The Appalachian Region, as defined in ARC's authorizing legislation, is a 205,000-square-mile region that follows the spine of the Appalachian Mountains from southern New York to northern Mississippi. It includes all of West Virginia and parts of 12 other states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Each year in Pennsylvania, ARC provides funding for numerous projects in the Appalachian Region in a wide range of program areas. The projects funded in the program areas create thousands of new jobs, improve local water and sewer systems, increase school readiness, expand access to health care, assist local communities with strategic planning and provide technical and managerial assistance to emerging businesses.
The state will look favorably at projects where there are new business start-ups and job creation and at those projects that will enhance the community and economic vitality of the state. When approving a particular project, the state will also consider whether the project will improve, on a continuing rather than a temporary basis, the opportunities for employment and the average level of income or economic and social development of the area served by the project.
The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) awards grants and contracts from funds appropriated to the Commission annually by Congress. ARC funds are leveraged with other federal, state and local money to provide a broad array of small business assistance to the Appalachian region. The priorities for investment of ARC resources are determined essentially to accomplish five long-term strategic goals for Pennsylvania's economy: