As more federal funding becomes available for local communities, Whitfield County prepares for the future by building capacity.
Whitfield County, Georgia: Whitfield County, Georgia has been selected for READY Local Governments, a no-cost training program of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), designed to help participants leverage federal funding opportunities and create lasting, positive change in their communities.
In the program, representatives of Whitfield County will participate in nine weeks of virtual, cohort-based learning to grow their skills in project identification and planning, federal grant application development, federal grant regulations and compliance, community engagement in projects, and more.
““The organizational culture of Whitfield County government is to be proactive in all things. Accordingly, we seek and pursue opportunities improving our ability to make our community an even better place to live and visit. In fulfilling that mission we are grateful to the Appalachian Regional Commission’s Local Governments Initiative for helping increase our knowledge of Federal funding opportunities and ultimately better leverage those opportunities to create and maintain long term positive change to Whitfield County.””
Whitfield County was one of 90 local governments selected in 12 states to participate in the program. The cohort of local governments will be building their capacity to identify, secure, and manage federal funding by strengthening their skill sets in:
Project research, identification, and planning
Grant application development
Community engagement
Grant regulations and compliance
Financial and risk management
““ARC’s local government partners have always been the backbone of our on-the-ground work throughout our Appalachian communities, through our READY Local Governments initiative, we are proud to help these partners enhance their work through training, resources, and expanded support, because when our local communities thrive, the entire Appalachian Region succeeds.” ”
At the end of the program, Whitfield County will be eligible to apply for $50,000 in funding to implement internal capacity-building projects to help the government better serve the community.
About the Appalachian Regional Commission
The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is an economic development partnership entity of the federal government and 13 state governments focusing on 423 counties across the Appalachian Region. ARC’s mission is to innovate, partner, and invest to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth in Appalachia to help the Region achieve socioeconomic parity with the nation.