FAIRMONT, W.Va. — The City of Fairmont has been awarded $195,500 in grant funds from the Appalachian Regional Commission.
The grant dollars were awarded from two separate applications.
The first was part of the ARC’s READY Appalachia program and its recent allocation of over $2.8 million to local governments and nonprofits for internal capacity-building initiatives. The City of Fairmont was one of 59 local governments selected in the ARC’s service area.
Fairmont was awarded $50,000 and will use the funds to increase digital meeting hosting for virtual trainings and meeting streaming capabilities.
The second was granted as part of ARC’s ARISE program and was awarded to the National Road Heritage Corridor, which is the lead organization in a partnership between communities and nonprofits involved in the creation and buildout of the Parkersburg to Pittsburgh trail corridor. The trail gap in Fairmont is one of the last remaining gaps in this corridor.
The grant was for a total of $145,500. The City of Fairmont is one of seven partners that make up the coalition that will benefit from this grant. These funds will go toward the creation of a strategic implementation plan, studying the economic impact of the completion of the Parkersburg to Pittsburgh trail corridor.
“These two grants serve two very different purposes, but act as a testament to the diversity in the grants we’re pursuing,” said Grant Administrator Rene Graves. “These make up a small piece of the more than $30 million in grant funds the City has applied for in the last year.”