Marshall Plan for Middle America Kick-Off Summit
Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman hosted a roundtable discussion on Broadband Across Urban and Rural Communities at the Marshall Plan for Middle America Kick-Off Summit on Tuesday, October 5, 2021.
The Marshall Plan for Middle America (MP4MA) Roadmap has mapped out a vision for a regional, diverse stakeholder coalition to activate equitable economic recovery in the Upper Appalachia/Ohio River Valley region, while laying the foundation for a robust renewable energy sector.
MP4MA has signaled a generational opportunity to transform the region’s renewable energy sector and revitalize its economy, but it will not happen if we don’t all work together and start to collaborate differently. Key leaders in the region took part in the initial cohort of cross-sectoral partners that will lay the foundation and set the stage for how we all work on this change.
Some of the featured speakers at the kick-off summit included:
- U.S. Secretary of Labor Martin J. Walsh
- City of Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto
- U.S. Department of Energy Loan Program Senior Advisor Dong Kim
- Carnegie Mellon University Associate Director of Engineering & Public Policy Valerie Jean Karplus
and many more!
Recording coming soon!
The City of Pittsburgh won second place in the Climate Challenge Cup, an international competition that is part of COP26, in the "Achieving Net Zero" category for the Marshall Plan for Middle America, a measure meant to help the region become a global leader in cleaner energy sources. The Marshall Plan for Middle America aims to help ensure that a region that seemed likely to be “left behind in the transition could actually start to lead,” Peduto said when accepting the award.
Read the press release here.
Watch the entire awards presentation here.