Lawrence County will benefit as part of East Park and FIVCO 
ASHLAND, Ky., July 28, 2016 – An economic development effort that could attract up to 300 jobs to eastern Kentucky received an $84,000 grant from Kentucky Power on Thursday.
The grant, awarded to the Ashland Alliance, will be used to attract the aerospace industry by gaining AirReady Certification by Common Sense Economic Development for Boyd and Greenup counties. The Alliance also plans to use the grant to fund an extensive marketing campaign to promote industrial sites in the region to the aerospace industry and other businesses.
Other partners in the project include Boyd and Greenup counties, City of Ashland, the EastPark Regional Industrial Development Board, FIVCO Area Development District and Ashland Community and Technical College. Lawrence County will share with the east Park and FIVO portion of the grants.
The award is part of the Kentucky Power Economic Development Growth Grants (K-PEGG) program, which is funded through the Kentucky Economic Development Surcharge approved by the Kentucky Public Service Commission in 2015. For every 15 cents collected monthly from customers, company stockholders match the customer contributions dollar for dollar to generate $600,000 annually for investment at the local and regional levels.
Since the grant’s launch earlier this year, Kentucky Power has awarded about $500,000 to area communities. The on-going program is available in all the 20 counties served by Kentucky Power including Lawrence County.
“Aerospace manufacturing is booming in Kentucky in large part because of our skilled workers,” said Kentucky Power President and COO Greg Pauley. “We are happy to award this grant to Ashland Alliance because we want to do what we can to help eastern Kentucky take advantage of this opportunity for economic growth and add sustainable, good paying jobs.”
Applications for Kentucky Power grants are reviewed by a six-member committee comprised of four Kentucky Power employees and two outside, economic development professionals. The outside professionals represent the Kentucky Association of Economic Development and Kentucky Economic Development Cabinet.
“We encourage those with promising economic development projects to submit applications for consideration,” said Brad Hall, external affairs manager for Kentucky Power. Information and rules for the grant program is posted on the Kentucky Power website at https://www.kentuckypower.com/info/community/economic/.
