Meet the Inaugural Coal Communities Get Ready! Challenge Cohort

We looked for projects with measurable economic outcomes that have the potential to scale impact through federal investment. Outcomes may include: jobs created, workers and entrepreneurs trained, entrepreneurial projects developed, new partnerships and/or remote work opportunities created, businesses created, and increased job readiness of workers.

We believe communities must define their own terms for economic success and resilience, and we’ll also collect the metrics that local leaders think are most meaningful and best demonstrate the progress that they want to see. Moreover, the technical assistance that we offer can include support related to measuring impact, if this is identified as a need/priority.

Any community affected by a coal plant and/or mine closure was eligible to apply for the Coal Communities Get Ready! Challenge. We prioritized communities that are experiencing the greatest economic distress. We selected a cross-section of community-based organizations working in different regions and sectors across the country.

Qualified 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations and local governments were eligible to apply.

We support organizations that are deeply-rooted in coal-affected areas and have a demonstrated ability to partner with and engage a wide range of transition stakeholders.

This opportunity was designed primarily for organizations with little to no experience applying for federal funding. We accepted submissions from organizations that already have some experience, however, recognizing that there is a broad spectrum of experience in applying for and managing federal grants, and individual organizations and projects are at different stages of readiness.

Each organization will receive a one-year award, valued at $250,000, that includes grants for capacity support ad customized technical assistance to help build readiness to apply for complex federal funds.