Obama administration offers $35 million for coal communities

The Obama administration is offering $35.5 million in grants to help create new job opportunities for workers and communities hit by the decline of the coal industry.

Labor Secretary Thomas Perez announced the grant program Monday in Kentucky at the Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) summit, which focused on economic development in areas that that have struggled to adapt to the coal downturn. 

{mosads}According to the Department of Labor, grants will fund “regionally-driven economic development and workforce development organizations in impacted coal communities.” 

The grant money comes from a handful of federal agencies and it will be administered the Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) initiative.

The Obama administration launched the POWER program in March to help communities affected by the struggling coal industry. Over the last few years, U.S. coal production has been falling steadily, dropping below 1 billion short tons produced in 2013 for the first time in two decades, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Perez said Monday that the POWER program was inspired by SOAR, which Kentucky officials established in 2013 to try diversifying the economy in coal-dependent communities, the Associated Press reports.

“We have a moral imperative to work together to ensure we all succeed,” Perez said in a statement. “That’s what the POWER initiative is all about — developing truly cohesive relationships at the federal, state and local level to create real economic opportunities for families throughout the region.”