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About the Lab

The Just Transition Fund’s Local Economy Lab is a new initiative designed to help high-impact, community-led economic projects scale up by accessing different types of capital, including public, private, and philanthropic. In the past few years, coal communities have launched innovative economic and workforce development solutions to help grow their local economies and equitably build local wealth. But given the uncertainty of the role of the federal government—which has played a key role in funding expansion in the past—innovative projects that have recently gained momentum must now access different types of capital to reach their full potential. We’re launching the Local Economy Lab to help.

Creating Transformative Impact

In the next few months, the JTF will select 5-10 economic development projects from across the country that will create a transformative impact on their local economy and offer a high-profile, actionable case study of success that other coal communities can learn from. Benefits of participating in the Lab include:

Flexible, one-year grants of $250,000-$500,000 that can be used for a wide variety of project development activities

Tailored technical assistance, based on individual project needs

Help finding private sector funding from philanthropic sources and private companies committed to creating equitable local wealth

Support identifying creative public-sector funding sources, including federal and state investment opportunities

Connection to a network of peers, including sponsored attendance at the JTF National Convening

Criteria

The JTF will select community-led economic and workforce development projects to participate in the Lab. Successful projects will demonstrate:

  • A place-based economic development approach that builds on community assets, as well as local leadership and robust community engagement

  • Measurable impact on the local economy and the ability to scale up though public and/or private sector investment

  • Potential to serve as a model that can be replicated in other economically distressed coal communities

Eligibility Qualifiers and Details

  • Outcomes

    We will support projects that create concrete economic outcomes using one or more of the following metrics:

    • jobs created
    • jobs retained
    • workers trained
    • entrepreneurs supported
    • new businesses created
    • tax base stimulated.

     

    We also believe communities must define their own terms for economic success and will collect the metrics that project leaders think are most meaningful.

  • Eligibility

    We are accepting applications for projects serving those counties that, based on our analysis, are experiencing the greatest economic distress as a result of coal plant and/or mine closures. Eligible counties are shown in this map.

    Eligible Counties

    • Alabama – Bibb, Marengo, Walker, Washington
    • Arizona – Apache, Cochise, Coconino, Navajo
    • Arkansas – Hempstead, Jefferson, Mississippi
    • Colorado – Moffat, Morgan, Pueblo
    • Florida – Putnam
    • Georgia – Bartow, Heard, Monroe
    • Illinois – Franklin, Fulton, Jackson, Jasper, Mason, Massac, Montgomery, Peoria, Perry, Putnam, Randolph, Saline, Sangamon, Williamson
    • Indiana – Gibson, Greene, Jasper, Pike, Spencer, Sullivan, Vermillion, Vigo
    • Iowa – Des Moines
    • Kansas – Finney, Linn, Wyandotte
    • Kentucky – Bell, Carroll, Clay, Floyd, Harlan, Henderson, Hopkins, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Leslie, Letcher, Magoffin, Martin, Mason, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Pike, Trimble, Union, Webster
    • Louisiana – De Soto Parish, Natchitoches Parish, Pointe Coupee Parish, Rapides Parish
    • Maryland – Allegany, Charles
    • Michigan – Bay, Marquette, Muskegon
    • Minnesota – Itasca
    • Mississippi – Choctaw, Jackson, Kemper
    • Missouri – New Madrid, Randolph, Scott
    • Montana – Big Horn, Rosebud
    • Nebraska – Lincoln
    • New Mexico – McKinley, San Juan
    • New York – Jefferson
    • North Carolina – Caswell, Catawba, Cleveland, Person, Stokes
    • North Dakota – McLean, Mercer
    • Ohio – Adams, Belmont, Coshocton, Gallia, Harrison, Jefferson, Monroe, Noble, Vinton
    • Oklahoma – Choctaw, Le Flore, Mayes, Muskogee, Noble, Nowata, Okmulgee
    • Oregon – Morrow
    • Pennsylvania – Beaver, Cambria, Clearfield, Elk, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Lycoming, Mercer, Montour, Northumberland, Schuylkill, Somerset, Venango
    • South Carolina – Orangeburg
    • Tennessee – Stewart
    • Texas – Atascosa, Fayette, Freestone, Goliad, Grimes, Harrison, Lamb, Leon, Limestone, Maverick, Milam, Panola, Potter, Robertson, Rusk, Titus, Wilbarger
    • Utah – Carbon, Emery, Millard, Uintah
    • Virginia – Buchanan, Dickenson, Halifax, Lee, Mecklenburg, Russell, Tazewell, Wise
    • Washington – Lewis
    • West Virginia – Barbour, Boone, Fayette, Grant, Greenbrier, Harrison, Kanawha, Logan, Marion, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Nicholas, Pleasants, Raleigh, Randolph, Taylor, Tucker, Upshur, Wayne, Webster, Wyoming
    • Wyoming – Campbell, Converse, Platte, Sweetwater

     

    Qualified 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations, local governments, and Tribal governments are 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.

  • Example Projects

    We will support projects in a wide range of sectors. Broad categories of interest to the JTF, along with project examples, include:

    • Entrepreneurship & Small Business Incubation. Downtown revitalization projects designed to attract and retain local businesses. A business incubator network to provide training and access to capital to grow new entrepreneurs and small businesses.
    • Outdoor Recreation & Tourism. A “rails to trails” tourism project that promotes regional tourism and new business development along the trail. Construction of an ecotourism complex.
    • Manufacturing. Attraction of a new battery manufacturing plant that retrains and upskills local workers. Retain and grow existing local manufacturers by providing support to help them expand into new markets.
    • Remote Work. Digital and other market-based skills training programs to connect local workers with jobs they can do from home.
    • Coal Plant and Mine Reclamation & Repurposing. Installation of solar energy on abandoned mine land. Creation of energy/battery storage facilities at former coal plant sites. Repurposing a shuttered coal plant to promote civic engagement, outdoor recreation, and local business activity.

     

    Projects with identified private sector partners a plus!

Application Process and Timeline

Please complete this Step 1 Application by Friday, May 9. We will invite a select number of full applications, which will then be due within approximately 2-3 weeks, anticipated in June. We will announce the selected cohort in late summer/early fall.

Start Your Application

For questions, contact Marissa Berkley at mberkley@justtransitionfund.org.

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