Regional Resilience in Beaver County During COVID-19

Regional Resilience in Beaver County During COVID-19

SUMMARY REPORT | FEBRUARY 2021

Participants in the Process

2 | Introduction • B EAVER COUNTY RESILIENCE DURIN G COVID -19

Leadership Team Members BEAVER COUNTY PARTNERSHIP STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE MEMBERS

BEAVER COUNTY PARTNERSHIP BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Kristen Doerschner Kimberly Pizzella Kiesling Daniel Rossi-Keen Bethany Williams

Charles “Skip” Homan Rebecca Matsco Bethany Williams Mario Leone Norm Mitry Kristen Doerschner Matt Dawson Eric Rosendale Kimberly Pizzella Kiesling Daniel Rossi-Keen Tony Guy

LISTENING SESSION FACILITATORS Daniel Rossi-Keen Helen Kissick Bethany Williams STORYTELLING TEAM Chris Padgett Erin Ninehouser Kevin Farkas Human City Creative

LEAD AUTHOR & PROJECT MANAGER

GRAPHIC DESIGN TEAM

This report was made possible using funds provided to RiverWise by the Community Development Program of Beaver County and the Hillman Family Foundations.

Daniel Rossi-Keen, PhD FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Cassie Brkich Valerie Kulbersh Amy Schaffer Karla Zamudio Rachel Aubel

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE & PROJECT SUPPORT Scott Wolovich

LISTENING SESSION PARTICIPANTS Joline Atkins Terrie Baumgardner Mike Belsky Kirsten Bestor Cassie Brkich Ondrea Burton Karl Chapple Lindsay Courteau Sarah Crotty Matthew Dawson Rosemary DeWeese Shannon Debes Marcos Digliodo Linda Doutt John Feraco Mary Gettings Alice Melina Giffin Samuel Gill John Goberish Natalia Goodnow Kevin Hanes Mike Harich Kelly Harper Burgos Skip Homan Alexandria Huff Michael Hytla

Tim Iman Nora Johnson Charles Jones Kimberly Kiesling Pizzella Cheryl King Helen Kissick Joanne Koehler Christine Kroger Marcia Lehman Mario Leone Hannah Locop Maria Longo Tim Mascari Rebecca Matsco Kevin McCarl Jen Miller Daryl Milliner Connor Mulvaney Carrie Nolan Jodi Oliver Shon Owens Christopher Padgett Mark Piccirilli Kaitlyn Poleti Kelly Powell

SURVEY RESPONDENTS Jim Price Craig Pritts Robert Riggins Daniel Rossi-Keen Laura Rubino Mike Rubino Joy Ruff Chris Shovlin Jim Skal Brianna Stalder Renee Suhr Sheena Sundin Marie Timpano Lisa Troiani Nate Troupe Richard Vilello Nick Vorrias Tiffany Walenchok Donald Walker Jerome Watkins Wendy Whelpley Bethany Williams Thomas Youg Marilyn Zona Anonymous (6)

Ann Andrews Herb Bailey Cassie Brkich Bob Budacki Karl Chapple Rachel Cline Bruce Conley William Corner Chris Cosky Sarah Crotty Roger Davis Bill Emerick Kevin Flick Derek Gallagher Mary Gettings Alice Ronita Giles Brian Hayden Skip Homan Tim Iman Andrea Kirkham Shawn Kissick Joanne Koehler Christine Kroger Mario Leone Misty Lowry Teresa Lukes

Hank Mahosky Shannon Manz-Wallace Kevin McCarl Heather Metheny Jen Miller Paulette Miller Daryl Milliner Sr Christin Milnes Connor Mulvaney Carrie Nolan Abby Opal Alicia Pizer Kari Pohl Laura Rubino Mike Rubino Joy Ruff Susan Salyards Heather Schwartzbauer Ronnie Sines Victoria Snyder Renee Suhr Bob Villella Wendy Whelpley Brooke Witterman Carol Zimny Anonymous (31)

B E AVE R COU NTY RE SIL I E NCE D U RING COVID -1 9 • Introduction

| 3

A joint project of:

Generous funding for this project was provided by:

This report was produced in ongoing partnership with:

4 | Why This Report? • BEAVER COUNTY RESILIENCE DURIN G COVI D -19

Regional Resilience in Beaver County During COVID-19 Participants in the Process

/ 02

Leadership Team Members, Listening Session Participants, and Survey Respondents

/ 03

Welcome Letter

/ 06

Executive Summary

/ 07

Key Findings

/ 08

Fifteen Recommendations to Enhance Regional Resilience

/ 09

What is Resilience?

/ 10

Why this Report?

/ 12

Who was Involved in Generating this Report?

/ 13

What did we Ask?

/ 15

What did we Learn?

/ 16

What are our Key Recommendations?

/ 24

Conclusion

/ 31

B E AVE R COU NTY RE SI L I E NCE D U RING COVID -1 9 • Table of Contents

| 5

Greetings!

For most of us, 2020 was a year of frustration, challenge, and uncertainty. Both at an individual and collective level, we have all been required to adapt and reset expectations repeatedly during this unpredictable year. It is not by accident that “pivot” became one of the most widely used words to describe individual and organizational activity throughout 2020.

As seismic disruptions occurred in recent months, many have steadily carried on, doing their best to adapt to less than ideal circumstances. For the most fortunate among us, 2020 was annoying and inconvenient at its worst. For others, 2020 proved to be far more destructive, tearing apart families, signaling the end of longstanding businesses or organizations, and creating an increasingly uncertain future.

