During this site visit we went to multiple different locations for interviews, tours, and to learn more about the Fayette County community. Some of these locations proved to be large assets of the Fayette County area. As a large group, we visited the Connellsville Canteen which was started by Michael Edwards and Daniel Cocks from the Fayette County Cultural Trust (FCCT). The Connellsville Canteen functions as a World War II Museum with a focus on connections to the members of Connellsville who served in World War II. In addition to the Canteen, they have been working on creating the Education and Entrepreneurship Center which will host classes, theatre performances, and art displays for the community. We also visited the Frank Lloyd Wright home, Fallingwater, for a tour. Fallingwater is a relatively well-known destination, but the fact that it is located in Fayette County is not often discussed or completely acknowledged by its visitors. Fallingwater is just one of the tourist attractions in the area; others include but are not limited to Laurel Caverns, Ohiopyle, and additional Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. We all stayed in Touchstone Center for Crafts which is located in Farmington, Pennsylvania. Touchstone provides campsites and various craft workshops for the area. Touchstone has provided a beneficial method of supporting and growing the arts community. Identifying additional assets for the area will come from the collaboration of each of the student groups. We can hopefully work together to compare interview notes and discuss various locations we visited to identify which of these places are assets to the community. Something that surprised me most during this trip and while I was learning more about the area is the number of tourist attractions that are in Fayette County. While these tourist attractions are good to have in the area so that people visit, they do not necessarily keep people in the area. I also learned during an interview with the Fayette County Commissioner that the occupancy rate of rentals is over 99%. This means that even with the desire to bring new people to the area with additional jobs and attractions, there is not necessarily the ability to house that many people so soon. 

In my initial post I explained that my group would be focusing on two different paths for economic development during our semester project. The first path was abandoned mine land reclamation through acid mine drainage treatment with specific focus on Phillips Discharge and its entry into Redstone Creek which spans most of the Uniontown area. Following interviews with members of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, our group learned that there are active efforts being pursued to treat this area. During these discussions we were told that the funding to complete this work is available for the implementation of the treatment plant and for the operation and maintenance of the plant in the future. This means that the remaining element of this topic is gauging community interest in building the plant and operating it moving forward. The second path we were focusing on was the introduction of space and space adjacent technology into the community by building on existing infrastructure and community capabilities. This project would focus on determining the feasibility of introducing a new industry and educating the area on the needs of the space and space adjacent industry. However, following our site visit to Fayette County our group has decided to pivot in our semester project. This pivot in focus is to provide the most beneficial aid and deliverables to Fayette County. Throughout the semester the emphasis of our project has been to add value to Fayette County with the overarching theme being on sustainable economic development. With this being said, our group has decided to focus on adding value to Fayette County through assisting in the redevelopment, economic development, and foundational asset building of Uniontown. We came to this specific focus following an incredibly insightful conversation with the Executive Director of the Redevelopment Authority of Uniontown, Crystal Simmons.  

Crystal was able to speak candidly about the current climate and capabilities of the local government of Uniontown. In the beginning of our conversation Crystal explained that Uniontown still has not completely integrated into the extent of modern technology. She told us that many documents they have exist in only a single physical copy and that they are working to get this information added to digital formats so that it is not lost. Since there is a lack of digital copies of city information and plans, there has been an active effort to obtain city plans and zoning guides to develop regional maps to better work on development projects. This collection of information will provide an easier method for determining needs and wants for development in the area. It will also help in the prioritization of development projects. Crystal explained to our group that while there is desire for growth and development in the area, a lot of the required foundational aspects of the area need to be further developed before these projects can begin. During this conversation we learned that the addition of municipal education in the form of continuous education for local government officials and community members would be beneficial to encourage consistent growth. This may also be a key method of developing a larger bandwidth for government and community officials. We were told that the area is currently preparing to apply for certain grants and aid programs. This application process has proved that many members of the local government and various agencies in the area are spread thin. Many people are doing the work of multiple positions, are unclear of exact details related to their specific job description, and they lack a specific organization chart to clearly define these details. Without this information clearly documented there is a risk of having gaps in the organization. Gaps in government organizations can hinder future development, holding back the community in the long run. 

When my group left this conversation with Crystal, we realized almost instantly that our focus needed to shift. Continuing to focus on our two specific paths would not be the best way to add value to the community. We discussed how our current efforts, specifically the introduction of a new industry into the area, would not be feasible at this moment. In order to get to the point where a project like the integration of new technologies could be considered the foundation of local government and redevelopment authorities needs to be built up. When I discuss the foundational aspects, I am referring to bandwidth of human resources in these departments, clarification of responsibilities, distinct roles, education of community and government members, as well as interest and dedication to the area. Strengthening these foundational aspects will allow the area to move forward to larger projects. Our group decided to focus specifically on Uniontown in part because of this conversation with Crystal, but also because Uniontown is the largest city in Fayette County.  

Moving forward from our site visit and looking into the remainder of the semester, our group will be researching the programs we discussed with Crystal. We are also gathering information on municipal training opportunities, continuous education programs, and gap analysis efforts. With this research we are hoping to develop a report or series of reports detailing training and education opportunities. We also hope to conduct a gap analysis to identify potential weaknesses, strengths, and help work toward a clear organizational structure. Ideally this gap analysis will end with us providing a report and series of graphs or other form of visual to easily explain the current state of the organization while providing potential avenues for filling in these gaps. My group will be returning to Uniontown in late October to meet with Crystal again and provide initial ideas for deliverables. During this visit we would like to provide multiple different options so that when we present them to Crystal and other members of the local government to obtain feedback on which would be most beneficial moving forward. We would also like to speak to additional local government officials and employees to determine the needs of other areas not limited to the Redevelopment Authority. This interest in speaking with others is to gauge how widespread the issues with foundational aspects are and to determine how our efforts may be able to support other departments. Conducting interviews with other members may help us determine additional areas that need assistance and could provide projects for future student groups in the Appalachian Collegiate Research Initiative. We hope that these deliverables can be used by future groups to further assist the development of Uniontown.