Appalachian Regional Commission - Washington DC

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The Appalachian Regional Commission(ARC) is a federal-state partnership that works for sustainable community and economic development in Appalachia.The Appalachian Regional Commission has a key role in helping the people of Appalachia build a better future: creating jobs, building infrastructure to foster business and community growth and to connect the Region with national and international markets, and developing an educated, healthy workforce prepared to participate fully in the global economy.

General About the Organization/Mission:

ARC is a regional economic development agency comprised of federal, state, and local representatives. The commission is represented through the 13 state governors of the Appalachian states and a federal co-chair elected by the president. Every year, ARC is funded through congress and then provides sub-awards to its 13 member states for programs related to ARC strategies and focus areas outlined in their strategic plan of which is approved by the co-chair.

The Appalachian region is made up of the Appalachian mountains that span from Southern New York to Northern Mississippi. The states include Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. ARC acts as a pre-development entity providing funding to its region for modest infrastructure projects that improve healthcare, transportation, and build capacity in the region that otherwise would not be able to advance in these areas without this funding. ARC is unique in its ability to advocate, conduct regional planning, and research as well as perform its normal grant activities, which is an unique asset for many grant funded state/federal organizations. Because of the mountainous and rugged terrain generally found in the Appalachian areas and the rural regions in this part of the country, many places in the ARC region are at a disadvantage when it come to resources, modernization, access to transportation, etc. and many of the necessary components to being competitive and productive economically compared to the rest of the country. ARC aims to help ignite local efforts and foster change through strong partnerships at local, state, and national level. ARC works to build capacity and strengthen relationships in their region in order to achieve socioeconomic equity in the Appalachian region.

ARC serves as an advocate for the Region by forming partnerships with nonprofits and other agencies; convening regional and sub-regional professional forums that advance and bring awareness to the work being done through ARC funding; identifying regional evidence based initiatives and strong grant priorities for ARC to support; setting policies to guide for the investment of the flexible funding streams from ARC ; and participating in the work of the Inter-agency Coordinating Council on Appalachia, which is chaired by the ARC federal co-chair.

Research and regional planning activities include developing a knowledge base resource that catalogs the problems, challenges, facilitators, and successes in order to support regional work of problems and opportunities that supports the work of regional leaders; examining the effectiveness of different strategies and approaches; supporting strategic planning activities in the Appalachian states; and being at the table to advocate for public policy development that will benefit the Region.

Basic Info

Type of Organization	Government
Website	www.arc.gov
Primary Contact	Guy Land, Chief of Staff
Social Media

Issues of Focus:

Increasing job opportunities and income in the Appalachian region
Strengthening capacity of the Appalachian people to be equipped and able to compete in today’s economy
Improving infrastructure in region to strengthen economy and ensure it’s economically competitive
Building Appalachian Development Highway System to reduce isolation
Improving water and sewage infrastructure
Enhancing education attainment among Appalachian residents
Utilize regional assets to develop community and spur economic development
Business development and entrepreneurship
Trade development
Leadership development among regional leaders and capacity building
Telecommunications
Tourism Development
Community Health
Transportation Development

History of Organization:

In 1965, Congress established the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to address the existing and ever expanding economic and social challenges facing the Appalachian Region that made it a “region apart” from the rest of the country facing its own unique challenges. The Appalachian Regional Development Act established a mandate to focus attention and resources on reducing the socioeconomic gap between the Appalachian Region and the nation through a variety of activities, including advocacy, regional planning, research, and grant making. ARC continues to exist today and providing this same support to the thirteen member states.

Programs and Projects

Community based asset development projects- can enhance community through arts, cultural, natural resources such as outdoor sports, adding value from locally grown foods and agriculture development, etc.
Community infrastructure projects that focus on water and waste water services to support the community and local businesses, targeting regions most economically distressed communities struggling to meet basic public and environmental health needs. ARC also works to provide infrastructure improvements through investments in water, sewer, gas, fiber, and access roads- critical ingredients to new business attraction
Distressed Counties: funds for the poorest counties, needing public facilities most notably water and waste water facilities, and human resource projects such as literacy training's. Beginning in 2000, commission started funding an enhanced program for these counties that includes capacity building and focus on telecommunications and information technology. Helps organizations develop and fulfill their missions through mini-grants, workshops and training's, outreach efforts to connect counties to resources, and leadership development activities.
Education & Training: Efforts aimed at training students and workers to be able to compete in the world economy. Training's and educational opportunities cover topics ranging from early childhood education, dropout prevention, workforce skills, and improved college attendance
Entrepreneurship and Business Development: ARC supports a variety of activities to support entrepreneurship and business development in the region. Examples of these activities include Asset-Based Development Initiative, Appalachian Capital Policy Initiative, ARC Entrepreneurship Initiative, and telecommunications initiative
Energy: Provides assistance for communities to implement clean energy programs, and supoprt these new programs through business expansion support and increase jobs in community. ARC also provides trainings and education on efficient energy programs, grant support for energy efficient buildings and water facility projects, strategic partnerships to develop new policies, and support for research relating to efficient energy use projects
Health: Access to healthcare, health promotion, and disease prevention
- Appalachian Health Policy Advisory Council
Leadership Development and Capacity Building: Building capacity through individual leaders, organization, and community as a whole. Supporting efforts that promote community dialogue, collaboration between agencies, training's and technical assistance to local government organizations focusing on economic development initiatives
Telecommunications Information Age Appalachia: Providing access to advanced technology and telecommunications infrastructure which is more difficult in low-density rural areas who have higher costs to provide these services. An advanced communications system for Appalachia is the goal of this project.
- Information Age Appalachia: A Rural Digital Divide Program
- Distance learning for rural school systems
- High speed internet access for business applications
- Access to training curriculum for workforce training
Tourism Development: Supporting communities in development of tourism strategic plans that focus on community assets such as cultural heritage, history, and natural beauty in order to build long term economic health in Appalachia.
- ARC Tourism Advisory Council
- ARC’s Asset Based Development Initiative
Transportation and Highways: Appalachia experiences many difficulties relating to transportation because of its rugged terrain. By improving and balancing transportation systems in this region, we can help ensure economic advancement.
- Appalachian Development Highway System: Cornerstone of Appalachians transportation efforts. By opening up 88% of this to traffic, jobs and economic boosts have occurred throughout the region.
- Access Road Program
- Inter-modal Transportation