A Wayne corporation has received a grant that will allow them to expand resources for a number of their community based programs.
Coalfield Development Corp. was granted $1.8 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced in a press release Friday.
Coalfield is an corporation founded in Wayne County that aims to provide affordable homes, create jobs and produce opportunities for low-income families in southern West Virginia. Since its inception in 2009, the corporation has expanded into Lincoln and Mingo counties.
The funds will go towards the rehabilitation of the corporation's West Edge Factory and assist with programs like Coalfield's "Quality Jobs" initiative. Quality Jobs allows participants to experience hands-on construction work for 33 hours a week and take general education courses at a local community college for six hours a week.
The EDA estimates that, within nine years, 320 participants in these programs, as well as the "Quality Homes" and "Quality Lives" programs that Coalfield offers, will have either obtained employment through the corporation or graduated and moved on to outside employment opportunities.
In the press release, Pritzker said the investment has the potential to stimulate economic diversity in Wayne, Mingo and Lincoln counties. With the many changes in the coal industry, he said, these are West Virginia counties looking for new opportunities.
"The Obama administration is committed to assisting coal-impacted communities diversify and grow and to ensure workers gain the skills they need to compete for in-demand jobs," Pritzker said in the release.
This isn't the first grant that Coalfield has received. The Gazette-Mail reported in February that Coalfield had received more than $2.5 million in grant funding from groups like Appalachian Regional Commission, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.
Reach Jared Casto at jared.casto@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4832 or follow @JaredCasto on Twitter.