Our Work In West Virginia In partnership with the West Virginia Development Office, ARC is supporting 61 projects in West Virginia totaling $42.9 million in fiscal year 2022. These investments have been matched by $47.3 million and are attracting an additional $20.2 million in leveraged private investments in West Virginia.

Governor Justice is a native of Raleigh County, West Virginia. After graduating from high school, he attended Greenbrier Military School and then earned both his bachelor’s degree and his M.B.A. from Marshall University. He joined his family’s agriculture business in 1976, and in 1977 founded Bluestone Farms (now Justice Family…

Jennifer Ferrell currently serves as the Director of the Community Advancement and Development (CAD) division in the West Virginia Development Office. The CAD division administers state and federal grant programs which are designed to improve the quality of life to the citizens in West Virginia. Through these grant programs, the…

ARC’s Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies (ARISE) is a funding opportunity driving large-scale, regional economic transformation through multi-state collaborative projects. Launched in 2022 using funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) ARISE is strengthening Appalachian businesses and industries, and supporting the…

ARC’s POWER Initiative has invested millions to connect Appalachia’s students and workers with careers in emerging, high-growth industries – one of which is construction. This sector is struggling to find qualified workers to keep up with increasing demand. Furthermore, Appalachian communities continue to be faced with the lack of…

ARC’s POWER Initiative has invested millions in projects working to create jobs and new economic opportunities in coal-impacted communities. A barrier to the creation of opportunity, however, is capital access. Without the money and credit needed to start a business, the ideas of home-grown entrepreneurs cannot be put into…

Since 2007, the number of children placed in foster care due to parental substance use disorder (SUD) has risen by 53%, per the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System. As with other SUD-related issues, this trend is disproportionately higher in Appalachian counties, such as Barbour County, West Virginia,…

What started as an after-school urban gardening program has since blossomed into Grow Ohio Valley (Grow OV), an operation with around 50 employees working toward a single mission: improve the health and economic future of Wheeling, West Virginia through local food. It’s a great mission…

In KY, PA, VA, and WV, ARC partners are building trails and tourism experiences.

Since 2015, ARC’s POWER Initiative has invested millions in projects working to create jobs, fuel new industries, and prepare workers and students for new opportunities in coal-impacted communities. The largest POWER funding package to date was awarded in October 2022, with particular momentum for one emerging sector: local food. …

In West Virginia, Libera, Inc. is working to help women and teens embody the state’s beloved motto, “montani semper liberi,” or “mountaineers are always free.” Named for the feminine form of the word “liberi,” Libera envisions a Mountain State where every woman and teen is free…

This story is one of several "Stories of Change" highlighted in a new evaluation of ARC's POWER Initiative.