Welcome to the Clinch-Powell Enterprise Community!

The Clinch-Powell Enterprise Community came about in 1998, when the federal government announced that it would fund a second round of the Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Communities Initiative. This highly successful program was designed to help strengthen economically depressed areas by providing aid in the form of direct funds, tax incentives and access to special federal funding. The initiative was bottom-up in design by letting community residents decide how best to improve their communities.

This map shows the Enterprise Community Area. The EC includes the census tracks colored in purple. 3 industrial parks are also included in the EC and are labeled as Noncontinguous Developable Sites.

A massive effort, led by the Clinch-Powell RC&D and including dozens of public and private organizations led to the creation of the Strategic Plan, which presented a comprehensive ten-year plan to strengthen our community. In keeping with the bottom-up design of the program, the plan was based primarily on a survey of the EC residents.

The plan was accepted and we were designated an Enterprise Community by Vice President Gore in January of 1999. The Clinch-Powell EC was one of only a handful of EC's designated out of 100's of applicants.

The U.S.D.A. Rural Development office is the federal agency in charge of rural Enterprise Communities and Empowerment Zones. Clinch-Powell RC&D was defined as the main entity and fiscal agent for the Enterprise Community.

We are governed by a board of directors, which include 3 members from each of the five counties in the area. Some of the benefits of the designation includes $250,000 in direct funds, tax incentives for businesses that employ community residents, and access to special funds that are only available to Enterprise Communities and Empowerment Zones.

To find out more about the Enterprise Community, click on any of the buttons to the left. They include our vision and values, a detailed history, information about the board and staff, how to apply for grants from the EC, and much, much more!

Accomplishments - Here you can see exactly what the EC has done for our community through a mixture of direct grants, letters of support for federal funds, and tax incentives to businesses. Overall, over $2.5 million in funds have come to our area through the EC

Vision and Values - Includes some of our core values and what we envision for our community in the future.

History - Presents a more detailed history of the EC, from its inception to the present.

The EC Plan - The best way to understand the EC is by reading the EC Plan that was sent to Washington, highlighting our goals and how we would reach them.

EC board and Staff - Meet the EC board and staff members that keep the EC moving continually forward.

Grants - Find out if your organization qualifies for an EC grant and see a list of all the current grant recipients. If you think that you might be eligible to apply, you can download the grant guidelines and application.

Focus Areas - The goals of the Enterprise Community were developed from a survey that was administered to roughly 1/3 of the EC residents. These goals were then streamlined into focus areas. The focus areas are essential - they guide the entire EC process.

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