West Virginians for Energy Freedom empower the Beckley community and beyond on what a sustainable future looks like.
That means bringing jobs in new and renewable fields into the state of because West Virginians need jobs. West Virginia New Jobs Coalition (a subgroup of West Virginia Citizens Action Group) can help.
“We want West Virginia to be a place where our children can grow up, families can thrive and they want to stay,” said Brandi Reece, West Virginia New Jobs Coalition coordinator. “We have a lot of people leaving West Virginia with new jobs in new fields, particularly renewable fields in the area it will keep people staying here. We feel like we can build a West Virginia where everyone thrives.”
Reece and Common Defense‘s lead state organizer Zach Shrewsbury are crossing the state –and already set up meetings with mayors and city officials in more than 30 towns.
“Talk about the benefits that they can apply for. Through the Inflation Reduction Act; there’s billions of dollars out there that we want to come to West Virginia,” Shrewsbury said.
He said some towns want to build solar panels on top of police stations.
“You can use these funds to tear down old buildings, replace it with a park, bring other buildings up to code by redoing the windows,” said Shrewsbury. “With all this money out there… I don’t see why we cannot bring it here, why can we not build it here.”
They are raising awareness in all these West Virginia towns that the funds exist. And according to Zach — if you bring manufacturing here, it would be everything.
“That makes the jobs for us… We become the powerhouse right there for our state,” he said. “You could see solar panels on top of roofs, that would be fantastic — people are building those, West Virginians are building those.”
Large jobs will probably take more time but the quick things you can apply for are dependent on how fast the federal government can get the grant money to these towns.
“I’d say the next couple of years you could be having people working in towns across West Virginia,” said Shrewsbury.
Every mayor and city council member in every small West Virginia town can apply for this through grants.
“Democrat, Republican, Mountain, Libertarian… it does not matter. This is money for your community, for the people in it. We can bring jobs here. This is a golden opportunity, let’s seize it.”
TO LEARN MORE…
WHAT: Join West Virginians for Energy Freedom at their community meeting
WHEN: Saturday, August 5, 2:00 – 4:00pm
WHERE: Raleigh County Public Library
