On December 24, 1998, the Upper Kanawha Valley area was designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a Federal Enterprise Community. The nomination leading to this event was sponsored by the Kanawha and Fayette County Commissions and co-sponsored by the towns of Chesapeake, East Bank, Handley, Montgomery, and Pratt. The UKVEC is one of 20 Enterprise Communities designated for Round II funding under the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 and was chosen to receive $2.5 million from the USDA over a ten-year period. This designation entitles the Upper Kanawha Valley area to a comprehensive package of of grants, loans and tax incentives potentially worth millions of dollars in new community investment.

The UKVEC is located in both Kanawha and Fayette Counties, measures 221 miles in area, and is home to nearly 20,000 people.The UKVEC objectives and goals focus on helping residents, business owners, and other stakeholders in the Upper Kanawha Valley in constructing a strategy for future community planning and development activities. Numerous citizen input meetings were held throughout eastern Kanawha County and  Fayette County. County and local officials as well as citizens and community-based organizations submitted a wide array of proposals for solving the many pressing problems of the area.