Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $975,000 grant to Marshall University Research Corporation, Huntington, West Virginia, to launch a new Aircraft Maintenance Technician (AMT) Training Program at the Robert C. Byrd Institute. The project, to be located near a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Opportunity Zone, will be matched with $1.36 million in other federal funds and $388,961 in local funds, is expected to help create 122 jobs.
“The new Aircraft Maintenance Technician Training Program will bring much-needed economic stability to the state,” said Dana Gartzke, Performing the Delegated Duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. “We are pleased to support job training and creation in the aerospace industry, and the proximity to an Opportunity Zone designation will help attract new private investment to the area.”
This project is funded under the Assistance to Coal Communities (ACC) program, through which EDA awards funds on a competitive basis to assist communities severely impacted by the declining use of coal through activities and programs that support economic diversification, job creation, capital investment, workforce development, and re-employment opportunities.
The funding announced today will catalyze private investment in a nearby Opportunity Zone. Created by President Donald J. Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Opportunity Zones are spurring economic development in economically-distressed communities nationwide. In June 2019, EDA added Opportunity Zones as an Investment Priority, which increases the number of catalytic Opportunity Zone-related projects that EDA can fund to fuel greater public investment in these areas. To learn more about the Commerce Department’s work in Opportunity Zones, please visit EDA’s Opportunity Zones webpage. To learn more about the Opportunity Zone program, see the Opportunity Now resources webpage. To learn more about Opportunity Zone best practices, see the recently released White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council Report (PDF) to President Trump.
About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)
The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation’s regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.