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March 25, 2005
 
BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
$200,000 ARC Grant Will Fund Small Business E-Commerce Training Program for Southern WV
 
by David M. Kinchen
Editor, Huntington News Network
 
Hinton (HNN) – U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-WV, along with Anne B. Pope, Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), and Hinton Mayor Cleo Mathews Thursday, March 24, 2005 announced a new small business development initiative for southern West Virginia.
 
Funded by a $200,000 grant from ARC, the program will kick off April 12, 2005 to train businesses in southern West Virginia with 1-10 employees to obtain access to broadband technology and increase their profit by opening their doors to the global economy through the Internet.
 
"This new initiative, which I have worked hand-in-hand with ARC to develop, puts technology to work to put West Virginians to work," said Rahall speaking in front of the Region 1 Workforce Center at 213 Ballengee St. here.
 
Addressing a crowd of about 50 people, Rahall said: "We are cutting the ribbon today on new avenues in the world of e-commerce for our small businesses. Using the business services available from the Internet means profit and job creation for Main Street West Virginia. We can not only better compete, but we will excel. The three "T's," transportation, technology and tourism, all can be well served with this initiative."
 
"This E-Commerce Initiative will help to bring the spirit of e-commerce to our Main Streets through providing hands-on, interactive classes designed to help grow small businesses through e-commerce," said Rahall. "I am committed to helping our small businesses in southern West Virginia increase their bottom line, develop new sources of revenue, reduce the cost of supplies and services, better serve existing customers, and perhaps most importantly, enter new markets."
 
"E-commerce education projects, such as the one being launched in Hinton, will be invaluable in helping to expand the sales opportunities and to improve the overall competitiveness of our state's small businesses," said Steve Roberts, President of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce. "The ARC's new program will tie in perfectly with the long-term goals of the Chamber's new West Virginia Small Business Technology Education & Competitiveness Initiative. I commend Congressman Rahall for working with ARC to bring this new program to West Virginia."
 
Joining forces with ARC, according to Anne Pope, are public and private partners including Amazon.com, Verizon, Microsoft, Mission West Virginia, Region 1 Workforce, WVU Extension Service and the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce.
 
Rahall credited Pope with making the initiative a reality. He and Pope met with Mathews in a town hall meeting in Hinton in October 2004 to discuss technology and economic development in Hinton, where a $5 million, 72,000-square-foot technology center is being constructed across from city hall on Summers Street. The technology center, slated for a September 2005 completion, will house several of the technology companies already in Hinton, including CSC and Man-Tech.
 
"Anne Pope has a background in business in her native state of Tennessee and understands the importance of e-commerce to small business in Appalachia," Rahall told the crowd. "I commend her for her vision and her practical approach leveraging government services with the private sector to produce benefits for the public, especially jobs."
 
Starting in Hinton, the midpoint of the I-64 Technology Corridor that runs between Beckley and Lewisburg, the e-commerce training program will be rolled out to 11 counties in southern West Virginia by the end of 2005, Rahall told the crowd before a reception and tour of the Workforce offices where the training will take place. "This is a small business builder for all of southern West Virginia. It will create new jobs in our area and help our local businesses reach the global marketplace. I encourage anyone with a small business to take advantage of this program," concluded Rahall.
 
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