In the pages that follow, we are interested in understanding 2020 specifically through the lens of resilience. Resilience, as we are using the term throughout this document, refers to the ability of a community, organization, or business to respond purposefully and wisely to a diverse and unexpected set of challenges. As a way of understanding and responding to the collective chaos of the last year, this document seeks to shed light on whether and where the region demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity throughout 2020.

As we have learned, and as the following pages will demonstrate, numerous individuals, communities, and organizations in Beaver County demonstrated considerable resilience throughout 2020. In the midst of growing uncertainty and chaos, many of us have steadily and nobly responded to our most immediate local needs.

Our best efforts notwithstanding, this document also highlights how many of 6 | Welcome Letter • BEAVER COUNTY RESILIENCE DURIN G COVID -19

our institutions and organizational practices proved to be inadequate for addressing the monumental tasks at hand. The goal of this document is neither to lament nor to brush off such inadequacies as inevitable consequences of a global pandemic. Instead, the organizers and authors of this report have disciplined themselves to avoid conveniently averting our gaze from what can be understandably painful to observe.

Given the global nature of the COVID19 pandemic, it is tempting to assume that generating solutions to the problems it has created is “above our pay grade,” and that entities outside our jurisdictions must figure out how to fix what is most ailing us.

Although this sentiment is understandable, it is neither likely nor true. The challenges we are currently facing, while global in origin, often require hyperlocal responses from local leaders, concerned individuals, and everyday citizens. This document assumes as much, and therefore presents a series of bold and proactive responses to the challenges that have emerged during COVID-19.

We trust that the accounts of resilience provided in this document will encourage, enlighten, and inspire those who take the time to read what has been gathered here.

Perhaps more important, we hope that by sharing this honest account, we can together begin to construct a more resilient, vibrant, and equitable version of Beaver County—a version that, while always imperfect, seeks more fully to understand the most critical needs and opportunities presenting themselves in this season of change.

Full of hope and laboring toward resilience...

Daniel Rossi-Keen, PhD Resilience Project Manager & Lead Author Executive Director, RiverWise Board Member, Beaver County Partnership

Executive Summary Beaver County has long been characterized by its grit and resilience. In recent decades, this resilient spirit has been tested time and again by numerous forces and in varied ways. Now, like other communities all over the globe, Beaver County is a year into the multifaceted crisis precipitated by the emergence of COVID-19.

In order better to understand the needs and opportunities present throughout Beaver County during COVID-19, strategic partners were identified from the nonprofit arena, the business community, and the municipal government sector. Over the course of two months, regional leaders met together for a total of six hours to voice their concerns, needs, and aspirations in this season of uncertainty and change.

During this time, three listening sessions were conducted, one featuring each of the three sectors identified above. Following each session, additional information was gathered from stakeholders through an online survey that asked respondents to dig more deeply into those issues raised during each listening session.

This process uncovered numerous important insights related to the past, present, and future of resilience in Beaver County. Mining from this vast body of insight, the following report highlights eleven principal findings related to the

following three themes: how well systems coordinated efforts amidst COVID-19, how organizations experienced funding opportunities emerging during the pandemic, and how the region might move forward in the aftermath of this global crisis.

Related to systems level coordination, this study identified the need for greater coordination across systems and between organizations. Though numerous stakeholders recognize the urgent need to develop systemic resilience, our findings indicated that most participants expect that growth in resilience will be initiated by forces outside of Beaver County. Additionally, stakeholders are interested in better understanding how regionalization can help to enhance resilience, particularly within the domain of regional government.

Greater than half of our findings revolve around how the region experienced emerging funding opportunities throughout the pandemic. We confirmed that rapid response funding was critically important to a majority of respondents surveyed. Even so, such funding streams were challenging and overwhelming to many for a variety of reasons. Additionally, we concluded that f unding opportunities were missed or underutilized due to a lack of coordination and institutional infrastructure.

Concerning how to move forward, we determined that many in the region wish to move toward greater resilience, yet generally possess limited motivation for starting on that journey. Even so, seven in ten participants remain willing and eager to continue thinking and talking about how to create greater regional resilience.

Building on the eleven key insights uncovered throughout our study, this document concludes by making fifteen concrete recommendations for next steps in addressing the identified concerns raised by stakeholders. These recommendations represent immediate and impactful ways that regional stakeholders can learn from and begin implementing solutions identified throughout the course of this study.

While the immediate future will be challenging on many fronts, the future nevertheless remains bright for Beaver County. In a season where numerous needs are undoubtedly apparent, the coming months will also present significant opportunities to conduct the ongoing work of community building that is so vital to the future of the region. The ongoing vibrancy of Beaver County hinges on its ability to respond to immediate needs with strategic purpose, simultaneously building the kinds of relationships and capacity required for constructing a brighter and more resilient future.

B E AVE R COU NTY RE SI L I E NCE D U RING COVID -1 9 • Executive Summary

| 7

While 2020 has

Key Findings

been challenging on many fronts, the future nevertheless

Systems Level Coordination

remains bright for Beaver County.

4 Principles To Guide Growth in Regional Resilience

We must privilege action over certainty.

1A

Many initiatives are in place throughout Beaver County, but they are often not connecting to the people most in need of such services.

1B

We have begun to develop resilience in individual organizations, but we are lacking in systemic resilience.

1C

Stakeholders throughout Beaver County realize that they need to develop systemic resilience, but they generally expect such change to be initiated by forces outside the region.

1D

Municipal stakeholders throughout Beaver County expressed a growing need to consider, plan for, and further implement efforts at regionalization.

