Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (https://kycir.org/series/economic-development-failures-in-eastern-ky/)
From tourism to industrial parks, government grant programs have invested millions in strategies to turn around Appalachian Kentucky that just aren’t working.
Industrial parks sit nearly empty in counties spanning eastern Kentucky, the multi-million-dollar consequences of hollow promises to revive the region’s economy.
A proposed wildlife center got a $12 million federal grant after promising to bring millions of dollars and thousands of tourists to eastern Kentucky. Four years later, residents are still waiting for the jobs they were promised.