I would consider the Connellsville presentation we gave to be an overall success, with a few reminders of where we can strengthen our project. Each group arrived prepared and informed on their topics and on the research they had been doing. The area we still needed to work on was our sense of cohesion and how all of our ideas fit together in one big picture. Part of this was a result of our focus areas being in different towns across Fayette County. Business was working in Uniontown, Sustainability was working in Brownsville, and Urban Studies was working in Connellsville. We each had different scopes for our projects, so our cross-group unity didn’t come very naturally.

We had synthesized our ideas in an initial timeline documenting the last five years of this project. However, when we presented our ideas and findings they didn’t flow very seamlessly between each other. At the end, when we took questions, someone pointed this out and asked us how these individual projects work toward a unifying goal. We explained that assets build upon each other, and that while each town within the county is unique, we can use experiences in one to help us better understand another. We also discussed the ways that positive development in one area has the ability to roll over into another. For example, tourism in one town may lead to the discovery of another. Or new employment opportunities in one town may lead to more people moving into surrounding towns. While our answer to this question was true, it did reveal that we should spend more time connecting our ideas to one big picture and highlighting parallels as we present in the future. 

The Business group’s primary focus was on gathering community insights from across Uniontown to shape an authentic brand identity. By holding discussions with and collecting survey data from entrepreneurs, community members, students, and Uniontown officials, the Business group found that a shared sense of identity and pride in the area among residents would be the key to marketing the town’s offerings more effectively. 

The Sustainability group presented on strengthening the workforce to support regional manufacturing and economic development. They researched ways of drawing in and supporting manufacturing jobs, part of which comes from making tangible, transferable skills accessible from a young age by integrating technical skill training in school curriculum. They emphasized the importance of drawing young people into the area or giving them incentives to stay. This can be difficult when bigger cities tend to be the places offering more diverse job opportunities, which is why the Sustainability group is looking to help more people connect with the industries local to Fayette County through programs like training-to-career grant applications.

My group, the Urban Studies group, was all about raising regional awareness of Connellsville and its assets, which will help attract visitors and help the town grow. We identified Connellsville’s thriving arts scene, historical landmarks, and access to the Great Allegheny Passage Trail as the most valuable assets that might bring more people in. We wanted to find a way to strengthen the network of local artists to attract tourism, and that goal turned into the Connellsville Sticker Project. Stickers, which will be designed by students from the Appalachian Creativity Center in Connellsville and produced by a local print shop called The Ink Spot, will be tangible souvenirs for visitors that will encourage them to spend time in Connellsville and support businesses here.

All of these deliverables revolve around strengthening existing assets and highlighting the reasons Fayette County is a worthwhile place to live and visit. The hope of our project is that inaccessibility to work opportunities should never keep people from staying in their town, and that Connellsville, Uniontown, and Brownsville can serve as examples to other towns looking to revitalize without losing their history or sense of identity. Local history played a big part in all of our research and project development. Brand identity encompasses what makes a place unique and how it got to where it is today. There can’t be a marketing campaign for a business or town without understanding its roots. Similarly, promoting assets through visual art involves knowing which pieces of history resonate with the most people. Sustainable job development, or supporting industries that are built to last and adapt, relies on a deep understanding of how a former industrial presence shaped the town, and how the deindustrialization that followed completely changed the economic and social landscape. If there was one recommendation I would automatically implement, I would say the strengthening and diversification of local industry in a way that stays true to the area’s manufacturing origins, but is adaptable enough to undergo economic change, which creates more local resilience and broader opportunity for all.

All three groups spent a lot of time working with asset maps created by previous cohorts, researching the needs of the town through community engagement, and brainstorming projects with stakeholders. We’ve only just scratched the surface of creating tangible deliverables. It will be critical that future cohorts remain in contact with our already-identified stakeholders to continue deepening these relationships, as well as continue to branch out and gain more perspectives on the development and challenges existing in Fayette County. Having a better understanding of brand identity, continuing to increase local job access, and actually distributing the stickers will be the first place each group should start. 

The value of the relationships built throughout this project cannot be overlooked. When we met Ann and Shirley from the Appalachian Creativity Center, we did not expect to spend more than a few minutes asking them questions about the local art scene. We ended up spending the majority of our afternoon in their gallery on our first trip, and we got to know each other’s stories. When we wrapped up our presentation and said goodbye to Ann, she gave me a hug and expressed that this project had been impactful to her, as well as to us.