Awards will help Appalachian organizations, community foundations and local governments obtain the skills, knowledge and resources necessary to address their local economic development needs.
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 4, 2025 – Today, the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) awarded over $12.6 million to 80 projects designed to strengthen local economies across 12 Appalachian states.
More than $11.6 million was awarded through READY Grants to Grow, a funding opportunity that helps Appalachian organizations obtain the skills, knowledge and resources necessary to strengthen their local economies – now and into the future. Recipients will use grant funds to implement 47 projects directly linked to the broader economic development needs of communities across 12 Appalachian states. Furthermore, all awardees have demonstrated how their projects will strengthen economically distressed and remote communities in Appalachia, and/or address their own challenges to better serve those communities.
ARC also awarded over $1 million in grants to 23 community foundations and 10 local governments for projects that will optimize operations and build resources to better address their Appalachian communities’ unique economic development needs. Together with the 59 grants announced in June 2025, ARC has awarded a total of 69 grants to local governments in Appalachia.
Prior to receiving their awards, the local government grant recipients from 12 states successfully completed a nine-week virtual READY Local Governments course to help them better identify, secure, manage and implement federally funded economic development projects to maximize positive outcomes. Likewise, the community foundation grant recipients from 10 states successfully completed a six-week virtual READY Community Foundations training course to improve skills in operations, programming and fundraising.
“At ARC, we know that many of our Appalachian communities face barriers to growing their economies,” said ARC Federal Co-Chair Gayle Manchin. “This funding will not only help advance the skills of our Appalachian neighbors but will also provide crucial assistance to help communities maximize their ability to build financial stability.”
“Economic growth is our North Star, and true measures of growth can only be sustained when you uplift our local communities,” said 2025 ARC States’ Co-Chair, Maryland Governor Wes Moore. “Together, we are building an economy that grows the middle class and gives everyone a pathway to work, wages and wealth—no matter their start or destination.”
Learn more about ARC’s grants and opportunities.
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.