Roanoke—Last week, the Appalachian Regional Commission announced $1 million in awards through READY LDDs, one of four tailored tracks of ARC’s capacity-building initiative, READY Appalachia. The Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission is one of 10 awardees representing eight states. The Ready LDD funding will allow the Commission to expand staffing capacity to better support their communities in identifying, accessing, and implementing federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and other funding sources.
“ARC’s Local Development District partners are at the heart of the work we do in our Appalachian communities,” said ARC Federal Co-Chair Gayle Manchin. “As they are the ones with their boots on the ground, ARC is proud to support our LDDs with the latest round of READY funding, which will allow them to further encourage economic growth and collaboration across the Appalachian region.”
The award will support the Commission’s Grant Writer Bench Program, which will engage a varied group of grant writers who have demonstrated success across several Federal programs and make them available to our ARC communities – Alleghany County, Botetourt County, Craig County, the City of Covington, and the Town of Clifton Forge. The Ready LDD funds will allow these communities to access professional grant-writing services at no charge.
The package joins the nearly $3 million in READY LDD funds ARC has awarded to 31 Area Development Districts across Appalachia in May and June, bringing the total to nearly $4 million for 41 LDDs in 11 states. In addition to supporting LDDs, READY Appalachia learning tracks also offer free training and flexible funding to Appalachian nonprofit organizations, community foundations, and local governments.
“More and more Federal resources are being deployed as national, competitive grants,” said Regional Commission Executive Director Jeremy Holmes. “These much-needed resources from the ARC will provide the support our rural communities need to be able to submit applications that can stand up to anything that larger communities can put together.”
ARC will announce additional funding opportunities through READY Appalachia by early 2024.
-The New Castle Record