Access to Emerging Funding 2A

Rapid response funding was critically important to many throughout the region.

2B

Emerging funding streams were often highly specific, lacked flexibility, or lacked clarity about how to qualify and apply for resources.

2C

There was both too much and not enough funding all at once in 2020.

2D

The region lacked processes and systems required to take full strategic advantage of emerging funding.

2E

Substantial disparity exists between large and small entities regarding access to funding.

We must seek progress instead of perfection.

We must learn by doing and showing.

We must work toward focused leadership instead of occasional advocacy.

Moving Forward 3A

Beaver County stakeholders believe that resilience will not happen easily, yet overwhelmingly believe it is critically important.

3B

Seventy percent of participants were willing and eager to continue thinking and talking about regional resilience.

Fifteen Recommendations To Enhance Regional Resilience Resources

Planning 01

06 Secure targeted funding for new collective

Conduct a comprehensive risk assessment

02 Rapidly accelerate regional resilience planning 03 Initiate homegrown initiatives dedicated to regional resilience

04 Engage in infrastructure planning

impact and regional resilience initiatives

07 Develop ongoing funding streams to support regional resilience

08 Develop a regional intermediary organization to help attract and disperse funding

05 Undertake honest and proactive planning about regionalization

Connectivity

Identity

09 Generate increasingly sophisticated

13

Disrupt prevailing narratives about the region’s lack of resilience

10

Actively enhance regional and organizational diversity

14

Enhance communication about regional services that are available

11

Initiate a cohort to lead resilience strategies

15

Work to enhance citizen agency over the future

12

Tangibly and financially encourage movement toward regional resilience

relationships between regional stakeholders

A joint project of:

BEAVER COUNTY RESI L I E NCE D U RI NG COVID -1 9 • Fifteen Recommendations to Enhance Regional Resilience

| 9

What is Resilience?

Resilience is quickly becoming a critically important concept to consider when evaluating the health of any ecosystem.

In many cases, the topic of resilience is increasingly focused on sustainability and environmental matters. In other instances, examinations of resilience focus more specifically on topics such as health, economics, infrastructure, emergency response to system shocks, or a range of other related concerns.

For the purposes of this project, and in light of current global events, we have adopted the following working definition of resilience: Resilience is the ability to respond purposefully and wisely to a diverse and unexpected set of challenges. Being resilient is about the character or quality of a community and its organizations, and about how they adapt and respond to unknown or new conditions.

Although resilience is a wide-ranging topic, this report focuses specifically on resilience during COVID-19. To be sure, regional resilience beyond the context of the pandemic is critically important, and leaders throughout Beaver County should spend time more fully understanding this important topic in the coming months and years. A full and robust account of regional resilience must certainly consider a much wider array of issues than those considered here. Undoubtedly, many of the findings highlighted in this report have their roots in conditions that existed prior to COVID-19. And, as the region continues to develop and change, new issues are emerging that dramatically implicate our capacity to become more resilient. Even as we recognize these realities, we generally leave it up to the reader to discern, intuit, and extrapolate just what those underlying and longstanding vulnerabilities might be.

Resilience is the ability to respond purposefully and wisely to a diverse and unexpected set of challenges. Being resilient is about the character or quality of a community and its organizations, and about how they adapt and respond to unknown or new conditions.

10 | What is Resilience? • BEAVER COUNTY RESILIENCE DUR I NG COVID -19

We have instead disciplined ourselves to focus specifically on the issues surrounding COVID-19.

In the following pages, the discerning reader will note that attention is focused primarily on resilience at the community and organizational levels. This decision does not reflect on the relative importance of individual resilience for the future of the region. Much work remains to be done both in understanding and encouraging residents of Beaver County to grow in personal resilience. This truth notwithstanding, the authors of this report felt it most important to consider ways that communities might respond more effectively to systemic challenges emerging in the midst of COVID-19. The data collected and the recommendations made throughout this report reflect this orientation toward our most immediate challenges and our most evident opportunities.

Another point worth noting concerns our use of phrases similar to “resilience in Beaver County.” It may be tempting to assume that such a phrase is referring explicitly to Beaver County government operations. However, that assumption may or may not be merited. Given that the matters discussed in the following pages touch on numerous areas of community life, observations about Beaver County government are certainly intertwined in many ways with the reflections that follow.

“Beaver County” consists of a sprawling and interconnected set of relationships, organizations, practices, projects, and much more besides. Recognizing this complexity, we have intentionally avoided connecting our observations to any specific organization, office, or institution. It is for this reason that we regularly utilize “regional resilience”, “organizational resilience”, “community resilience”, and other similar phrases. While speaking more precisely could indeed be valuable in other contexts, we did not believe it was necessary to do so here.

Finally, those reading this report should note that what follows is focused less on specific outcomes and more on the dispositions or characteristics of the region that are required to act resiliently. In many cases, the participants in this process identified competencies or ways of relating to one another that Beaver County lacks. Overcoming these challenges can take many and varied forms, and there is likely no single intervention that will solve all our problems in one fell swoop. Becoming resilient in the educational arena, for instance, will not be easily accomplished without also growing our regional economic resilience. Becoming resilient in the face of climate change will only occur as we grow more resilient in the realm of infrastructure and energy. These examples, which are only two of many, point out how resilience implicates systems and the relationships between various domains of human activity. To become resilient in any one area likely requires that you reflect upon and implement resilient practices in a wide range of domains. Because of this, while we make specific and time bound recommendations, the broader focus of this document is on the “character or quality” of our decision making in this important season. The authors of this report are convinced that if we are able to develop a county-wide culture defined by healthy, holistic, and strategic dispositions, the benefits of our efforts will far outlast COVID-19.

