Just Transition Fund Invests $3M to Build the Pipeline of Locally Led Projects Through Inaugural "Coal Communities Get Ready! Challenge" Winners

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Sept. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Just Transition Fund (JTF), the only national philanthropic initiative focused solely on coal community economic transition, is pleased to reveal its inaugural cohort of "Coal Communities Get Ready!" Challenge winners. Through the JTF's Federal Access Center, this initiative supports organizations in developing bold ideas to transform their local economies and prepare to apply for and manage federal investment within one year.

The 12 winners are located in hard-hit coal communities throughout the United States and will receive a one-year award, valued at $250,000, that includes grants for capacity support and customized technical assistance to help build readiness to apply for complex federal funds at the end of the grant period.

"Local leaders in coal communities have ambitious ideas to transform their economies. What they often lack are the resources and technical assistance to bring ideas to reality and then help them scale," said Heidi Binko, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Just Transition Fund. "It takes capacity, expertise, and experience to access federal resources. We designed the Coal Communities Get Ready! Challenge to provide this needed capacity and build the pipeline of the next generation of innovative, community-led projects that have the potential to spark economic revitalization."

The JTF prioritized funding visionary projects with the potential to generate significant economic impact, produce measurable outcomes, and serve as models for other communities in transition. Funded projects will focus on building toward federal investment by connecting rural and urban markets, stimulating entrepreneurship, training workers for careers in the new economy, and planning for transition amid a plant or mine closure. Winning projects span a range of projects including community planning, and sectors including tourism, clean energy, agriculture, manufacturing, and healthcare.

The 2024 Coal Communities Get Ready! Challenge Cohort Winners include:

• Allamakee Energy District (Iowa): The Allamakee Energy District will pilot a technical assistance program to reduce energy costs for households and business, and train workers to address energy-related infrastructure throughout the county, aiming to boost economic vitality and reduce housing costs and business activities in Allamakee County, Iowa following the closure of Lansing Generating Station.
• Backroads of Appalachia (Kentucky): Backroads of Appalachia will lead the revitalization of the former Evarts High School and redevelop existing coal camp cottages into spaces for the creative arts to thrive, transforming it into an arts hub to drive community renewal.
• Boom KY (Kentucky): Boom KY is partnering with school districts in Eastern Kentucky to implement technology training and develop Boom GPT, an AI-driven entrepreneurship program to foster tech-based economic growth.
• City of Becker (Minnesota): The City of Becker, Minnesota, is developing a hybrid business accelerator and education training center to support new business growth and innovation as the city transitions with the planned closure of the Sherburne County Generating Station.
• Center for Community Growth (Pennsylvania): In partnership with W.H.O.L.E. Unity, the Center for Community Growth is launching "Indiana County Thrives" a community-driven initiative to identify and develop economic and workforce opportunities following the closure of the Homer City Generating Station.
• Gillette College Foundation (Wyoming): In partnership with The Gillette College Foundation Office of Economic Transition and the University of Wyoming, The Gillette College Foundation will establish an entrepreneurial ecosystem to nurture entrepreneurship for a more diverse economy through educational programs, meetups and mentoring services, entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) support, grant funding support, internships, and hackathons, in northeastern Wyoming amid a declining coal market.
• Itasca Economic Development Corporation (Minnesota): The Itasca Economic Development Corporation is leading a planning and development project to engage the community in co-creating a diversified economic future as it prepares for the Boswell Energy Center's closure, supporting development in tourism, manufacturing, innovation, and education.
• Keep Your Faith Corporation (West Virginia): Keep Your Faith Corporation is developing a culturally competent workforce model that addresses the unique needs of diverse rural communities through behavioral health services, skill development, and workforce readiness programming, creating a resilient and sustainable workforce for a strengthening economy in West Charleston.
• New Roots Community Farm (West Virginia): New Roots Community Farm is redeveloping an abandoned two-acre farmhouse site located on their 82-acre community farm into a convening space called the New River Gorge Agriculture and Culinary Center that will provide small farms and food businesses with access to consistent sales channels and fill a gap in the local food market by sourcing products from regional producers, while also supporting the community's health outcomes and bolstering the growing tourism and outdoor recreation industries in the region.
• Plenty Doors Development Corporation (Montana): The Plenty Doors Development Corporation is launching the Apsáalooke Energy Justice Project in partnership with Little Big Horn College and Montana State University to develop an Indigenous-owned utility company and train workers in sustainable energy and housing development on the Crow Reservation in Montana.
• RiverWise (Pennsylvania): RiverWise's Rural Innovation through Solar Empowerment (RISE) Project aims to revolutionize solar energy access in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, by supporting rural energy ventures and developing a Solar Justice40 Toolkit for community use.
• Routt County, CO (Colorado): In collaboration with the Northwest Colorado Development Council, Routt County, Colorado will establish a Rural Innovation Center to drive sustainable economic development and entrepreneurial assistance programs in response to coal mine closures in the region.

More than 70 organizations applied to be part of the inaugural cohort, with 12 winners selected. Eligible organizations included 501(c)3 organizations, local, county, and Tribal governments in coal-affected areas, that have little or no experience applying for federal funding, with priority given to community-based organizations in areas experiencing the greatest economic distress.

As a hybrid initiative - part grantmaker, part catalyst - the JTF supports locally led initiatives that empower coal-dependent communities to navigate complex transitions and promote sustainable, equitable, and low-carbon solutions for a resilient future. Through its Federal Access Center, the JTF helps coal communities overcome barriers to accessing historic amounts of federal funding to strengthen and diversify local economies.

About the Just Transition Fund
The Just Transition Fund (JTF) launched in 2015 to help communities secure funding through the Obama administration's POWER Initiative, the first federal program aimed at helping communities impacted by the changing coal economy. The JTF has since evolved its approach to catalyze and support the national just transition movement more broadly, while helping more communities tap into an expanding number of federal funding opportunities. The JTF has developed a proven approach utilizing complementary grantmaking, technical assistance, and field-strengthening strategies, all of which are informed by a belief that the most sustainable solutions come from local leaders and are built from the ground up.

For more information, visit justtransitionfund.org or follow on X and LinkedIn.

SOURCE Just Transition Fund