A new organization in the region aims to help Southwestern Pennsylvania communities like Greene County pursue federal funding for a variety of purposes.

The organization that is making this happen is the SWPA Municipal Project Hub run by Sharpsburg Mayor Brittany Reno. According to Reno, the Hub is a grassroots organization with a full-time staff team that is dedicated to supporting the administrative capacity at the Community Foundation of the Alleghenies. It is surrounded by 10 counties which include Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland. 

“As someone who’s been working in community and economic development for years, I knew that communities like mine stood to benefit substantially from the bi-partisan federal infrastructure bills that passed in Congress.” Reno stated via email.

Reno also mentioned that her community was dealing with significant challenges related to stormwater management, aging infrastructure, unhealthy housing and rising service delivery costs.

The purpose for possible funding would be so the Southwestern Pennsylvania community to get the support that they need to apply for bigger funding according to a press release by the Alleghany Front covering the organization.

“The magnitude of the opportunity upon us cannot be overstated,” wrote Reno.  “And the cost of inaction grows more untenable with every year that we let pass without getting serious about coordinating these types of community-based infrastructure projects on a scale befitting the size of the systems we’re living and governing in every day.” 

The SWPA Hub for future projects wants to invest in local/regional supply chains in sustainable growth fields, meeting unmet market gaps with family-supporting careers at all working levels according to Reno.

This is my suggestion: For more information, see the Hub website at https://www.swpahub.org/.