and small businesses.
ARC announced a total of 57 projects that shared a combined $46.4 million under the most recent POWER awards. We spotlighted AIA a little more than two years ago in this teknovation.biz article.
