evolveEA and Allegheny County Win Planning Award for Allegheny Together Main Street Program

ERIE PA — At the recent annual conference of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association, the Allegheny Together Main Street Technical Assistance Program for municipalities across Allegheny County was recognized with a 2024 Planning Award. The program is administered by the Allegheny County Economic Development (ACED) agency, with evolve environment :: architecture and Fourth Economy Consulting providing hands-on technical assistance to community leaders for a range of strategic commercial district needs.

evolveEA and Fourth Economy Consulting led over a dozen communities through facilitated strategic planning utilizing data analysis, community engagement, urban design, and economic development with tangible results over a six-year program duration. The Allegheny Together Program aimed to ensure equitable economic development in Allegheny County, focusing on revitalizing business districts affected by the decline of manufacturing jobs. Each participating community developed a Strategic Action Plan centered around MARKET, PLACE, and IDENTITY, followed by two years of Technical Assistance to implement prioritized projects.

The program has yielded benefits and lessons that could be useful to other economic development entities, distinguishing Allegheny Together as an innovative program under the Planning Award criteria. Characterization of main streets as striving, thriving, and stabilizing helped communities understand their lived experience and relate to other cohort communities. Robust data collection was integrated into Allegheny County’s first main street portfolio management dashboard, enabling ACED to better share resources, track progress, and scale to a county-wide cohort. Activities ranging from public meetings to municipal summits offered a menu of engagement methods. The program has yielded concrete outcomes, ranging from catalytic redevelopment projects to main street marketing plans with clear improvements to Allegheny County’s main streets.

More information about Allegheny Together is available through our project summary and on the Allegheny Together website.