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FRANKFORT, KY – Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear Wednesday announced that the West Kentucky Workforce Investment Board will receive a $250,000 Regional Innovation Grant from the U. S. Department of Labor. The grant will be used to create a regional strategic plan to promote economic growth in nine Kentucky counties and one county in Tennessee. The counties included in the grant are those of the Pennyrile Area Development District: Caldwell, Christian, Crittenden, Hopkins, Livingston, Lyon, Muhlenberg, Todd and Trigg. Tennessee's Montgomery County completes the 10-county area involved in the initiative.

Regional Innovation Grants are designed to help workforce agencies initiate comprehensive, sustainable, and integrated regional planning that will prepare workers and businesses to compete and succeed in the 21st century marketplace. State workforce agencies and local workforce investment boards are eligible to receive the awards. Energy, value-added agriculture, health care, biosciences, tourism and advanced manufacturing sectors will be evaluated through the planning process to determine which sectors have greater potential for growth.

Specific outcomes for the grant include increased entrepreneurial activities, identifying best practices and long-term investments or policies that lead to sustainable economic growth. The West Kentucky Workforce Investment Board also serves the counties of the Purchase Area Development District and is responsible for managing local workforce development projects throughout the Pennyrile/Purchase regions