The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is a United States federal-state partnership that works with the people of Appalachia to create opportunities for self-sustaining economic development and improved quality of life. The Commission is a partnership of 420 counties or county-equivalents in 13 states (including eight independent cities in Virginia, where state law makes cities administratively separate from counties), and the governors of West Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, and a presidential appointee representing the federal government. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C.