Braddock, East Pittsburgh, & North Braddock (BEN) Joint Comprehensive Plan
After the near-collapse of the region’s steel industry and the subsequent economic decline of communities located along the Mon Valley River, the BEN boroughs are working together to take advantage of emerging economic drivers and community assets, and create a revitalization and reinvestment strategy for their business districts and neighborhoods.
evolveEA’s team facilitated a multi-year, in-depth planning process to shape municipal priorities for the next ten years (2021-2031), helping the community establish a vision and a set of values to guide future growth and development. The community vision identifies Welcoming Places, Strengthened Municipal Performance, and Diverse Partnerships as the key ways through which Braddock, East Pittsburgh, and North Braddock will create a thriving, safe, and accessible future. The values established in our community engagement were: to address our needs Across Municipalities, to advance Triple Bottom Line Manufacturing, to cultivate Community Wealth, to prioritize Mobility as an Economic Driver, to support the Next Generation of Changemakers, to protect Public and Ecological Health, and to center Equitable Redevlopment.
Our analysis identified issues and opportunities for municipal and community action across five Action Areas:
- Mainstreet & Mobility
- Resilient Systems
- Housing
- Economic Vitality
- Lifelong Learning
Our engagement strategies helped galvanize the core municipal partnerships needed to steward implementation of dozens of strategic initiatives in all five action areas, while strengthening business, institutional and grassroots capacity as well.
