The Center’s Annual Meeting – Thursday, 11/16

Join us for What’s Next 2018 – The annual meeting of the The Center for Community Growth, Indiana PA, Each year we bring together members to help determine the organization’s direction for the next year.

Our mission continues to be to support individuals and organizations in advocating for social justice. This year was a big one for us – two Center built projects have a life of their own, and are creating real policy change in Indiana County. A third significantly reduces barriers to healthy, local produce for low-income residents of Indiana County. 

Your petition let to the creation of the Indiana County Sustainabe Economy Task Force – a government led body tasked with diversifying our region’s industry, and to identify and pursue opportunities in the expanding renuable energy field.

No kidding, that was your petition, right here in the middle of coal country.

Also, have you been to the Food Co-op of Indiana PA on Philly street – right in the middle of freaking town!?! It’s real, and this organization built the movement to give it power.

Lastly, your donations and long term support helped launch the Indiana County Farmers’ Market program, where customers on food assistance double their buying power at the Farmers’ Market.

What’s Next in 2018 is an opportunity for new leadership to focus the direction of the Center for Community Growth, an organization that has built progressive power in Indiana County.

We are recruiting board members to take us in to 2018. Please join us.

Gerald Smith
Co-Director, Center for Community Growth

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Thunderdome comes to Indiana – Sept 1

It’s here! Join us as we lauch the second half of the 2017 Film Series with an in-progress screening of Thunderdome, USA – a groundbreaking documentary on the region that helped Donald Trump win Pennsylvania and the presidency.

Footage includes interviews and events in and around Indiana County, between 2012 and 2016. Check the trailer, you may be in it!

https://goo.gl/nQZ9xG

Yes, you heard that right, we’ll be at IRMC Park, in downtown Indiana. This will be our first outdoor film, and the first film ever at IRMC Park.

So bring a lawn chair, and join a new tradition!

Special thanks to Soundbar Productions for making this possible. It’s dedicated community members like Sean Howard who move Indiana community forward!

Sustainability Campaign wins!

After a wildly successful Sustainability Summit organized largely by Indiana County Office of Planning and Development, and the League of Women Voters last month, the County Commissioners have responded to our requests for an institutional commitment to a new economy by establishing a Sustainability Task Force.

Why a task force? Jobs! Here’s how Commissioner Sherene Hess laid it out:

“A clean energy revolution is taking place across America, underscored by the steady expansion of the U.S. renewable energy sector,” Hess said. “The clean energy industry generates hundreds of billions in economic activity, and is expected to continue to grow. … There is tremendous economic opportunity for the counties that invent, manufacture and export clean energy technologies. Renewable energy and sustainable agriculture can play an important role in rural economic development.”

We’re so excited that Commissioner Hess is following through on her pledge to put real resources to building a new energy economy.  Center member, Tina Purdue lays out what the Task Force will do:

…the task force will identify and promote sustainable economic initiatives that diversify the county’s economic base by attracting businesses and jobs in the renewable energy sector; that reduce costs for government, agriculture, business and private individuals; and that protect and restore the county’s natural resources.

Tina Purdue lays out the agenda at the Sustainability Summit

Perdue said that to achieve those goals, the organizers are recommending that the task force develop an action plan with short- and long-term goals in three categories — economic development, education and job training. The goals may include investigating ways to bring jobs in the renewable energy field into the county; identifying the needs of potential employers in the renewable energy field in order to expand or relocate in the county; identifying and supporting green energy entrepreneurs; planning educational programs to build awareness of sustainable energy opportunities for employment; identifying sustainable practices that will work in the county to contain costs and improve the management of natural resources; educating stakeholders in agriculture, business and government about sustainable practices that will cut costs; identifying current job training at local facilities that promote green technology jobs; and proposing partnerships with local educational institutions to train or retrain people for jobs in the renewable energy sector.

Read all about it here! Great work!!

Register your Elected for Thrive Sustainability Summit

The 2017 Thrive Sustainability Summit sent out invitations to county and local electeds across Western PA. If you think local government should be investing in building a climate change resilient economy, why don’t you call up  your local elected official and remind them of the opportunity. Here’s a public list of contacts,  call them today.

A flier is above and there’s more information on in this great article from the Indiana Gazette!

