WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced $500,000 in federal funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) for Appalachian Agency for Senior Citizens, Inc., in partnership with the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors, to build a community service and senior facility at the Falls Mills Elementary School site.

 “We are pleased to announce this important investment that will help build a facility to support seniors in Southwest Virginia,” the Senators said. “This facility will provide care for the elderly in Tazewell and lessen the burden on their families who care for them.”

The community service and senior facility will provide adult day care, serve nutritional meals to meet the needs of seniors, provide assistance with supplemental nutrition assistance program applications, and help with health care enrollment and options counseling.

Since its inception in 1965, ARC has generated over 300,000 jobs and $10 billion for the 25 million Americans living in Appalachia. ARC has provided funding and support for job-creating community projects across the 13 Appalachian states, producing an average of $204 million in annual earnings for a region often challenged by economic underdevelopment. President Trump’s budget proposes eliminating the program entirely. 

In June, Warner and Kaine joined a group of six other U.S. Senators urging Senate appropriators to fully fund the Appalachian Regional Commission in 2018 at $152 million, and reject the Trump Administration’s proposal to end the state-federal partnership. 

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