The Appalachian Regional Comission’s Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) Initiative, is celebrating successes highlighted in a recent evaluation – over 3,400 students have been supported in finding employment in high-demand, upstream occupations.
The evaluation showed that POWER’s stakeholders appear to be working toward economic transformation by striving for change at multiple levels simultaneously: change at the individual, organization/business, and region/community levels, with themes of change clear at each level.
Of 131 projects closed by the evaluation time of September 2021, many had already exceeded targets, even though their projects had three additional years to reach those targets.
The POWER Initiative has invested over $368 million in 449 projects in 360 coal-impacted communities throughout Appalachia.