Why This Report?

With growing need all around us, one might justifiably ask why precious time and resources were utilized to create a report such as this. The question is a fair one, and answering it brings into clearer focus the reasons for this particular report at this given time in our region’s history.

First, even as we need to respond to immediate needs, we must also be sure to work toward a more careful understanding of what we are currently experiencing together. Although the pandemic is unique, its presence serves to shed a bright light on underlying issues that existed long before COVID-19 and that will persist far beyond 2020.

Second, in such a tumultuous season, there is great temptation to substitute action for strategy. More than ever, and amidst limited resources and growing needs, regional leaders must be able to understand root causes, prioritize among competing short and long term priorities, and enact strategic responses rather than haphazard interventions. One of the primary goals of this report is to generate greater understanding of what is currently happening in our region, and how legacy ways of operating influence our individual and collective response to the pandemic.

This is the first step on the way toward developing a more resilient system of interconnected stakeholders.

12 | Why This Report? • BEAVER COUNTY RESILIENCE DURIN G COVI D -19

Third, and perhaps most important, regional stakeholders must grow together in our awareness and capacity to create a culture of resilience. For numerous reasons, many of which have been out of our control, Beaver County has long been a region characterized by the reactive management of decline. In many instances we have weathered this storm nobly. However, in the process of responding to immediate needs, we have regularly missed opportunities to create a robust culture of resilience. Instead, we have often tolerated and even perpetuated a fractured and disconnected culture, as well as a persistent spirit of pessimism about the region’s capacity for change.

Like many smaller population centers, our region has yet to create a culture that responds proactively and systematically, that plans for and mitigates system shocks before they occur, and that thinks as much about preparing for the future as it does about reacting to the past. Developing such competencies is critically important for the future health of our region and for the quality of life of our residents. We cannot simply “let the future happen to us.”

We must enact proactive agency over our future, working now to prepare for what is yet to come. This document is one modest attempt to do precisely that.

Who Was Involved in Generating This Report?

The organizing partners behind this study are increasingly committed to demonstrating the importance of collective action. This conviction is not a mere preference, but is instead a circumspect and data driven assessment of the most pressing needs facing the region. Reflecting upon both historic trends and more recent developments, the partner organizations who led this study are increasingly convinced that the challenges and opportunities facing the region will require the combined efforts of multiple individuals and organizations. There is increasing recognition that these issues are systemic and sophisticated in character. Because of this, the study organizers are committed to solutions that respond with an analogous level of sophistication.

Throughout much of 2020, members of the Strategic Planning Committee of The Beaver County Partnership met to consider how best to adapt organizational efforts in light of quickly changing regional needs. Out of these ongoing conversations emerged the idea for a series of listening sessions that built upon the organization’s conviction that strategic cross sector partnerships must become increasingly central to the future of the region.

In this particular instance, organizing members of this work thought it best to draw together three lead organizations, one each from the nonprofit sector, the

business community, and from municipal government. The reasons for assembling these particular sectors were practical and strategic. Practically speaking, these three sectors had been working together prior to COVID-19, and therefore already had a track record of cooperation. Strategically speaking, these three entities represented a wide and varied collection of individuals and organizations who were tasked with responding to the needs attending the COVID-19 crisis.

After deciding on the sectors to be engaged, a discussion facilitator was selected to lead each sector-specific conversation and conversation partners were invited both in person and en masse.

Representing the nonprofit sector was Daniel Rossi-Keen, Executive Director of RiverWise. Helen Kissick, President and Executive Director of the Beaver County Chamber of Commerce led the conversation among representatives of the business community. And Bethany Williams, Executive Director of the Beaver County Regional Council of Governments, chaired the session focused on the response of municipal governments.

In total, nearly 150 stakeholders contributed to the data amassed in this report. Over the course of the three listening sessions, 108 different people participated. Some participants attended multiple listening sessions, while others were only present at

a single session. Taken together, 76 unique individuals participated across the listening sessions. Although most attendees identified themselves during the session, six individuals chose to remain anonymous.

Participants in the listening sessions were split roughly evenly between the nonprofit, business, and municipal government sessions. A list of all identified listening session participants has been provided at the outset of this document.

Following each listening session, participants were invited to complete a survey intended to produce further insight into the issues considered during the session. Nearly 100 respondents completed the survey. Of those who responded, 51 people identified themselves. For those who identified themselves, 9 respondents completed more than one survey representing multiple sectors.

There were a total of 29 individuals who completed the survey anonymously. A list of all identified survey participants has been provided at the outset of this document.

All told, well over 100 organizations were represented in the data collected, spanning multiple sectors, geographies, and domains of interest. Key organizations and well established leaders were present in each session, as were emerging representatives of each sector. While the vast majority (78.7%) of survey participants indicated that they were from Beaver County, roughly one fifth of the survey respondents reported that they were from elsewhere. Of those surveyed, 75.3% indicated that they were in a position of leadership in their organizations. A list of all organizations who were willing to be publicly identified has been provided at the outset of this document.

BEAVER COU NTY RE SIL I E NCE D U RI NG COVID -1 9 • Who Was Involved in Generating This Report?

| 13

A project of this magnitude requires significant coordination. Since its inception, RiverWise has been a project of The Beaver County Partnership. In a way that both deepened and extended that relationship, RiverWise performed the project management role both on the listening sessions themselves and on the drafting of this report. Throughout the process, RiverWise worked in close coordination with the Strategic Planning Committee of The Beaver County Partnership (Kristen Doerschner, Kimberly Pizzella Kiesling, Daniel RossiKeen, and Bethany Williams) as well as the full Board of Directors of The Partnership.

