On November 14th, approximately one month after Pitt’s Appalachian Collegiate Research Initiative team visited Fayette County for the first time this semester, the big day came: it was time to present our deliverables to our stakeholders in Fayette County. Where the Sustainability, Business, and Urban Studies-Political Science groups had previously been working independently and with vastly different goals, only checking in during our weekly seminar meetings, we were now tasked with giving a cohesive presentation that efficiently represented our major takeaways. Our work was cut out for us, as we spent multiple late nights expanding and paring back various elements of our respective recommendations. Ultimately, this forced us to find the points of unity across groups, and we landed on emphasizing the strong preexisting community leadership across our deliverables. As we drove to the Connellsville Canteen on Friday morning, I was feeling apprehensive: what if the community didn’t approve of our course of action and saw us as just more college kids coming in to tell them what to do? While I think that reflecting on this possibility is always important to maintaining self-awareness, I ended up being really satisfied with how our presentation went and how it was received by our listeners.
Attendance at the lunch had shifted from our last visit to Connellsville, as there were fewer community leaders and more patrons of the Canteen who were simply interested in our work. I actually found this valuable, as it exposed our work to a broader and fresh audience. Some attendees included actors who had stopped in for lunch and two of the Pitt Political Science Department’s Artists-in-Residence. I sat at the Artists-in-Residences’ tables, which allowed them to show me their stunning new projects and for me to learn about yet another unique, interdisciplinary way Pitt seeks to strengthen Appalachian relations. Our presentation was very interactive and evolved into a discussion by the end, with both professors and attendees chiming in on how state government and universities could better serve Fayette County and the region as a whole. All aspects of this project so far have truly felt like a partnership, and I was so grateful to hear people speak candidly about what they love about their community as well as what they’d like to see change. Having these conversations is essential to our strengths-based approach and ensuring we accurately reflect local sentiments in the D.C. presentation. It was interesting to consider how best to translate our findings into a further condensed version for an audience largely unfamiliar with the county.
After the conclusion of our presentation, we had a chance to speak with Ann of the Appalachian Creativity Center and check in on the status of our planned deliverables, the sticker designs. Unfortunately, these had not been ready in time for the Connellsville presentation, so I improvised by highlighting other stickers that serve as regional asset marketing, such as the Allegheny County “I Voted” sticker and Connellsville’s own “It’s Ok to Love Connellsville” sticker, designed by Dan and Mike. (They gave a giant one of these stickers as a thank-you for the shoutout, which might be the best souvenir I could have hoped to receive from this project). Everyone we discussed our deliverables with seemed to agree that they would be a fun and accessible way of representing what people love about Connellsville, which assuaged doubts we’d had about the utility of our creation. The Business and Sustainability teams focused on the creation of a brand identity representing data gathered from Uniontown survey respondents and a grant application guide for the development of a soft-skills curriculum. If I could wave a magic wand and implement one suggestion, it would definitely be the creation of this grant application, as it is a direct and tangible step in improving employment prospects for Fayette County residents, something we empirically and holistic know is important to them.
For future cohorts, the obvious next step in the implementation of the Urban Studies team’s work is the printing and distribution of stickers, as we realized that wasn’t feasible for us to complete by the end of the semester. One of our biggest discoveries is how vibrant the arts scene in Connellsville is and how arts organizations serve as significant third spaces. Future cohorts would do well to explore other ways to connect the arts and other community assets, be it through a return to the asset map that previous years developed, the creation of a more in-depth Geographic Information System, or a new initiative like the creation of a walking tour or more engaging signage. There are many angles from which asset-based development can be approached, and the community leaders are a wealth of information when it comes to efforts already underway and how initiatives can best be implemented. I would also suggest that future political science cohorts conduct interviews and focus groups outside of demographics that have previously been surveyed. While the strong relationship between Pitt and the Fayette County Cultural Trust has been deeply rewarding for both parties, it is important to get perspectives beyond community leadership, especially considering how leadership trends older and generational differences impact how residents view Fayette County.
About two weeks after the presentation, we received the sticker designs created by Connellsville Area Middle School students. It was amazing to see the effort and talent poured into these designs and felt like a milestone in our project. During the presentation, the sticker project functioned as a sort of gateway into broader discussions about how much there is to love about Fayette County, and I’ve certainly been convinced. Our team left the Canteen feeling triumphant and energized, ready to share our takeaways on the regional scale.