Brown Announces Nearly $1.5 Million for Entrepreneurial Assistance in Southeast Ohio

Source: United States Senator for Ohio Sherrod Brown

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) announced a $1,493,716 investment through the Appalachian Regional Commission’s (ARC) Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) Initiative to the Outdoor Recreation Council of Appalachia in Athens. This investment will help fund the Gateway Communities and Sustainable Recreation project: An Asset-based Approach to Building Resilient Communities and Transitioning Appalachian Economies. The purpose of this project is to engage local government officials and the business community from seven targeted counties in southeast Ohio and provide businesses with entrepreneurial assistance and each locality with an outdoor recreation analysis for future planning.

“Ohio workers can compete with anyone in the world when given the opportunity,” said Brown. “If we want to promote economic development throughout Ohio, we need to ensure that businesses and communities have tools and resources they need. This new investment will help provide diverse entrepreneurial assistance for communities in the southeast Ohio region.”

POWER is a congressionally funded initiative that targets federal resources to help communities and regions that have been affected by job losses in coal mining, coal power plant operations, and coal-related supply chain industries due to the changing economics of America’s energy production.

Brown has been a leader for Ohio’s rural communities, successfully securing a number of provisions that are important to Ohio farmers in the 2018 Farm Bill. He is the first Ohioan to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee in more than 50 years.

###