For a number of years, New Sun Rising has worked alongside a growing list of partners in Beaver County. This ongoing relationship, and the collection of activity it has encouraged, helped to bring the region to a point where such a project was

possible. At critical and strategic junctures, New Sun Rising helped to guide the activity outlined in this document. This is particularly evident in the section of this document entitled “What are our Key Recommendations?” In this concluding section, and as a way of organizing our primary recommendations, we lean heavily on capacity building domains outlined in New Sun Rising’s Vibrant Communities Framework. In doing so, we demonstrate one of the principle themes pervading this document: resilience results from multi-layered networks, rooted in trust and shared vision, and organized in a manner that serves the broader whole.

This report was made possible using f unds provided to RiverWise by the Community Development Program of Beaver County and the Hillman Family Foundations.

14 | Why This Report? • BEAVER COUNTY RESIL IENCE DURIN G COVID -19

“...resilience results from multi-layered networks, rooted in trust and shared vision...”

What Did We Ask? In order to provide consistency across the listening sessions, each moderator was asked to organize his or her thinking around the following six questions:

01 /

What does it mean for a community or organization to be resilient?

02 /

Where are you currently observing community or organizational resilience in your sector?

03 /

Where are you or your organization observing gaps in community resilience during COVID-19?

04 /

Why do you think gaps in community and organizational resilience are occurring? What are the barriers to a resilient response to COVID-19 in your sector?

05 /

What concrete steps can be taken in the short term to address identified resilience gaps in your sector?

06 / What concrete steps can be taken to create a culture of resilience in your sector?

From the outset of this initiative, the goal was to bring together a broad collection of individuals from a wide range of organizations. The intent was to collect both qualitative and quantitative data about the state of resilience in Beaver County, focusing specifically on those gaps that have emerged during COVID-19.

Not surprisingly, conversations ranged far and wide, and shed light on both new and longstanding challenges throughout the region. A brief compilation that highlights key elements of these listening sessions was created by our partners at Human City Creative. This video may be found on RiverWise's YouTube Channel.

While soliciting responses to these six key areas of inquiry, each moderator offered additional questions appropriate to the direction of the unfolding conversation.

Consistent with the pattern outlined in the conversation questions provided above, project organizers also created an online survey to be completed by regional stakeholders.

For those reading this document online, you may view the survey and accompanying responses here. This survey collected basic demographic information, asked respondents a series of questions about how well and in what ways their community and organization responded to COVID-19, inquired about those areas where communities or organizations did not adapt well, provided opportunities for respondents to suggest ways of improving regional resilience, and gauged the willingness of participants to participate in follow up activity related to growing regional resilience.

B E AVE R COU NTY RE SI L I E NCE D U RING COVID -1 9 • What Did We Ask?

| 15

What Did We Learn?

Introductory Thoughts Throughout the course of our study, respondents demonstrated that the experiences of those sectors surveyed often mirrored broader cultural trends. Like in all areas of life, COVID-19 often left regional leaders feeling unprepared and unsure of how best to respond. Not surprisingly, therefore, a consistent theme that pervaded conversation was that of uncertainty. One respondent wished they “better understood safety protocols” while another indicated that they felt like they were learning to “work in [a] new world” during 2020. Participants spoke variously about the challenges associated with “keeping up with [all the] … changes.” Perhaps most unsettling was not understanding the “time frame we need to [be prepared] to endure.”

Many respondents spoke at length about the challenges associated with learning new technology. One respondent, for example, wished they had “a strategy at the ready for virtual life,” while another wished their organization had “encouraged working from home and more virtual meetings prior to COVID-19.” From a technological standpoint, numerous respondents indicated that they “weren’t prepared … technically” for the rapid change to virtual life. This concern was particularly evident among municipal

officials who expressed frustration that “residents on the council are not as technologically savvy,” whereas all three sectors indicated that they “missed face to face time with people.”

More than a mere inconvenience, there seemed to be a consensus that 2020 rose to the level of a collective trauma. As one respondent indicated, “Dealing with the pandemic is a trauma and people are moving through the five stages of grief.”

Others spoke of the mental health challenges associated with weathering the pandemic. Reflecting on an example of the stress of the last year, one employer noted, “I am trying desperately to continue to feed my family and keep my employees.” More than a mere business or accounting problem, this kind of challenge represents the alternately personal and communal nature of our struggles during 2020.

In light of all the conflicting priorities presented during COVID-19, respondents spoke about the need for finding a proper balance. As one business owner indicated, “We’re trying to absorb these restrictions that might be placed on business. And then we’re trying to figure out how to make this worthwhile in terms of doing business, but also continue to protect consumers and employees alike. That has been the balance [throughout 2020].”

16 | What Did We Learn? • BEAVER COUNTY RESILIENCE DU RING COVID -19

Given all of these challenges, one might suspect that Beaver County stakeholders were paralyzed by the uncertainty and rapid change that were so characteristic of 2020. Without glossing over the significant issues faced throughout the region, data from this study suggests that in spite of the many obstacles present, numerous individuals and organizations throughout Beaver County have indeed demonstrated considerable resilience during 2020.

