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Nonprofit celebrates $40 million to address employment issues in Eastern Kentucky

Shaping Our Appalachian Region

A plan to mend an employment gap in the Commonwealth is being implemented thanks to $40 million in grant funding from the Economic Development Administration. The Eastern Kentucky Runway Plan is led by Shaping our Appalachian Region. The effort aims to bring career training and referral resources to unemployed eastern Kentuckians aged 25-54.

Colby Hall is the Executive Director of SOAR. He said there are many obstacles that keep people in the region unemployed.

“There are deeper reasons to why people are outside the workforce. People that are 25-54. There are barriers, there are a lack of opportunities, but we see our work first fighting for hearts and minds. Really making sure that employment is a source of dignity, it’s a source of self-respect,” said Hall.

Uses for the grant funding include a support and training network, a small business accelerator focused on solving regional childcare, and new training facilities for two healthcare institutions. Hall said a network of career coaches will provide step-by-step support and refer individuals to careers in remote work, clean energy, and healthcare. Hall said the need is clear.

“We know that this is just the beginning of this project. While $40 million is a lot, when you really think about what it’s going to take, this gap we’re talking about is around 34,000 people,” said Hall. “I think our metric, what we said we could accomplish in the first five years, was to decrease the Prime Age Employment Gap by five percent. Which would mean 1,500 total people back into employment.”

The initiative will feature specialized attention to individuals in recovery for substance abuse. The SOAR executive director said they hope to have everything in place to start accepting clients within the first six months of the grant.

The SOAR plan targets Bell, Floyd, Harlan, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Leslie, Letcher, Magoffin, Martin, Perry, and Pike counties.