Meeting focuses on development, jobs for region

SVI plans to pick up where an intergovernmental study committee left off.
& lt;a href=mailto:gwin@vindy.com & gt;By HAROLD GWIN & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- Shenango Valley Initiative didn't get the 1,000-person turnout it wanted for a meeting on the region's future, but it did get 350 people, and they spoke with one voice.
"Yes," the congregation thundered as it rose to its feet in response to a request for a vote on a resolution calling for the creation of an Inter-Governmental Taskforce on Jobs and Economic Development.
Jobs and economic development were the focus of the evening in St. Joseph's Church at State Street and Case Avenue. SVI, a congregation-based community activist group, wasted no time in wresting pledges of support from various elected officials, would-be officials and others in the crowd.
Municipalities involved
SVI plans to be a part of the task force it is promoting and is asking the five municipalities that were part of the Shenango Valley Intergovernmental Study Commission to be a part of it too.
The Rev. Ralph Newell, SVI past president and pastor of Jesus' Church Faith Christian Center in Farrell, called representatives of Sharon, Farrell, Hermitage and Sharpsville forward and asked each if they would take the resolution back to their elective bodies for consideration. All agreed to do so. No Wheatland officials attended the meeting.
The task force concept grew out of the study commission effort, which spent four years looking at the feasibility of a merger or consolidation of the five municipalities.
In the end, the study commission decided not to make any recommendations.
"What good is a study without any recommendations?" asked Kara Mild, an SVI member, leading up to the introduction of the task force resolution.
That resolution proposes the task force membership be made up of three representatives of each municipality and five SVI members.
It also calls for the group to have its first meeting before Christmas.
SVI got a pledge from U.S. Rep. Phil English of Erie, R-3rd, who attended the session, to attend that first meeting.
The congressman also promised to do what he can to find federal funding to help support infrastructure improvements on 1,000 acres of industrial land to get it ready for development, which would create jobs.
That effort, dubbed Strategy 1000 by Mercer County, intends to have those 1,000 acres ready to go within a 10-year period.
Task force goal
The task force goal will be to develop a united front in job creation and retention and economic development.
"We can't individually change the valley, but collectively we can," said the Rev. Richard Carlson of Oakland Avenue United Methodist Church and an SVI member.
"This is about a vision for the future for the entire valley," Mild said.
Housing has always been an SVI concern, and Bernadette Scully, chairman of SVI's development committee, said the SVI Homeownership Initiative has formed a partnership with local banks to provide low-interest mortgages and low or no down payments to help people of modest incomes own their own homes.
The next step will be to link potential homeowners with those banks, she said, adding that SVI is pledging $150 to member church congregations for each successful referral of a buyer, up to a total of 10 referrals.
Scully then called representatives of First National Bank, National City Bank and Greenville Savings Bank forward, eliciting a $1,500 pledge of support for the effort from First National and promises from the other two to take requests for $5,000 grants back to their boards of directors.