ARC awards $1.5 million grant for job training in Greene County
The Washington-Greene County Job Training Agency recently received a $1.49 million grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to help restore the economies in Greene County and West Virginia with job training in computer coding.
“We’re excited,” said Ami Gatts, WGCJTA president. “We’re trying to bring a lot of opportunity to Greene County.”
Gatts said half of the grant money will go to Mined Minds, a free software development/tech consulting nonprofit geared toward the unemployed and underemployed in Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Mined Minds was started by Jonathan Graham and Amanda Laucher, a couple from Chicago who wanted to help unemployed coal miners get back to work with a new career in computer coding. Laucher, a native of Nemacolin, and Graham returned to Greene County operate the training agency and have an office in Waynesburg.
The other $750,000 will go to CentralApp, an international software solutions developer that will use the program Salesforce to get local workers the certifications they will need in the coding field.
According to a news release from the ARC, Mined Minds and CentralApp will “work together to provide courses and certifications needed to qualify for high-demand technology jobs, enabling participants to work locally for companies that can be located anywhere in the world.”
The release said the project is expected to train 71 workers in computer tech jobs and place them at seven or more companies. Gatts said the job opportunities to come from the grant will start workers at a salary between $48,000 and $65,000.
The local grant is part of an overall $15.7 million investment by the ARC for 18 projects to grow the economies in seven Appalachian states that have been affected by the decline in the coal industry.