Redevelopment Works

I’d like to tell you a story about a town with a challenging history. This is a town that was built up on 19th century…

Like so many of us, Joseph Croskey’s journey has been a winding road, part strategy and intention and part luck and circumstance. Continual life redevelopment,…

Last week, we talked about the importance of perspective for redevelopment work. Quite simply, no one person, no matter how well they think they might…

I work in an interesting field, where change is celebrated, challenges are embraced, and differing thoughts are not just invited but needed. Redevelopment, after all,…

Last week, we explored how the ORA has adapted and evolved over the last decade and a half. To start off the new year, we’re…

The ORA looked very different fifteen years ago than it does today. I sat down recently with current CEO John Phillips to talk about the…

We’ve been talking a fair bit about the theory of redevelopment – what it’s about and what sorts of activities it can entail. Today, though,…

In this time of all-things-virtual, it can feel…challenging, to say the least… to find ways to get involved in the community. Many of our local…

With the holiday season now officially underway, we are continuing the conversation on being involved in the community through ideas, action, and support. Last week…

Last week, I encouraged everyone to get involved in redevelopment, and this week I want to offer some specific examples of how. There are three…

Thursday, Nov. 5, was a momentous day for local redevelopment. After a year of grant-writing, waiting, strategizing, more waiting, and logistical planning, we finally had…

As I’m sure is abundantly clear by now, redevelopment is all about people. Sure, we work on the places and things around us, but the…

This week, I’d like to get personal. I’d like to talk about what redevelopment really means for me, and for you. It’s all well and…

We’re wrapping up our focus on the A-C Valley School District by looking at collaboration, and the potential it holds for our community. Collaboration is…

Life has changed considerably in the nearly four centuries since colonists established the first public school in America.  In the early 1600s the focus of…

Superintendent David McDeavitt’s ties to the A-C Valley School District go back a ways. “My father, actually, was a mason on the high school in…

I hope everyone has enjoyed getting to know more about a few of our neighbors over this last month.  The potential for increased resilience in…

“Oh, absolutely. You have to cooperate. Everyone succeeds when everyone works together.” I was struck by the simple sincerity with which Lee Ralph, owner of…

Betsy Gibson loves to tell the story of how she, a vegetarian from Pittsburgh, fell in love with Joe Gibson, a rural pig farmer.  We…

“Locally sown, grown, and owned.” The emphasis on keeping things local ran throughout my conversations with the Gibson family as I continued to speak with…

“Ah, man…he would be so happy. I tell you what, he’d be out there, right now, in the field, working on a new discer or…

Many of humanity’s greatest accomplishments were inspired by the necessity of the moment during times of strife and stress. When crisis strikes, responsibility and inspiration…