Photo Courtesy/ The College of St. Joseph the Worker A student at Steubenville-based College of St. Joseph the Worker cuts a piece of lumber at the College’s workshop last December.

CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Water Development Authority approved giving $5 million to an Ohio-based Catholic-affiliated career and vocational college to expand into the state and to create a conservative think tank without a required recommendation from one of three state officials.

In October, the Water Development Authority (WDA) unanimously approved providing $5 million in Economic Enhancement Grant Fund (EEGF) dollars to the College of St. Joseph the Worker, a Steubenville-based college affiliated with the Catholic Church. The funds will need to be spent by Dec. 31, 2026.

All students at the College of St. Joseph the Worker will earn a Bachelor of Arts in Catholic Studies while also receiving training in several trades, including carpentry, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical.

According to information provided from several state agencies through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the College’s grant proposal for the $5 million would allow the school to expand across the river into West Virginia for several training programs, a satellite campus, scholarships, and the creation of a think tank focused on social conservative public policy.

In a Dec. 19 press release, the College said its expansion projects into West Virginia would greatly benefit Weirton and the Ohio Valley. The College will provide an additional $5 million, bringing the total estimated cost of the project to $10 million.

“The college is extremely grateful to the state of West Virginia for the recent award of an economic development grant,” according to the College’s statement. “Over the course of the next five years we expect to spend more than $10 million directly on these projects. However, the economic impact to the Weirton area will be far, far greater.”

“I’m thrilled about this project for our people in the Northern Panhandle, especially for our young men and women,” said Del. Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock, in an email on Dec. 23.

Of the $5 million, more than $2.1 million would be used to create a construction and real estate company headquartered in Weirton. Funds would be used to acquire a warehouse and construction yard, purchase equipment and materials, and employ up to 200 apprentices and between 50 and 100 construction workers.

The project, estimated to take five years to complete, would focus on revitalization of historic and culturally valuable projects, as well as developing new building projects.

“As a mission-driven educational organization, we will be able to take on construction and revitalization projects that other, exclusively for-profit organizations would not, such as work of historical and cultural significance in communities that might otherwise be unattractive to investors,” according to the College’s grant proposal.

More than $1.6 million of the $5 million EEGF dollars would go towards scholarships for the recruitment of West Virginia students, develop partnerships with tradesmen and contractors in the state for placement of apprentices, the purchase of training facilities in Weirton, and purchasing and/or renovating housing for students.

Another $200,000 would be used to seed the creation of a possible branch campus for the College of St. Joseph the Worker. According to the grant proposal, the College is considering a possible branch in the Kanawha County area.

“With the success of this initial development in West Virginia, the board of trustees of the College of St Joseph the Worker can establish exploring a second campus in West Virginia,” according to the grant proposal. “Particularly, we hope to evaluate Teays Valley, WV — which seems to be an emerging market for the type of intellectual and trades revitalization that the College intends to achieve.”

“The primary purpose of this specific grant is to develop additional vocational training that will quickly prepare workers, strengthen our workforce, and benefit communities across West Virginia,” said C.J. Harvey, communications director for Gov. Jim Justice, in an emailed statement on Dec. 20. “This initiative is squarely focused on economic development and creating jobs.”

According to a spokesperson for the West Virginia Community and Technical College System and the Higher Education Policy Commission, the College has yet to reach out to state higher education officials. The College will need to apply for a series 20 initial authorization/commission in order to grant degrees in West Virginia.

Unrelated to construction trades, the College wants to use $1 million of the grant for what it categorizes as “advocacy.” It would use the funds to create a bioethics certificate program for continuing education for the medical and psychotherapy fields, as well as create the “Center for the Common Good” to support “life-affirming policy in West Virginia.”

In a separate document, the College explains that the Center for the Common Good would focus on conservative public policy – specifically citing abortion and immigration/border policy as examples – using research, op-eds, speeches, educational tools, presentations, and proposals for the West Virginia Legislature.

