BY PHILL BARNETT
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — The Appalachian Regional Commission announced recipients of nearly $47 million in grant funding Monday. Among the recipients was TEK Center Inc., a skilled trades training center set to begin classes in Inez this February.
Tek Center will open in February in the Martin County Business Center and train heavy equipment operators, industrial maintenance mechanics and electricians.
ARC has given out nearly $366.6 million in grants through its POWER (Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalizations) Initiative since 2015. This year, 52 projects received funding for economic revitalization projects in 181 coal-impacted counties across the Appalachian region.
POWER grants “have helped create or retain more than 39,600 jobs and train over 100,000 workers and students for new opportunities in entrepreneurship, broadband, tourism, and other growing industries,” according to an ARC press release.
The $1.5 million in funding TEK Center Inc. is receiving will be used to develop the training center facilities and cover tuition and materials costs for students in the Center’s programs.
Specifically, the project summary states the money will go “to support low-income individuals, individuals in addiction recovery programs, and dislocated workers such as former coal miners, all of whom are greatly impacted by the decline in coal production and the substance use disorder crisis.”
“This training center will offer short-term, industry-driven training programs of one year or less that streamline these individuals into well-paying, high-demand jobs,” according to the project summary.
Partners on the POWER grant project include the East Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP), the Martin County Economic Development Authority, the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR), Johnson County Schools and the Floyd County Board of Education.
“The project will serve six businesses, 125 high school students, and 395 workers/trainees,” according to the official project summary.
The Martin County EDA agreed in a Sept. 13 meeting to lease the first floor of the business center to TEK Center Inc.
TEK Center plans to occupy the space for three years. The first two years will be donated, and the third year will be at a negotiated rental rate. The Center hopes to expand into a larger facility in Martin County after that.
In that same meeting, TEK Center founder Angela Reynolds affirmed that the POWER grant funding would go towards tuition assistance for students.
Tek Center can accommodate 120 students.
Classes are scheduled to begin Feb. 6, 2023. Visit https://www.tekcenterinc.org/ to learn more or request a consultation.