CT Approved for Planning Services to the Ohio Appalachian Community
Appalachian Counties, OH
CT was recently confirmed as an approved firm for services under the Appalachian Community Grant Program. The new program, signed into law by Ohio’s Governor Mike DeWine, allocates $500,000,000 for Appalachian communities to plan and construct large-scale projects that will improve the quality of life for residents.
The program is part of DeWine’s OhioBuilds – Small Communities, Big Impact – A Plan for Appalachia.
The Appalachian Community Grant Program was created to fund transformational projects in Ohio. These projects will deliver visible, sustainable, quality-of-life improvements to the region. The program consists of two types of funding: Planning and Development. The Ohio legislature approved up to $50M for planning and $450M for development projects.
Out of 88 counties in Ohio, 32 are considered Appalachian, and CT already has a strong presence in many of these communities.
The Appalachian Community Grant Program focuses on three main components:
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- Infrastructure (including projects such as downtown redevelopment and projects related to natural assets like connecting communities to trails and state parks).
- Healthcare (including activities such as building school-based health clinics, expanding mental health resources, and recovery-to-work programs).
- Workforce (including training activities related to healthcare, tourism, safety services, and hospitality industries)
Appalachian communities have long struggled to improve their communities because they needed more resources to gauge the feasibility of a project or to develop the necessary information to ask for funding. The $50 million in planning dollars and the pre-approved list of planners is so communities can get ahead of the funds and be “shovel ready” when funding applications are due in 2023. Applications for the $450 million development dollars will open later in 2023.
Planners and communities will be working directly with the following:
• Eastgate Regional Council of Governments (Eastgate)
• Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association (OMEGA)
• Buckeye Hills Regional Council (RAC)
• Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission (OVRDC)
Recreational tourism is a significant objective for Appalachian Ohio’s economic development strategies. Think not just of a single bike trail but a bike trail that connects five different communities that runs through several downtown areas. “It’s a little different program delivery platform than what people are accustomed to, and it’s dollars for a region that badly needs it that they’ve never had before. So there’s a lot of newness,” says CT’s Michael Miller.
More information can be found at https://development.ohio.gov/appalachiacommunitygrant or Planning support available for Ohio Appalachian communities, or https://buckeyehills.org/acgp