“…The college faculty has also been involved in supporting the developing conservative political vision for West Virginia (ie the abortion restriction; solidarity with Texas’ border, to name but a few),” the College wrote in an earlier grant proposal.

The College is listed as a 501(c)(3) on its 2022 IRS 990 form. According to the IRS, a 501(c)(3) organization can engage in some lobbying activities, but it could risk loss of tax-exempt status if it engages in too much lobbying.

“Organizations may, however, involve themselves in issues of public policy without the activity being considered as lobbying,” according to the IRS website. “For example, organizations may conduct educational meetings, prepare and distribute educational materials, or otherwise consider public policy issues in an educational manner without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status.”

When asked about whether it was appropriate for EEGF dollars to be used to create a conservative public policy think tank, the Governor’s Office avoided the question.

“Any additional educational or ethical components mentioned in the application are secondary and fall outside the scope of the administration’s main focus: to get newly-trained workers in the workforce as quickly as possible,” Harvey said.

In the Oct. 19 press release sent after multiple requests for interviews with officials, the College announced all of the proposed projects for the EEGF dollars. However, the press release includes no mention of using the funds for a conservative think tank.

WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE

The Water Development Authority was created in 1977 by the Legislature to provide grants and loans to local governments and public services districts for construction of water and wastewater infrastructure. But in recent years, the WDA has been used as a funding conduit for economic development projects across the state.

The Economic Enhancement Grant Fund was created by the Legislature in 2022 by House Bill 4566. The fund was seeded with $250 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars. HB 4566 empowers the WDA to create a EEGF subaccount to provide grants to governmental agencies and not-for-profits to cover all or portions of costs for infrastructure projects.

According to State Code, funds in this EEGF subaccount can be used “to cover all or a portion of the infrastructure projects to enhance economic development and/or tourism when recommended by the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Economic Development and/or the Secretary of Tourism.”

However, to date there has been no letter of recommendation from one of the three cabinet-level departments as required by State Code.

The EEGF application from the College of St. Joseph the Worker was approved on Oct. 10, with WDA members and three cabinet secretaries at the time – former Department of Economic Development Secretary Mitch Carmichael, former Department of Commerce Secretary James Bailey, and current Department of Tourism Secretary Chelsea Ruby – only being provided with the College’s EEGF application and grant proposal the day before the scheduled meeting.

While one version of the College’s application included a check mark indicating that the Department of Economic Development had provided a recommendation, WDA Executive Director Marie Prezioso confirmed in an email that no letter recommendation for the College’s EEGF application has been provided.

“It was my understanding that we would be provided with a letter from the Secretary, however we do not have one on file,” Prezioso said.

“It was this office’s understanding the project was verbally recommended with a formal letter forthcoming,” Harvey said. Both Justice Chief of Staff Brian Abraham and Deputy Chief of Staff Ann Urling – who also chairs the WDA – were involved with recommending the College’s proposal.

At least one former cabinet secretary at the time – James Bailey – expressed concern about the College’s grant proposal in an email to a WDA staffer the day before the Oct. 10 WDA meeting. Bailey left the Department of Commerce to return to the private legal sector on Oct. 18.

“I need a letter of recommendation for this project. Our board meeting is tomorrow. Sorry for the short notice. We just started working on it,” Prezioso wrote to Bailey in an email the morning of Oct. 9.

“Is there a more detailed application like we normally have? The document doesn’t really detail what the project in WV is other than potentially locating a campus in the state in a few years,” Bailey wrote. “There are some other issues that we should maybe talk over if you’d like to give me a call.”

In an email the morning of the Oct. 10 WDA meeting, Prezioso asked Andrew Jones, the academic dean and professor of history and political theory at the College of St. Joseph the Worker, to revise the proposed budget for the College’s EEGF request.

“The grant must be used for a project that consists of the acquisition, construction and equipping of multiple education facilities for the in-class and on-site training of the five major construction trades of HVAC, carpentry, masonry, electrical and plumbing, including areas for tools and equipment storage, materials for training and all necessary appurtenances,” Prezioso wrote.

