Business View Civil and Municipal | Volume 3, Issue 3

7 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT LEADERS ANNOUNCE PLANS FOR $11 M INITIATIVE TO BUILD MORE RESILIENT COMMUNITIES ACROSS SOUTH Initiative part of ACT Now Coalition Chosen by U.S. Economic Development Administration for $500,000 “Build Back Better Regional Challenge” Grant with Effort Now to Leverage $100 Million More H UNTINGTON, WV - The Appalachian Climate Technologies Coalition (“ACT Now Coalition”) launched on Monday, February 7 at Coalfield Development Corporation’s West Edge Factory in Huntington, WV. Speakers included representatives from the state’s two largest municipalities (Charleston and Huntington), its two largest universities (West Virginia University and Marshall University), and a network of workforce, community, and economic development partners. The coalition will submit an application in March to the U.S. EDA seeking $75 million, leveraged with $30 million in other funds, to implement a coordinated economic development strategy in southern West Virginia. Senator Joe Manchin addressed the proceeding by video, and representatives of Senator Shelley Moore Capito and Congresswoman Carol Miller, as well as state government leadership, also joined in the event. As part of the proposal, the WV Community Development Hub in partnership with OPENING L INES