U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA-15) announced Tuesday that Clearfield County and the Pennsylvania State University, DuBois campus received a POWER grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).
The $725,850 grant will be used to bring additional training equipment and entrepreneurial programming to the North Central PA LaunchBox and Innovation Collaborative.
“The North Central PA LaunchBox program is a lightning rod for innovation, competition, and technology,” Thompson said. “Skilled workers and entrepreneurial thinkers are in high demand in Clearfield County and this grant will help expand the LaunchBox’s impact on the local economy and workforce.”
The North Central PA LaunchBox at Penn State DuBois is an initiative that supports “manufacturing competitiveness and workforce needs, growing and attracting talented innovators and entrepreneurs, and creating new high-knowledge, high-technology business in the region.”
“This grant funding will allow Penn State DuBois to jumpstart the services of the North Central PA LaunchBox and Innovation Collaborative, aid in the expansion of the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and help our established companies to retain and grow our workforce,” Penn State DuBois Chancellor M. Scott McBride said. “We’re thankful for the support of Congressman Thompson and we know that he believes in what we’re doing in our region. The addition of our Makerspace, Research and Development Services and a Technical Training Center will help uphold the long, local tradition of our region’s ability to practice excellent production routines, solve problems and develop a highly-skilled workforce to support the local, national and global economy.”
POWER grants awarded by ARC encourage economic growth in coal mining counties in communities along the region’s coal supply chain.