Supporting Coal Reliant Regions: The BRECC Project

For the past several years, I’ve had the pleasure of supporting the Building Resilient Economies in Coal Communities project, which is led by the National Association of Counties and funded by the US Economic Development Administration. BRECC has many components.  This effort supports a series of information webinars and training programs, and also provides technical assistance for many US-based regions affected by downturns in coal mining or the closure of coal-fired power plants.

This is a big week for BRECC-related news.   Our newest cohort of community partners has been announced.  Seven new communities—from CO, GA, IL, PA, WV, and WY—will join the BRECC network, adding to the first cohort of seven regions working with us today.  We’re excited to work with these teams as they develop new strategies to drive future economic and community development.

If you’re interested in learning more about BRECC, you can also join us for an upcoming webinar on February 1 where we’ll be discussing how other nations and regions are addressing the coal transition.  We’ll be joined by representatives from the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Polish region of Silesia for an interesting and informative discussion.  You can learn more and sign up here.