Through ARC’s INSPIRE Initiative, the award package will expand support services to help Appalachians in recovery enter and re-enter the workforce in nine Appalachian states.
WASHINGTON, DC, September 23, 2025—Today, the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) awarded $11 million to 32 projects through its Investments Supporting Partnerships in Recovery Ecosystems (INSPIRE) Initiative, which aims to address workforce gaps and economic challenges due to the impact of substance use disorder (SUD) in Appalachia.
ARC’s 2025 INSPIRE grantees will strengthen the SUD recovery ecosystem in 165 counties across nine Appalachian states— Georgia, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia —by providing community support to help individuals in SUD recovery enter or re-enter the workforce while maintaining their recovery. Twenty of the impacted counties are first-time INSPIRE award recipients.
“In order to have a healthy Appalachian economy, we must make sure we have a healthy Appalachian workforce,” said ARC Federal Co-Chair Gayle Manchin. “I am so proud of the way ARC’s INSPIRE initiative ecosystem empowers Appalachians in substance use disorder recovery to gain the training, resources and support they need to enter or re-enter the workforce while also becoming productive members of their families and communities.”
“Everyone knows someone affected by substance use. It will take all of us working together to get those in recovery back on their feet,” said ARC 2025 States’ Co-Chair, Maryland Governor Wes Moore. “Today’s announcement accelerates our work to help those in need, while also building fresh pathwas to work, wages and wealth for all. This is good news for public health, good news for economic growth, and good news for mounting prosperity across the region.”
Since April 2021, ARC’s INSPIRE Initiative has invested $65.7 million in 200 projects that have impacted 380 counties across all 13 Appalachian states. These investments have secured an additional $48.1 million in matching project funds and are projected to improve nearly 4,000 businesses and help prepare over 18,100 individuals for new job opportunities.
New Data Reveals Reduction in SUD-related Deaths in Appalachia
SUD recovery-to-work initiatives may be starting to make an impact on overdose mortality, according to a new ARC research report that examines trends in diseases of despair including overdose, suicide, and liver disease. From 2021 to 2023, the overdose mortality rate decreased 10 percent in the Appalachian Region. However, work remains to be done, as these rates—in both Appalachia and the rest of the country—remain much higher than the pre-pandemic figures of 2019.
Learn more about ARC’s INSPIRE Initiative and our new INSPIRE grantees at arc.gov/SUD.
About the Appalachian Regional Commission
The Appalachian Regional Commission is an economic development entity of the federal government and 13 state governments focusing on 423 counties across the Appalachian Region. ARC’s mission is to innovate, partner, and invest to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth in Appalachia to help the region achieve socioeconomic parity with the nation.