Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) Initiative

The WORC Initiative is a partnership between the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and three regional commissions:

• the Appalachian Regional Commission,
• the Delta Regional Authority, and
• the Northern Border Regional Commission.

The WORC Initiative was specifically created to address the critical workforce needs of employers in high-growth and emerging industries across the three WORC regions, which represent areas of the country that have been hard-hit by economic distress.