Sustainable energy event to be held

April 12, 2017 10:48 AM

 

An all-day seminar will explore the possibilities of an economy based on sustainable energy sources next week in the Indiana area.

The “Sustainable Economy Summit” is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. April 21 at the Rustic Lodge on Oakland Avenue in White Township.

The project is a joint effort of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, the LOWV of Indiana County, the Indiana County Office of Planning and Development, the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Sustainable Studies Program, the Evergreen Conservancy and the Center for Community Growth of Indiana.

Organizers say a sustainable economy is no longer a pipedream, and that more than 3 million clean energy jobs are available in the U.S. with more expected to be created.

“Clean vehicles, grid development, energy efficiency and battery storage are among the fastest growing industries in the country. And in Pennsylvania, renewable energy jobs are growing faster than jobs in fossil fuel,” according to a news release announcing the event.

Additional jobs are projected in sustainable agriculture and other clean economy sectors.

Organizers say the summit is designed for municipal officials and staff of local and county governments in rural southwestern Pennsylvania and community members and students who want to become involved by serving on community boards and task forces.

Admission to the seminar is $10 for professionals. The fee includes lunch. There is no charge for students.

Participants may register online at http://ow.ly/ThqU30aIPLr.

Panelists at the event will explore ways to attract economic development to rural areas, providing good jobs and healthy communities in a sustainable economy and how to use existing assets to ensure that communities can thrive.

Seminar topics will focus on various types of renewable energy and related infrastructure, including regional initiatives by clean energy companies; the economic potential of sustainable agriculture, eco-tourism, and energy efficiency and the emerging field of green chemistry with its potential to transform manufacturing.

Speakers and presenters at the “Sustainable Economy Summit” will include Dr. Terrence Collins, speaking on green chemistry; Dan Boone, on innovations in wind power; former state Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Hannah Smith-Brubaker, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture; a panel discussing eco-tourism; Joe Pizarchik, a recent director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement for the U.S. Dept. of the Interior; Patricia DeMarco, author of Pathways to a Sustainable Future; and Monaca Borough Manager Mario Leone Jr., on planning, getting grants and implementing sustainable projects.

“Capacity-building sessions will provide tools to measure the economic benefits of sustainable development, and strategies for marketing those benefits to attract funding and new businesses to your community,” according to the event announcement.

For more information, phone the League of Women Voters at (717) 234-1576 or email reimaginelwvpa@ gmail.com.

Disclaimer: Copyright © 2017 Indiana Gazette. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

https://www.indianagazette.com/news/indiana-news/sustainable-energy-event-to-be-held,26176949/

 

Thrive Sustainability Summit – April 21

The Center is proud to announce the Thrive Sustainability Summit, Friday April 21, in collaboration with the League of Women Voters, Evergreen Conservancy, and the Indiana County Office of Planning and Development!

Why should YOU attend? The sustainable economy is no longer a pipedream!  According to the latest research, there are more than 3 million clean energy jobs in the US – and many more are projected.

Clean vehicles, grid development, energy efficiency, and battery storage are among the fastest growing industries in the country. And in Pennsylvania, renewable energy jobs are growing faster than jobs in fossil fuel. The numbers are even better if you include sustainable agriculture and other clean economy sectors.

Given these exciting developments, you may be asking yourself . . . What can we do to attract economic development to our rural counties and towns? Can we guarantee good jobs and healthy communities in the new sustainable economy? How can we use existing assets to ensure that our communities can once again thrive?

To help answer these questions, you are invited to the THRIVE: Sustainable Economy Summit.     At the Summit, you will learn from local and national experts about:

• various types of renewable energy and related infrastructure, including regional initiatives by clean energy companies;
• the economic potential of sustainable agriculture, eco-tourism, and energy efficiency; and
• the emerging field of green chemistry and its potential to transform manufacturing.

Capacity-building sessions will provide tools to measure the economic benefits of sustainable development, as well as strategies for marketing those benefits. We want to help you to attract funding and new businesses to your community.

The THRIVE Summit is specifically designed for municipal officials and staff of local and county governments in rural Southwestern PA. Community members and students who want to become involved by serving on community boards and task forces are also welcome.

Your help is needed. Let’s join together to build thriving communities in the new, sustainable economy!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TODAY!