Apr 22, 2022 4 min read

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Mon Valley Alliance (MVA) has a tool in place to promote what is offered in 27 Washington County municipalities and work toward what the communities want to do in the future.

MVA’s Economic Playbook was launched Wednesday at Mon Valley Career and Technical Center. The playbook is a coordinated and collaborative marketing and promotion strategy to advance economic development and continued investment in the municipalities.

In 2021, the Mon Valley Alliance obtained funding assistance through the Washington County Local Share Account Program to prepare the playbook.

That task was handled by MVA and its technical consulting team of Michael Baker International Inc. and Vernon Land Use LLC in collaboration with the 27 municipalities, along with advisement from a number of private and public sector representatives.

“This really consolidates all of the information about the Valley in one place,” said Ben Brown, outgoing MVA chief executive officer. “We also have the ability to expand it into Westmoreland County, into Greene and Fayette and really capture the entire Mon Valley with this system. Our plan is to take this information and start marketing.”

Participating municipalities are: Allenport, Bentleyville, Carroll, California, Charleroi, Coal Center, Cokeburg, Donora, Dunlevy, Elco, Ellsworth, Fallowfield, Finleyville, Long Branch, Monongahela, New Eagle, North Bethlehem, North Charleroi, Nottingham, Roscoe, Somerset, Speers, Stockdale, Twilight, Union, West Brownsville and West Pike Run.

The Economic Playbook is in print form, but is accessible online at mon-valley-alliance-mvaf.hub.arcgis.com, which allows for it to be updated at any time.

“You just can’t gather all of the information at one time,” said Jamie Colecchi, incoming Mon Valley Alliance CEO. “It is a living document. It is a living website and it’s something we have to keep up with to make it work. Ultimately, it’s about people. People put this together, people have developed it, and it takes people to grow the region.”

The Economic Playbook focuses on six areas in developing a plan of economic development and sustainable growth: coordination and capacity, marketing and branding, infrastructure and revitalization, new places to live, business retention and attraction, and recreation and tourism.

A valuable tool of the project is the MVA investment portal – a website that includes a number of characteristics including individual profiles of all of the participating communities.

Among those in attendance Wednesday was state Rep. Tim O’Neal, R-South Strabane, who thinks the playbook will be beneficial in developing the Mon Valley, which he feels is extremely important.

“I’m really hoping this sparks a revival of the communities throughout the Mon Valley,” he said. “Certainly, the work of the Mon Valley Alliance has been doing that. Now you’ve seen the input of the local communities. It’s wonderful to hear there is an actual plan for the redevelopment, so I’m excited about it.”

State Rep. Bud Cook, R-West Pike Run Township, thinks such a plan is long overdue.

“Our theory is come home and go big, and all of these parts enhance it,” he said. “We have so much to offer here. We just need to get everything together and coordinate it. This is a great first step.”

Monongahela Councilman Kenneth Kulak said the playbook addresses something important to him – regional planning.

“I’m thrilled that the alliance stepped in to do something to help us as a region as a whole,” Kulak said. “It’s a great tool to start with, and it sounds like it’s a workable building document over the years. I would like to see so many other organizations chiming in to participate in the development of this document. I think it’s a wonderful beginning for us.”