3 communities share goals
PARKER — Emlenton, Foxburg and Parker are only three or four miles apart from each other on Route 268.
However, the tiny communities are in three separate counties and have different representatives in state government, making it difficult for them to work as a group.
But now they have been named Pennsylvania Blueprint Communities, which will help them organize as a group to plan for the future and to seek grants and other funding sources.
“It's really, really important,” said Emlenton manager Nancy Marano.
Pennsylvania Blueprint Communities is an initiative sponsored by the Federal Home Loan Bank, the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, the state Department of Community and Economic Development and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development.
The mission of the initiative is to help revitalize older communities with comprehensive planning, education and local and government leadership. The communities are to develop a vision and action plans for community and economic development.
Deb Lutz, vice president for economic development at the Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry and Tourism, said the group was strongly encouraged by state officials to apply.
She said the alliance hosted state officials last August.
“They were really impressed with the region,” Lutz said.
Those officials contacted the communities and said applying for the initiative could help the region. Lutz said it made sense to apply as a group of communities since all three are small and are geographically close.
The group, called the Oil Region Group, applied in April, and was told it had been accepted fairly quickly. Representatives attended a conference at the end of May with the other communities.
“We cross three counties, so we're quite unique,” Lutz said.
Marano said although in three counties, the communities all are along the Allegheny River, all are connected by the Allegheny River Trail and all are a part of the Allegheny-Clarion Valley School District.
Marano also said the three communities are unique, noting that Parker is considered the smallest incorporated city in the United States and that Foxburg has the oldest golf course in continuous use in the U.S.A core committee for the group is doing most of the planning. The committee has two representatives from each community, someone from the Venango County planning commission, someone from Farmers National Bank and two people from the alliance.The group, along with the other communities, will go through several community development training sessions. By the end of the training, the group will have a comprehensive action plan. Marano said the goals of the plan could be attained in five years.On Thursday, the group met at the Parker Fire Hall to discuss some of its plans and to work on a vision statement.Later the group will develop a mission statement, draft a plan, develop a strategy, identify funding sources and develop a timeline for action.Denise Schlegel, who is assisting the blueprint communities for the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, said the group needs to focus on itself, but also needs to be aware of what surrounds the area.In a survey, residents identified that the biggest assets to the region are natural, with the Allegheny River, trails and forests; financial with Farmers National Bank based in Emlenton and with several charitable trusts in the area; and construction, such as historic architecture and water and sewer infrastructure.However, John Soroka, executive director of the Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts in Foxburg, noted that all of the banks and trusts basically only serve Venango County.Marano said that being considered a blueprint community could help get trusts more interested. Schlegel agreed.“Blueprint community leverages you because you have a plan,” Schlegel said.
She said the group also will need elected officials to get behind the initiative for funding and other support.Marano said that political leverage could put the group at an advantage because it could have three groups of county commissioners, two state representatives and two state senators involved.“We'll have triple what the other (groups) have at the end,” Marano said.Mike Vereb, manager of the Foxburg Inn, noted that his business belongs to seven chambers of commerce. He also said that he will host a multi-chamber mixer from 5 to 7 p.m. Aug. 13.He said many of the local elected officials, those running for elected office and the local Republican and Democratic committees attend this mixer and that would be a good place to promote the initiative.One concern the group has involves schools, with Parker City Council Member Marilyn McCall noting that the A-C Valley School District is low performing.“That makes it hard to bring young families in,” McCall said.Marano said the administrators at the district are working hard to support the initiative, and she said that a big focus of the group should be on the growth and development of the schools.Public input also is important to the initiative.Schlegel said that with proper communication, more people in the community will get involved. She said the committee needs key people to help.
The group will host community forums from 6 to 9 p.m. Aug. 5 and Aug. 7 at the A-C Valley Elementary School cafetorium. The Aug. 5 meeting will cover government and partnership development, and the Aug. 7 meeting will cover budget, finance and volunteer development.The forums are free, but reservations can be made by contacting Lutz at 814-677-3152, Ext. 115, or at dlutz@oilregion.org.Lutz emphasized the need for the public to get involved. “This needs to be a community initiative,” Lutz said.For information or to get involved with the initiative, contact Bill or Marilyn McCall at 724-399-0076, Marano at 724-867-8611 or Vereb at 724-659-3116.Out of about 60 communities and groups statewide that applied, six were accepted.The other communities selected are New Castle, Clarion, the Curwensville Group, the Huntington County group and Reynoldsville.
