Allegheny Conference on Community Development Hosts First Friday

Metro21 attended the First Friday: County Commissioner Panel hosted by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development on October 8, 2021. In attendance were County Commissioners of Beaver County, Greene County, and Westmoreland County who discussed the various needs of their counties, the work being done to address those needs, and answered questions about how they plan to spend newly authorized federal money and what the latest census results mean for their region.

Jack Manning, Beaver County Commissioner

• Broadband is a key issue for the county. They had already started working on it before the pandemic (2,000 households with no broadband at all), but the pandemic has made it even more important.
• The pending federal infrastructure bill is especially important to them because of the huge influence of 376 on their county. They will spend up to $20 million on broadband – how to get the “last mile” in some of the most rural areas while maximizing quality and reliability for those that already have some limited internet access.
• Public health is also receiving at least $5 million. While Allegheny County has a health department, none of the surrounding counties do, and it is very difficult to form one so they are working with Harrisburg to get more resources for public health.
• After decades of population decline, there is belief that this is beginning to turn around. They have totally revamped their tourism board, and have great capacity now for conventions, other tourism.
• Currently, economic opportunities in the county are inequitable, and they are working hard to improve that – they are partnering with Johns Hopkins University to make a plan for improving that by 2030.

Gina Cerilli Thrasher, Westmoreland County Commissioner

• Southwestern Pennsylvania faces an intense population challenge with its aging demographic. In Westmoreland County, they are trying to be proactive. They began a 10 year strategy reimagining Westmoreland County in 2019 by making investments in the economy, the workforce, infrastructure, and quality of life.
• The way to keep people and attract people is to give them jobs, and make sure they are properly trained for those jobs. At the Westmoreland Community College they have great training programs for the trades – you can do a 2 year program with no or little debt and make $60,000 immediately.
• They are specifically investing in their workforce and building skills, as a diminished workforce in the area is the number one issues businesses face. Part of this includes educating schoolchildren on the local economy and the jobs available and skills needed to thrive in Westmoreland County.
• As always, investments in infrastructure are essential. Broadband access in the county is relatively strong already but there are opportunities for improvement.
• Quality of life is a key strength for the county– from Central Westmoreland County you can be in downtown Pittsburgh or the Laurel Highlands within 30 minutes, a balance that is attractive to many people.

Mike Belding, Greene County Commissioner

• Greene County is one of the poorest counties in Pennsylvania, and all demographics are in decline – it lost 7.1% of its population in last 10 years and over 50% of workforce do not live in the county. The degree of population loss was a surprise to them – they thought it would be larger!
• They have recently improved broadband, using half of their CARES act funding to do so. They were also awarded an Appalachian Region Commission grant to improve broadband – they have become a model for rural broadband infrastructure, which will allow the possibility of remote work in the county.
• On infrastructure they are still working to get potable water to many residents, and often there is not enough money to build that infrastructure from within the communities so the federal money is a huge opportunity.
• There is a great need to create a better entrepreneurship environment and they are open to new solutions to do so. They are trying to create a business incubator via a partnership with Waynesburg University and CMU. It would be downtown in Waynesburg and fill one of many vacant buildings.