BUILDING A FRAMEWORK

The first email about the project came on Oct. 2 – nine days before the Oct. 10 WDA meeting – from Del. McGeehan to Abraham with House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, carbon copied. In that email, McGeehan thanked Abraham for his assistance with the College’s EEGF application. McGeehan confirmed last week that his first conversations with Abraham about the project began as early as September.

McGeehan, the dean of students at Weirton Madonna High School, explained that Weirton Madonna has no affiliation with the College of St. Joseph the Worker. McGeehan said he became aware of the College after completing a master’s degree in philosophy at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

“A mutual friend who had went through the graduate program with me at Franciscan made introductions with some of the staff over at the College of St. Joseph the Worker — who at the time, had plans to expand into other areas of Ohio,” McGeehan said. “I touched base with them about expanding into West Virginia instead. I toured their workshops and facilities a few times and I was deeply impressed.”

After an email from the WDA was sent to officials with the College on Oct. 4 with the EEGF application, McGeehan emailed the WDA back the same day with the completed application.

West Virginia already offers several construction trades programs, including in the Northern Panhandle. West Virginia Northern Community College in Wheeling offers several short-term training programs and multi-year certificates for trades, such as HVAC, electrical, and industrial/construction/trades. Project BEST – also headquartered in Wheeling and affiliated with the Upper Ohio Valley Building and Construction Trades Council – offers apprenticeship training, including carpentry, electrical, plumbing and pipefitting.

But McGeehan said what the College of St. Joseph the Worker is offering to West Virginia students is unique and holistic, focused on not just providing rote training.

“The College of Saint Joseph the Worker is unique, insofar as it offers a holistic approach to shaping young men and women — one reason why I’m excited about it,” McGeehan said. “Nowhere in the United States is there an institution that simultaneously trains the mind in the humanities while also in the manual trades.”

“This is done by teaching young men and women the skilled trades — such as carpentry, HVAC, and construction — while also providing their students with a classical education along the way, both of which are greatly needed in our state,” McGeehan continued. “Upon graduation, their students earn their Journeyman’s card in the skilled trade of their choice, along with earning a bachelor’s degree — and because of the College’s ability to raise funds, offer scholarships, and provide paid on-the-job training for their students, their students graduate with zero debt.”

McGeehan was a co-sponsor of HB 4566 in 2022. Earlier this month, the WDA approved 24 projects for EEGF dollars, awarding more than $67 million. During the October special session, lawmakers appropriated an additional $125 million to the Economic Enhancement Grant Fund.

According to the Governor’s Office, the WDA has approved EEGF projects worth $594 million since 2022. McGeehan said the $5 million for the College of St. Joseph the Worker is an appropriate grant award.

“I conceived and wrote the bill which passed into law to establish the EEG fund in the first place, so that grants like this one could come about — and be awarded to non-profit institutions and municipalities to help beautify our local communities and strengthen their infrastructure for our people,” McGeehan said.

“Many of the problems our state suffers from are downstream of faltering local communities, weakened family bonds, and a younger generation without practical skills, who are quite often steeped in university debt,” McGeehan continued. “I’ll continue to do what I can to help reverse this trend.”

In 2023, McGeehan was the co-sponsor of an originating bill from the House Government Organization Committee – where McGeehan is vice chairman – create a Joint Legislative Committee on Civic Life.

House Bill 3561 would have created a state agency to provide grant funds to non-profits that support “traditional cultural values;” “family growth, maintenance, and self-sufficiency;” and the creation of new fraternal organizations. McGeehan said HB 3561, which failed in a 42-51 vote, has no connection to the College’s EEGF award.

“While I’d certainly defend a decision to capitalize such an initiative, the grant did not include funding for what you wrote,” McGeehan said. “…The state is merely matching an investment that the College has agreed to put into our state. Beyond that, the grant has nothing to do with the specific bill you referenced.”