LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Appalachian Regional Commission says it is starting a $73.5 million grant program to strengthen business and industry in the region through multistate collaborative projects.
The project is known as Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies and uses money from last year’s infrastructure investment legislation.
The legislation invests $1 billion in ARC over five years, the commission said.
“In order to have true, large-scale change in Appalachia, we need to be working together at every level — within communities, throughout states, and across state lines,” ARC Federal Co-Chair Gayle Manchin said in a news release this week.
The initiative requires project proposals to address one of the commission’s investment priorities: building businesses, building workforce ecosystems, building infrastructure, building regional culture and tourism or building leaders and community capacity.
ARC is an economic development agency of the federal government and 13 state governments.