Local projects awarded $2.7 million for coal-impacted towns, creating 272 new jobs and training 1,300 workers

A job training center in Armstrong County, an economic development group and a Pittsburgh health system were awarded $2.7 million in federal grants helping coal-impacted communities.

Pennsylvania received $15 million in grants and had the most grant awards of any state, covering 15 projects, for the federal program Appalachian Regional Commission’s (ARC) Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization.

“These 15 project awardees are focused on improving the way of life for individuals in the Appalachian Region — bringing new economic opportunities, preparing a skilled workforce, investing in broadband and other critical infrastructure, and advancing community and economic development,” said Gov. Tom Wolf, whose office announced the grants.

The grants pay for projects on energy innovation, broadband investments, tourism, substance use disorder, behavioral health and workforce academies.

Regional grant recipients include:

• Armstrong County, Kittanning, $750,000. This grant will go toward the construction of a workforce training facility at Northpointe Industrial Park in South Buffalo. The new facility will use virtual reality technology and traditional teaching methods to train high school, technical school and community college graduates.

The facility will be home to“critical infrastructure” training. These educational programs focus on and are supported by the utility, energy and related construction industries. The program is a means to attract and train a new workforce as well as to retrain and improve the skills of displaced and current workers.

Ultimately, this project is expected serve 1,300 trainees and 60 new classes.

“(This) was a concept just a short time ago,” Armstrong County Commissioner Pat Fabian said. “This grant is helpful in turning that concept into a reality.”

The planned 10,000-square-foot facility will be part of the Indiana University of Pa’s Northpointe regional campus.

The federal funding is key because it provides the required match to access a previous $750,000 state grant from the Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, according to Commissioner Jason Renshaw.

• Allegheny Health Network, Pittsburgh, $946,000 for the Road to Recovery and Reemployment project.

Allegheny Health Network has partnered with the Pennsylvania Orthopedic Society, Rothman Institute Foundation for Opioid Research and Education, and pain prescribers across Appalachian Pennsylvania for a series of opioid-based continuing medical education events. The project will focus on locations with the highest rates of opioid overdose such as Westmoreland, Amstrong and Fayette counties. It will serve 40 rural practices, improve treatment for 320 patients, and improve 120 medical providers.

• Catalyst Connection, Pittsburgh, just under $1 million for the “REAL Jobs in Energy & Manufacturing” program. It potentially will help create 272 jobs and leverage $5 million in new private investment.

Catalyst Connection focuses on the energy and manufacturing sectors, and tries to coordinate new workforce development activities across a 12-county region. Its programs cover recruitment and pre-employment training; placement of manufacturing workers; training workers; and provision of real-time data on employment demand and project analysis.

ARC is investing $43.3 million into Appalachia’s coal-impacted communities with 51 projects that will create or retain more than 3,300 jobs, attract more than $110 million in leveraged private investment and will be matched by $81.5 million in additional public and private funds across the region.