VCEDA’s Coalfield Workforce Development and Training Fund is a source of loan and/or grant funds to assist with workforce development and training in the VCEDA Region. Eligible applicants for the Coalfield Workforce Development and Training Fund include for-profit enterprises or entities, governmental or corporate instrumentalities in the coalfield region of Virginia, not-for-profit enterprises or entities, nonprofit industrial development corporations, economic development authorities, or industrial development authorities.
Funds may be approved as loans and/or grants. Funds may be approved and used for workforce development and training and associated costs, including costs and expenses of curriculum development, training equipment, training facilities construction, instructional materials, stipends, scholarships, tuition, internships, training or retraining instructional costs, retraining costs, recruiting expenses, job advertisements, pre-employment classes, assessments, classroom instructional expenses, process skill instruction, and/or instructor travel expenses, and costs associated with the foregoing. The program is funded from revenues that were previously generated by the Coalfield Employment Enhancement Tax Credit.
Coalfield Jobs Investment Project (CJIP)
A subset of the VCEDA Coalfield Workforce Development and Training Fund is the VCEDA Coalfield Jobs Investment Project (CJIP) which (subject to annual appropriation by the VCEDA Board) provides a grant to eligible for-profit businesses located, or locating in, the VCEDA region which create at least one (1) new full-time job in the region within VCEDA’s targeted industry sectors of information technology, manufacturing, energy, or creative tourism.
To be considered full-time, the job must employ the worker for at least 1,820 hours a year. The job must also pay at least $16.50 per hour or the annual equivalent if salaried. At least 50% of the worker’s time must be directly related to one of the four targeted industry sectors, and the worker must have been employed by the applicant business for at least 180 days. Jobs that are related to the direct production of coal or natural gas are not eligible under VCEDA’s policies. The amount of the grant, unless determined otherwise by the VCEDA Board, is $2,500 per new qualifying full-time job.
The grant is funded from the VCEDA Coalfield Workforce Development and Training Fund, and the grant must be used for a workforce development and training purpose as defined in the policies for that program. The grant will be disbursed upon written evidence from the business that the qualifying full-time job(s) have been created. Applicants may not apply for a grant more than one time for the same position, or to backfill attrition in a position for which a grant has already been received. Remote or telework positions are eligible so long as the worker physically resides in the VCEDA region.
Request More Info
Request more information by contacting VCEDA at 276-889-0381 or mail@vceda.us.