This Arizona coal community is finding a future in renewable energy
Joseph City is in a moment of transition.
The rural, northeastern Arizona community, located about 80 miles east of Flagstaff, is in the midst of discovering what life looks like without the coal-fired power plant that has been operating there since the 1960s.
Linda Kor of Grow Arizona Workforce Network
For Joseph City’s 2,000 residents, life in a clean energy environment will look different. It’s already starting to.
Jobs, which were predominantly linked to coal, are increasingly becoming more scarce. The tax base is shrinking. Young people are looking to settle elsewhere.
But Linda Kor is working to change that trajectory.
Federal grant will help residents reimagine the future
Kor, a Joseph City resident, and her business partner Kathleen Smith, from the nearby town of Holbrook, lead the workforce development nonprofit Grow Arizona Workforce Network.
A $100,000 grant from the Department of Energy will help the community visualize the best path forward once the Cholla Power Plant is decommissioned in early 2025.
“When coal fire is going away, the initial reaction is to get angry and demand it back. To say, ‘You’re taking from our schools and our economy.’ But, it’s not coming back,” Kor said. “So, we need to start educating our youth on what it looks like to live a rural life (with new types of jobs).”
A new economic identity for their hometown
Cholla Power Plant (photo by Ken Lund)
Kor has seen the impact that coal has had on Joseph City. She’s lived there for 12 years, and visited frequently as a kid. All three of her kids live in either Joseph City or nearby Winslow, and her brother-in-law once worked at the Cholla Power Plant.
“I try to be involved as much as I can,” she said, referring to her role in founding multiple nonprofits to benefit the area.
She was alerted to the Department of Energy grant by Arizona State University, just three days before the application window closed.
The pitch they submitted calls for workforce surveys of the local residents who will be impacted by the closure.
The Department of Energy, Kor said, hopes the outreach will help local utility companies better understand what type of renewable energy that best suits the area. And that information could help Joseph City develop a new economic identity.
“There’s a lot of money out there right now,” Kor said of the availability of grant opportunities. “We can bemoan the fact that Cholla is going away, but it also opens doors. And they won’t be open forever. It’s so important for rural, coal-impacted communities to really tell their stories.”
Students job shadowing with Grow Arizona Workforce Network
‘They love this community’
Joseph City is an ideal community to collect data and insights from the people who live there, Kor said.
That’s because the community is so engaged, she said. When meetings were held regarding the transition of the power plant, hundreds of people attended.
When it comes to assessing community sentiment about the impact of the loss of the power plant and the potential paths forward, Kor is optimistic that the outreach will inspire a new outlook. People who live in Joseph City don’t want to leave, she said.
One couple Kor knows grew up in Joseph City, went away to earn college degrees, got married and settled back in the town, even though the lack of employment opportunities meant one of them left the workforce and one is working at a truck stop.
“It was worth it to them because they love this community,” Kor said.
Learning from other coal communities
The grant Kor worked to secure, called “Capacity Building For Repurposing Energy Assets,” places the Arizona town in the company of 13 other coal and gas-based communities throughout the country that received the same grant. Each will present its findings next year.
Students on a college tour with Grow Arizona Workforce Network
As surveys begin, Kor hopes the outreach has the potential to not only serve as information gathering, but as a touchpoint for inspiring community members to keep an open mind about the opportunities made possible by renewable energy.
She hopes her neighbors can envision how the economic landscape could improve, how jobs and businesses could evolve and how those changes could benefit the town.
“There’s a real opportunity to do more with this grant than just collect data,” Kor said. “You have to really change the mindset of the people in the community so they see the value.”
“This could be something good and something with potential in ways we don’t even know yet,” she said.
Do you work for a rural Arizona town, tribe or nonprofit?
Local First Arizona’s Economic Resource Center may be able to help you find millions of dollars in grant funding. Visit localfirstaz.com/economic-resource-center to learn more.
