Assistance program
Appalachian Area Development
$1.2 Billion committed in FY2018–FY2026
- Agency
- Appalachian Regional Commission, Appalachian Regional Commission
- Assistance
- Project Grants
- CFDA number
- 23.002
- What it does
- To help the regional economy become more competitive by putting in place the building blocks for self-sustaining economic development, while continuing to provide special assistance to the Region's most distressed counties and areas. This program focuses on activities which support ARC's mission to innovate, partner, and invest to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth in Appalachia. Activities funded must advance ARC's strategic plan. Specific program goals are: (1) Invest in entrepreneurial and business development strategies that strengthen Appalachia's economy; (2) Increase the education, knowledge, skills, and health of residents to work and succeed in Appalachia; (3) Invest in critical infrastructure—especially broadband; transportation, including the Appalachian Development Highway System; and water/wastewater systems; (4) Strengthen Appalachia's community and economic development potential by leveraging the Region's natural and cultural heritage assets; and (5) Build the capacity and skills of current and next-generation leaders and organizations to innovate, collaborate, and advance community and economic development.Specific objectives were developed for each goal. Grants are made either directly by the Commission or grants may supplement other Federal grants.
- Who benefits
- State, local and not for profit organizations.
- Who applies
- States, their subdivisions and instrumentalities and private nonprofit agencies.
- Authorized by
- Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965, Public Law 89-4, as amended, 40 U.S.C. 14101-14704.
- Program site
- http://www.arc.gov ↗
Committed by fiscal year
* FY2026 is year-to-date — the fiscal year is still in progress, so its total is still filling in. The striped band and dashed line mark that provisional stretch.
Top recipients
By dollars committed.
Administering agencies
By dollars committed.
How to read these numbers
- Committed through this program
Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
- How it's paid
Most programs pay out one way — a grant, or a direct payment to individuals; the flow bar only appears when a program genuinely mixes types.
- Some recipients aren't itemized
For entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, the government reports one aggregate instead of naming tens of millions of people, so the recipient roster isn't part of the public record.
- Awards, counted once
An award count is the number of distinct awards with at least one action that year — each counted once, however many times it was amended.
- The colored bars
Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments