The Appalachian Regional Commission is accepting applications for its annual POWER grants. POWER stands for Partnerships for Opportunity, Workforce and Economic Revitalization. One of last year’s awardees is the Hazard-based Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program. Director of Advancement Cris Ritchie said the $2 million ARC grant allowed them to develop a pilot program in five area high schools.
“We work with our community action contractor partners to hire career development specialists to go into schools. They actually have dedicated spaces in the schools to work directly, like one on one with students, to help them do career exploration, help them basically find career opportunities close to home.”
Ritchie said at the end of the last reporting period, 171 students were enrolled in their Career Pathfinder Network. He said it’s too early to say whether they’ll apply for another grant, but their program funded by last year’s is paying off.
“We think there's a lot of extremely good talent here in eastern Kentucky for the workforce. There's a lot of really talented individuals, and we want them to make sure they know that there's career paths close to home. And that's kind of what we're hoping to accomplish with the network.”
According to the ARC, in the last decade, POWER grants are projected to have created or retained nearly 54,000 jobs and prepared nearly 170,000 workers for new opportunities.