Examples of regional resilience are many and varied, spanning the work of individuals, organizations, partnerships, and even broader systems. The authors of this study debated whether to recount specific laudable instances of such resilience at work throughout the region. However, doing so presented numerous challenges within the scope of this particular project. First, the length of this report mitigated against the inclusion of extensive accounts of resilience throughout the region. We simply did not have the space or time to recount all the wonderful things that have taken place throughout Beaver County during 2020. Second, any attempt to highlight regional excellence would inevitably be doomed to selectivity and incompleteness.

In the interest of fairness, and due to the concern of leaving out key pieces of our collective story, the authors of this report decided to forgo any attempt to catalog

examples of resilience at work. Third, and finally, we have at all costs been concerned not to detract from the primary focus of this document: to draw attention to resilience gaps that have presented themselves throughout the course of 2020.

Make no mistake. Beaver County has been resilient in many and varied ways throughout COVID-19. One need only glance at the websites and social media accounts of the many organizations whose logos are included at the outset of this document. Even so, there remains much work to be done to move beyond our current level of competence and coordination. COVID19 has shined a bright light on nearly every aspect of the human experience. Those stakeholders who took the time to participate in this work are resolutely determined to emerge from this pandemic with a greater understanding of our shortcomings, a fuller account of our opportunities, and a deeper resolve to continue the hard work of creating the most vibrant and resilient version of ourselves that we can in the coming months and years.

In listening to and studying the collective testimony of participants, three key themes emerged. While certainly not exhaustive, a careful consideration of those themes raised below provides much needed insight into the collective assessment of our region’s current state. Perhaps more important, studying these three broad themes helps to illuminate the best way forward in our ongoing efforts to become as forward thinking and resilient as possible.

THEME 1

Systems Level Coordination Throughout this study, respondents regularly reflected on the region’s capacity to act in coordinated and mutually reinforcing ways. Consistent with this broad theme, four primary findings were identified, as outlined below.

FINDING 1A

Many programs, interventions, and systems are in place throughout Beaver County, but they are often not connecting to the people most in need of such services, are challenging to navigate for those newly in need, and are unknowingly generating redundancy in services offered.

During COVID-19, as one participant explained, “The big challenge is… identifying need . . . [and connecting] to the individuals that are really in need.” While services exist for many of the needs that residents faced during COVID-19, it was not a given that such residents either knew about such services or connected to them during the pandemic. So, even though Beaver County was, in many instances, poised to respond to a significant subset of the challenges faced during COVID-19, many residents “were still in need because [they lacked] awareness of the system.”

As one organizational leader noted, “the biggest issue that we’re facing is [that]

people don’t know that we’re open. That we’re here.”

Such a dynamic was not only frustrating to potential recipients of services. It also proved demoralizing to those poised to help residents in need. Noted one participant, there’s “nothing more frustrating than doing everything right and having the message not get to the person who needs to hear it.”

The challenge of connecting services to those in need was, in the opinion of one respondent, most acute among populations who were unfamiliar with “the system.” For those who had only “recently lost jobs, lost homes, or who [were] trying to figure out what services they needed,” the challenge of connecting to services often proved immense. Creating a resilient and nimble public, it seems, is very challenging to accomplish within the midst of a crisis.

If the anecdotes of respondents are to be believed, those most proficient in navigating this season of unrest were those who had faced similar challenges prior to the pandemic and were therefore already

B E AVE R COU NTY RE SIL I E NCE D U RING COVID -1 9 • Why This Report?

| 17

familiar with those resources available and the means to access them.

In addition to the challenges associated with connecting services to individuals who were “newly in need,” respondents also expressed concern about lack of coordination between organizations. As need grew throughout the region, many organizations found themselves reinventing services that had long existed elsewhere. Asked one participant in the listening sessions, “How can you lean on the relationships and the networks that already exist around you rather than recreating those?” This same respondent later continued, noting that in the future we need to “make sure we’re not trying to recreate something that other organizations have already developed.”

FINDING 1B

We have begun to develop resilience in individual organizations, but we are lacking in systemic resilience.

Numerous organizations throughout Beaver County stepped up in extraordinary ways during COVID-19. Examples of such exemplary service can be found across each of the sectors who participated in the listening sessions. In the midst of overwhelming challenges, and at a time where uncertainty and change were the norm, organizations throughout Beaver County consistently answered the call and responded in creative and noble ways. As one leader explained, responding appropriately involved “using the creativity that is inside of us all and looking through a different lens… [while] still sticking true to our mission.” In such a chaotic season, this was the key question that organizational leaders were forced to answer: “How do we meet the needs of this particular season while remaining true to our mission?”

Many regional leaders indicated that their organization was highly competent in responding to need throughout 2020. Survey results indicate that 78.7% of organizations adapted “as well as could be expected” during

COVID-19. When asked about how the broader region was doing, survey respondents were similarly optimistic, reporting that 78.6% thought the region was doing “as well as could be expected” during the pandemic. Nearly three out of every four (74.1%) respondents reported that “they knew what needed to be done to respond to COVID-19.” And, even more (76.4%) agreed or strongly agreed that “their organization or business tended to bounce back quickly after hard times.” These data were not limited to survey responses, but were also supported by the qualitative comments provided during each listening session.

Such optimistic responses to survey questions notwithstanding, the collected data nevertheless suggests a dearth of coordination and vision for systemic responses to regional challenges in Beaver County throughout 2020. This assertion emerges from two key observations. First, nearly all of the data collected from respondents was heavily focused on individual organizations responding to emerging challenges.

