Invest Appalachia Fund

info@investappalachia.org

Online contact form

The Invest Appalachia Fund provides loans and technical assistance to support sectors and industries that are driving economic diversification, local ownership, and community wealth building in Central Appalachia.

Priority Sectors include:

• Clean Energy - Renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean manufacturing, abandoned mine land reclamation, energy democracy, and green buildings
• Community Health - Healthcare providers and access, affordable housing, education, childcare, built environment, behavioral health, and other social determinants of health
• Creative Placemaking - Downtown revitalization, commercial real estate, public spaces, community infrastructure, asset-based tourism, recreation, and arts/culture
• Food and Agriculture - Local food systems, small farms, value-added business, healthy food access, aggregation/distribution infrastructure, local retail, non-timber forest products, and farmland conservation

The Fund is designed to be used in conjunction with other forms of community investment. Most investments will be made in partnership with place-based lenders and funders such as CDFIs, loan funds, community foundations, and other community-based investors.

Eligible borrowers/projects must be:

• Located in or serving people in the Central Appalachian region (Appalachian counties of Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio)
• Working to create positive social, environmental, and economic impacts for communities in the region
• Align with one of the priority sectors
• Be financially viable

Loan amounts and terms vary.

Types of capital include:

• Customized flexible and patient loans for projects and enterprises
• Loans to intermediaries and participation loans
• Credit enhancements such as loan guarantees, equity-like grants, technical assistance grants, and targeted coordination grants

Begin the process by submitting an online project intake form.