Community Revitalization Desktop Guide

How To Attract High Impact Investment to Core Communities Pennsylvania’s important economic challenge is to attract high impact investment and breathe new economic life into our core communities. The goal of this handbook is to provide local government with the tools, information and examples that they need to usher a new era of investment into Pennsylvania’s older cities, boroughs and townships. This handbook recommends a strategy and a series of action steps that have helped Pennsylvania’s older communities to successfully attract their first major development projects in decades, bring in new jobs and people, and improve quality of life for current residents. We share ideas and techniques Pennsylvania communities have used to identify their assets, combine those assets to meet the needs of new markets, attract private investment, and leverage that investment to maximize its positive impact on the municipality. Through four detailed case studies, we trace four municipalities’ experiences as they partner with private developers to redevelop abandoned or underutilized properties and examine the results. Through interviews with private developers who have invested millions in older communities and local government leaders who have attracted substantial investment, the handbook offers different perspectives on how municipalities can take advantage of changing demographics and trends to grow again. The case studies and the handbook also document the work of Governor Rendell’s Community Action Team (CAT) and detail their successful partnerships with local elected officials to attract significant new development projects to the State’s cities, boroughs and older townships. By partnering closely with the State and leveraging their assets, Pennsylvania’s core communities are staging a comeback and are bringing businesses and residents to urban Pennsylvania. Our goal is to provide expertise and funding to help our older core communities cultivate an environment that encourages people and jobs to locate there. We want to encourage core communities to reach out to the State with viable ideas, and then work with the Community Action Team to attract the private investment needed to build a solid foundation for growth. – Pennsylvania Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Yablonsky Elk County Courthouse 5

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Community Revitalization Desktop Guide

PA Community Revitalization Desktop Guide Table of Contents How To Attract High Impact Investment to Core Communities Goal One: Choose One Asset-Rich Redevelopment Area Interviews with Pennsylvania Mayors Goal Two: Prepare Redevelopment Area for Market Interviews with Developers who Have Invested in Pennsylvania Cities and Towns Goal Three: Welcome Investment Interviews with Developers who Have Invested in Pennsylvania Cities and Towns Goal Four: Apply Strategies That Work Conclusion

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.