CATCH THE BUZZ – Appalachian Beekeeping Collective Gets $622,280 Grant to Train Out of Work Coal Miners.

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) awarded $622,280 through its Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) Initiative for the Appalachian Beekeeping Collective Diversification and Expansion Project.

“Bees are some of nature’s essential creatures, and the Appalachian Beekeeping Collective cultivates them while providing new job opportunities for our region. I am pleased that the Appalachian Regional Commission awarded $622,280 to fund this worthy and beneficial project,” said Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA). The money will be used to continue the project of training out of work coal miners skills to become beekeepers.

“The Appalachian Beekeeping Collective is a powerful social and economic engine. It is giving people throughout Central Appalachia options, but better yet, it’s giving people hope for the future,” said Terri J. Giles, of nonprofit Appalachian Headwaters.

Background: Appalachian Headwaters, based in Lewisburg, West Virginia, received this grant to expand on previous ARC funding. The money awarded in this round of funding will impact Alleghany, Craig, Giles, Montgomery, and Pulaski Counties in Virginia as well as seventeen counties in West Virginia. Griffith wrote a letter of support on behalf of this project to ARC.

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