The proposed $510 million 2006 budget for the Appalachian Regional Commission will focus its funding toward creating highways and jobs and promoting higher education.
The budget, proposed in early February by the Bush administration, will maintain last year's $450 million highway funding through the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Act, said Mike Hogan, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Development.
The funding is important because of the need to assist the people of Appalachia to achieve economic parity with the rest of the nation
said Louis Segesvary, commission spokesman.
The highway funding will be used to complete the Appalachia highway system as well as local access roads, said T.J. Justice, director of the Governor's Office of Appalachia.
Last year, the commission constructed about 2,500 miles of the 3,100-mile Appalachian highway system, which are now open to the public, Segesvary said The commission will pay for the costs of infrastructure, such as sewage and water treatment for new businesses, Justice said.
Another $65.5 million was proposed for non-highway projects, Hogan said.
Non-highway funding will be used to continue the commission's goals, which include increasing job opportunities and per capita income, strengthening the capacity of Appalachia's citizens to compete in the global economy and improving the region's competitiveness through development of infrastructure, he said.
The commission has invested in 471 development projects, which will create or maintain 27,100 jobs, Segesvary said.
It also has provided about 45,000 households and 4,000 businesses with water and waste facilities, which created or maintained about 12,000 jobs and invested $10 million in a telecommunications project to provide Internet services to the Appalachian area.
The funding also supported the Appalachian Higher Education Network, that's mission is to raise the levels of educational attainment in the region. The Information Technology Alliance of Appalachian Ohio will teach 600 students how to use sophisticated online and computer technology, involving gaming technology that helps students learn to develop interactive video games.
The network focuses on increasing college enrollment rates because higher education is a necessary tool in competing in the global economy, Segesvary said.
More than $5.5 million was invested in programs that provide at-risk youth with work experience to promote involvement in the areas in which they live.
Small businesses or entrepreneurships were also funded with a $5.5 million investment, creating more than 5,000 jobs and 1,200 new businesses.
The commission has a 10-year goal of creating and retaining 200,000 jobs; bringing additional infrastructure to 200,000 households, preparing 200,000 citizens with the skills and education they will need for jobs, and opening an additional 250 miles of the highway system.
Justice said the commission has met its goals in the past, and he has full confidence these goals will be attained. 17
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