With COVID-19 related funding from ARC, ACC was able to support the Parkway Theater’s renovation and survival through the pandemic. Access to capital is one of the biggest obstacles to small business and entrepreneurial growth in Appalachia. In 2013, with seed money from ARC and other partners, Appalachian Community…

BRIGHT Kentucky is a free training program building developed by the Leadership Kentucky Foundation to expand capacity of next-generation economic development leaders in the state’s 54 Appalachian counties. Made possible through support from ARC, The Kentucky Department of Local Government, the Whitaker Foundation, Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR), and others,…

A network of 19 counties, four cities, and 53 towns in Appalachian Virginia are working together to build a sustainable creative economy in the state’s southwestern corner. The goal is to preserve, protect, and interpret the area’s rich heritage and natural resources, create jobs, and attract visitors and new businesses.

The Appalachian Hatchery is an innovative advanced manufacturing incubator at Marshall University’s Robert C. Byrd Institute (RCBI) in Huntington, West Virginia. Established in 2017 with a $1.5 million ARC POWER grant, along support from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, the Hatchery supports manufacturing, entrepreneurship, and business development in West Virginia’s southern most 20 counties –…

Eulalia Francisco, a sewer at Opportunity Threads in Morganton, North Carolina, is one of 600 regional sewers mobilized by The Industrial Commons to produce medical safety gear. The Industrial Commons, based in Morganton, North Carolina, is a nonprofit developing interconnected social enterprises to solve problems for businesses and workers. The…

Alabama’s Jefferson State Community College (JSCC) enrolls nearly 14,000 students annually at its campuses in Jefferson, Chilton, St. Clair and Shelby counties. Over half of JSCC attendees are first-generation college students. The College offers more than 33 certificate and training programs in vast array of fields including manufacturing, health care,…

Pocahontas County in rural West Virginia has limited sewer system service. Instead, the area’s households and businesses rely upon septic tanks which can result untreated sewage discharge into the headwaters for important regional waterways. Using ARC support, the Pocahontas County Public Service District is expanding and upgrading the area’s…

The New River Valley Regional Commission, a local development district in Appalachian Virginia, is using ARC support to renovate an unused school building in the rural Prices Fork area into a multi-use commercial and housing facility via a partnership with over 20 other public and private partners. The ARC funded…

LaunchTN —  a public-private partnership focusing on early-stage capital formation, market access, commercialization resources, talent development and retention for entrepreneurs across the state — has stood up eight Entrepreneurship Centers in Tennessee. With ARC support, three of these centers are dedicated to assist Appalachian entrepreneurs as they develop business plans,…

Scranton, Pennsylvania needed stronger broadband service to meet local business demand and offer faster municipal services. The first step was to build a new transmission tower. As the County government began this work, they also partnered with ARC to purchase new equipment, including radio transmitters. ARC project funds were also…

Founded in 2001 in what was an abandoned furniture store in downtown Youngstown, Ohio, The Youngstown Business Center (YBI) has since grown into a sophisticated multi-building campus offering comprehensive services to Mahoning Valley’s entrepreneurial and added manufacturing business sectors. By 2015, YBI was recognized as the number one high impact…

With ARC support, North Carolina’s Isothermal Community College (ICC) has raised community awareness of career opportunities available in the manufacturing sector, enhanced manufacturing-related curriculum and pathways at the secondary and post-secondary levels, and is preparing students for gainful employment in the manufacturing, automotive, and aerospace industries.

In Jamestown, New York, the Dream It, Do It program is changing the way girls see manufacturing – and themselves. Though the third-largest industry sector in Western New York, the manufacturing workforce is only comprised 27% by women. As local employers face a serious worker shortage…

The Base Camp Coding Academy’s Class of 2019. Base Camp Coding Academy (BCCA), a non-profit learning center in Yalobusha County, Mississippi, offers intensive computer programming training to recent northern Mississippi high school graduates free of charge. Based in Water Valley, BCCA was first launched in 2016 as a pilot program in…

Western Maryland Works is a full-service makerspace, small-business incubator project that provides access to technology and equipment, and training facility focusing on machining, welding, and industrial maintenance. With ARC support, Western Maryland Works purchased state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing equipment such as computers, electronic classroom systems, general furnishings, equipment for wood working,…