Very few, if any, accounts were offered of working alongside of or in concert with multi-organizational coalitions. Anyone who has spent much time studying the region is very likely aware that Beaver County has historically operated in silos, preferring relatively fixed organizational boundaries in a way that tends to limit

18 | What Did We Learn? • BEAVER COUNTY RESIL IENCE DU RI NG COVID -19

complex interaction between organizations or initiatives. By and large, this trend continued throughout the pandemic.

The claim that organizations throughout Beaver County were not as coordinated as it might at first appear is supported, secondly, by the following. When leaders did speak about their organizational counterparts, they often did so in ways that voiced frustration or concern about a lack of shared understanding, a duplication of services, or a limited effort at coordination between organizations. Such challenges were present long before COVID-19 struck. It should, therefore, not be surprising that these tendencies characterized many organizational responses to the pandemic.

Throughout 2020, organizations around the region operated in herculean ways to meet the needs of many tens of thousands of residents. Even so, such interventions lacked the kind of conspectus and strategic focus required to rise above reactionary responses. To be fair, Beaver County is not at all alone in this kind of response. And, one should applaud and appreciate that regional organizations were faithful in their efforts throughout this season. Even so, the ongoing experience of COVID-19 taught us afresh that cooperative and proactive resilience remains an aspiration toward which we must continue to strive together.

“The adaptability and creativity piece is and other resources as a way of creating so important in resiliency, and I guess I greater efficiency and lower overall costs.

Stakeholders throughout Beaver County haven’t seen a lot of that.” Similar sentiHistorically, and as the group was quick realize that they need to develop systemic ments were often repeated throughout the to point out, the idea of regionalization has resilience, but they generally expect such sessions, with many participants pointing carried with it a negative connotation. As change to be initiated by forces outside out that the region is often known for stick- one participant noted, many view the term the region. ing to the way it has done things in the past, as “a dirty word.” Despite this connotation, sometimes even when those things are not there was near unanimous agreement that Although stakeholders may not explicitly working or are not appropriate to the situ- the future of places like Beaver County use such language to describe our current ation at hand. will require careful consideration of how situation, the vast majority of respondents such practical and legal mechanisms can help to lower costs, generate efficiencies, seemed to recognize that Beaver County needs to move toward regional resilience.

FINDING 1D and enable municipalities to operate with Despite such widespread recognition of fewer personnel. As one participant noted, our need, respondents reported skepti- Municipal stakeholders throughout Beaver “I think this pandemic really shined light on cism about such resilience being initiated County expressed a growing need to [the need for] looking deeper into regionby Beaver County organizations. As one consider, plan for, and further implement alization.” This same participant further explained, “I think when municipalities participant explained, “I think we are in a efforts at regionalization. hear the word consolidation, there’s a season where it’s easy to assume that somebody else is going to fix our problems.” Or, As demonstrated throughout this docu- natural resistance to that. But it’s time that as another respondent noted, “Historically, ment, participants across all three listening we all come together and look at how we Beaver County has not been exactly creative sessions generally echoed largely similar can provide safe municipal services to our concerns, regardless of the domain with constituents and do it in the most economand adaptive.”

In recent decades, individuals, organi- which they were affiliated. One notable ical manner possible. I think this is calling zations, and municipalities throughout and important exception to this tendency for the need for greater regionalization.”

Beaver County have experienced tremen- emerged in the final listening session, Though many leaders have historidous challenges, and should rightly be which was focused on resilience gaps within cally been hesitant to talk publicly about applauded for enduring such tumultuous municipal government. During this session, regionalization, the pandemic has acceltimes. As the result of our relatively recent considerable attention was paid to the topic erated both the need and, seemingly, the history, however, many stakeholders in of regionalization. As it relates to municipal willingness to address the matter afresh.

Beaver County seem to possess limited faith governments, regionalization refers to the As one regional leader noted, “I know in our own institutions’ abilities to lead the sharing of services, facilities, personnel, that the themes that I heard today [about region toward systemic resilience.

As discussed in each of the three listening sessions, resilient systems are characterized by qualities such as the following: layers of redundancy, diversity, distributed leadership, self-reliance, perpetual learning, adaptiveness, and the anticipation of vulnerability. The accumulated testimony of collected data strongly suggests a lack of regional confidence in creating such states of affairs without the help of outside influences. Noted one respondent, FINDING 1C

“...individuals, organizations, and

municipalities throughout Beaver

County have experienced tremendous challenges, and should rightly

be applauded for enduring such

tumultuous times.”

B E AVE R COU NTY RE SI L I E NCE D U RI NG COVID -1 9 • What Did We Learn?

| 19

regionalization] are themes that I’m hearing across southwestern Pennsylvania.”

Others were even more bold, suggesting that such a strategy represented “the only sustainable path that we have.”

At the heart of the debate over regionalization is the issue of municipal identity. Said one participant, “I think a lot of us, when we hear regionalization, we think about… losing an identity.” Though such issues are real and important for a region so steeped in history in tradition, there was strong consensus that such concerns cannot be allowed to forestall conversation about these important issues.

Said one municipal leader, “We have got to sit down and talk about it, and we have got to come to an understanding that if we’re going to go [down this road], let’s go willingly instead of being forced by a mandate. I would rather... walk into it… instead of being mandated to do it.”

Perhaps most important as it relates to the overall goals of this research project, participants were quick to point out how the topic of regionalization implicates regional resilience. One participant was quite direct on this point: “ Regionalization impacts resiliency. Place identity matters.

It’s something that you don’t want to lose.

But if you’re aiming towards sustainability and resiliency within our communities and the ability to respond adequately when things like [a pandemic] happen… regionalization feels like the only answer to that.”

