The U.S. Department of Commerce announced that the Southwestern Pennsylvania New Economy Coalition is one of 60 finalists out of 529 entrants for Phase 1 of the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) $1 billion “Build Back Better Regional Challenge”. The Build Back Better Regional Challenge provides transformative investments, up to $100 million per grantee, to develop and strengthen regional industry clusters across the country, all while embracing economic equity, creating good-paying jobs, and enhancing U.S. competitiveness globally.

“We’re proud to be partnering with the Allegheny Conference on Community Development in creating the Southwestern Pennsylvania New Economy Coalition and working together on these important projects. This new coalition will help leverage our region’s first-class and growing robotics and information technology sector into providing more economic development and job creation throughout all of Southwestern Pennsylvania,” said Vincent Valdes, Executive Director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania New Economy Coalition will receive a Phase 1 grant of approximately $500,000 to further develop their proposed projects and strengthen their regional growth clusters in advance of submitting a Phase 2 application. The projects are as follows:

• Project 1: Support small, medium, and family-owned enterprises (SMEs) in designing and deploying robotics and AI solutions in their operations through technical assistance programs.
• Project 2: Provide capital to nonprofit centers of excellence to make facilities and support available for SMEs to develop, test, adopt robotics and AI technologies.
• Project 3: Establish inclusive career pathways from high school and beyond, preparing new workers to thrive in robotics and AI and providing them with upskilling opportunities.
• Project 4: Develop robotics and AI accelerators that provide wraparound business support and development services.

The two-phase competition will ultimately award 20-30 regional coalitions between $25 and $100 million to implement 3-8 projects that support an industry sector.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Corporation, a 501(c)(3) corporation, on behalf of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC), is requesting Technical Proposals and Price Proposals (together, the Proposal package) for Regional Ridesharing Software Consultant Services. The selected firm or team of firms will provide SPC with a comprehensive and dynamic regional ridesharing software platform for the 10-county SPC region, along with staff training, software maintenance and technical support.

The Request for Proposals (RFP) was released by SPC on December 15, 2021. Copies may be downloaded from the SPC Website (www.spcregion.org) or may be obtained by e-mail request to Anthony Hickton at Ahickton@spcregion.org.

Electronic submissions will be required via SPC’s SharePoint site. Full submission details are provided in the RFP document. Proposal packages are due on January 21, 2022.

More than two dozen residents attended a “Community Conversation” held at the Greene County Fairgrounds Monday evening to discuss broadband access and speed issues in the area and learn about an ongoing statewide connectivity improvement plan.

The event was coordinated by the Greene County commissioners and facilitated by representatives affiliated with Southwestern Pennsylvania Connected, an initiative created to develop a plan to bring equitable broadband access and high-speed internet to the area.

Facilitators Leanne Doran and LaTrenda Sherrill said the Greene County meeting was one of many being held in 10 counties throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania to assess residents’ concerns regarding broadband access and speed.

Doran said the connectivity improvement plan, which is being led by Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, Allies for Children and Carnegie Mellon University, includes holding regional conversations and workshops, identifying priorities, obtaining funding and grants, developing programs and implementing a plan based on research.

Those in attendance discussed their concerns with slow or no broadband speed and access, identifying numerous dead spots of service throughout the county. Issues such as affordability, poor service, low trust in internet service providers, insufficient repairs and outdated equipment were also discussed.

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The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, which covers Indiana and nine other Pittsburgh-area counties, is nearing the end of a survey seeking information about internet access and experience.

SPC’s Southwestern Pennsylvania Connected initiative is asking community members to take a brief survey online or by phone.

Eligible participants can win a $50 Visa gift card for completing the survey.

SWPA Connected is a regional consortium that includes the SPC, Carnegie Mellon University, Allies for Children and a diverse group of regional partners.

Its aim is to develop an equitable Connectivity Improvement Plan to provide affordable, reliable broadband internet access across the region.

The partners stress that this initiative is not affiliated with any internet provider and is not intended to sell any internet services. Rather, it seeks to guide the region’s future internet investments that can be made now that the historic infrastructure bill has passed, which includes $65 billion for broadband.

Read the full article at www.indianagazette.com