Connellsville’s future discussed
CONNELLSVILLE – A group of committed citizens met Tuesday to discuss the city’s future. Lucinda Robbins, extension educator with Penn State Cooperative Extension, said the Blueprint Communities committee learned that the 18 people assembled at the meeting were pretty positive about Connellsville’s future.
“Although Connellsville definitely has its challenges, this group of citizens are ready to meet those challenges and to move the city into the future and into a good place,” said Robbins.
“The next meeting, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m., will give the citizens the opportunity to look at the vision and develop some goals and actions that will help them to get to the place they want to be.”
Robbins said the next meeting is a good opportunity for people to come out and really get their two cents in. She additionally said she would like to see a broad spectrum of people at the next meeting.
“We need people of all ages,” said Robbins. “As I looked around the room tonight, I saw a group of concerned middle age to senior citizens and I would like to see some teenagers at the next meeting.”
Robbins said teenage input is essential because they are the people who will benefit from the long-range plan (25 to 30 years) in the future.
The goal of the five-member panel, which includes city Mayor Judy Reed, city redevelopment authority executive director Ralph Wombacker, city clerk David Pinkosky, businessman Dick Oglevee and PNC Bank representative Michele Ruth, is to make the community a better place to live, work, raise children and play.
In August, Connellsville was chosen for the Blueprint Communities inaugural program that encourages small rural areas to develop a reasonable revitalization plan and initiate the plan. The Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) of Pittsburgh in cooperation with other funding and program partners formulated the initiative.
Some of the information provided by Robbins to the committee Tuesday night included a profile of general demographic characteristics of Connellsville. The committee learned that Connellsville population is declining.
Robbins said there are 9,146 people living in Connellsville, 4,253 men and 4,893 women. She additionally said the population is 94.5 percent white and 3.9 percent black or African American.
The average age is 35 to 44 (13.9 percent) and 25 to 34 (13.6 percent). Robbins said 40.3 percent of the citizens are a married couple family while 60 percent are non-traditional households.
Only about 50.2 percent of houses are owner-occupied while 10.6 percent of housing units are vacant. The percentage of population 65 and over is at 19.3 percent.
The percentage of population age 25 and over who are high school graduates or who have completed higher education classes is 76.1 percent. The percentage of the population age 5 and over who lived in the same house in 1995 was set at 64.4 percent.
Robbins said the percentage of population age 5 and over who lived in a different house in 1995 was 27.2 percent and the percentage of civilian non-institutionalized population age 5 and over with a disability is 26 percent.
The employment information showed that 3,542, or 49.9 percent, of Connellsville residents are employed, while 274 or 3.9 percent are unemployed.
Robbins additionally offered a list of 20 clues to rural community survival. Some of the items included cooperative community spirit, realistic appraisal of future opportunities, willingness to invest in the future, active economic development, transition of power to a younger generation of leaders, acceptance of women in leadership roles and a strong belief in and support of education.
The committee is expected to come up with four or five ideas on how the community can be improved at the next meeting.