THEME 2

Access to Emerging Funding Access to existing and emerging funding streams was a point of widespread conversation and concern for nearly all sectors of society throughout 2020. It should therefore not be surprising that half of the findings from our study focus on issues related to money. Whether in the for profit, nonprofit, or municipal government sectors, sorting out how to adapt and navigate quickly shifting economic realities attending a pandemic occupied considerable time and resources in recent months.

FINDING 2 A

Rapid response funding was critically important to many throughout the region.

Almost half (43.8%) of the respondents surveyed came from organizations who were able to access the Paycheck Protection Program. Nearly a third of respondents (30.3%) secured funding from the Beaver County CARES Act Grant. And a handful of respondents secured the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (13.5%), the Small Business Administration Loan (3.4%), or some other type of COVID-19 related funding (15.7%).

Roughly one in four respondents (27%) reported that they did not take advantage of any existing COVID-19 funding, either because they did not need it (19.8%), were

20 | Why This Report? • BEAVER COUNTY RESILIENCE DURIN G COVI D -19

not eligible (5.5%), did not know how to apply (4.4%), were unaware of such programs (5.5%), or felt that it was not worth the effort (2.2%).

Although the long term economic consequences of COVID-19 may not be apparent for some time, it does appear that, at least in the short term, the various funding mechanisms identified here did help to forestall economic collapse among those surveyed.

Nearly three quarters of survey respondents reported that their organization was able to avoid layoffs during 2020. Just over one in ten (13.5%) indicated that their organization laid off 1 to 3 employees, while 12.4% reported between 10 and 50 layoffs.

Only one respondent, who was affiliated with a large corporation, reported greater than 50 layoffs during COVID-19.

FINDING 2B

Emerging funding streams were often highly specific, lacked flexibility, or lacked clarity about how to qualify and apply for resources.

While respondents were generally appreciative of newly created funding opportunities, many participants voiced frustration about the restrictions placed upon such funds. In a season characterized by rapidly changing need, many leaders felt constrained by the funds that were made available to them. In order to qualify for such funds, organizations often felt the need to stray from their or conflicting guidance. Not surprisingly, historic mission, or at least describe that such conditions created confusion and mission in ways that felt closely related frustration among those surveyed. And, to the pandemic. Said one participant, as a result, organizations often felt like “in this season of increased competi- they were “shooting in the dark” or worktion for resources … we felt an increased ing to hit “moving targets” in their search responsibility to validate the need for our for funding. organization.” This often meant that more creative or innovative solutions to regional needs were overlooked in favor of more FINDING 2C traditional approaches. It also sometimes meant that funds were provided, but could There was both too much and not enough not be spent on the most pressing needs funding all at once in 2020. facing an organization.

The challenge of highly specific funding Predictably, much of the conversation about streams was, perhaps, most clearly repre- the pandemic focused on financial hardsented by the following comments. “So ships faced by organizations throughout many grants require you to have a partic- the region. Somewhat surprising, however, ular project. Well, what if my project is was the fact that many regional leaders felt only to get through the end of the year?” overwhelmed by the many new forms of The participant later continued, “When funding that kept cropping up throughout you’re applying for a grant, so many times… 2020. While such funding was welcome and, [funds] are allowed to be spent for this in many ways, represented a much needed and not spent for that. But, really, I’m just lifeline for numerous organizations, the looking to sustain… the mission.” Time and proliferation of new programs was also a again, respondents voiced similar concerns, significant challenge. Particularly among often talking about “the game” of securing smaller organizations, who often lack funding and all the requirements and stric- the capacity and time to keep up, staying abreast of continually emerging opportures that come along with it.

In many cases, and for understandable tunities became a full time job in and of reasons, funders were often inventing itself. Said one participant, “I feel like I procedures and policies on the fly through- could spend my entire life chasing the next out 2020. In other instances, organizations new emergency crisis grant response appliwho had never before administered large cation. You know, I could just get up every pots of grant funding were suddenly day and write grant applications.” Another tasked with discharging millions of dollars individual noted, “Sometimes it feels like of grants in a limited time and with vague there’s almost too much opportunity and

you don’t know where to turn.” Yet another was even more descriptive: “We’re sometimes sort of like dogs chasing cars in normal times, and that’s been exacerbated by the pandemic.”

The sudden and relentless glut of so-called opportunity was not only related to funding.

As one participant explained, the whole of 2020 was characterized by the constant barrage of new, shifting, and conflicting information. “People kept expressing that there was just so much information coming at them. Whether it was a webinar on this topic or another topic, whether it was funding that you could go after, or whether it was advice about what technology to put in place—there’s just so much that people got to the point where they just kind of became paralyzed or numb or just were not able to absorb anymore.”

B E AVE R COU NTY RE SI L I E NCE D U RING COVID -1 9 • What Did We Learn?

| 21

FINDING 2D

The region lacked processes and systems required to take full strategic advantage of emerging funding.

to communicate opportunities, evaluate candidates, administer awards, and track the spending of funds. Lacking such infrastructure in our region, we were left either making things up on the fly or were never considered for such targeted investments in the first place. This created missed opportunities and also resulted in an untargeted and haphazard administration of funds that were made available.

Third, because the region has generally not yet done the hard work of understanding its underlying structural liabilities, we were left unsure of just where to invest resources when opportunities did present themselves. Lacking such clarity about our systemic vulnerabilities, important decisions about how resources were allocated often targeted mere symptoms rather than addressing the underlying causes that unsurprisingly emerged under the strain of a global pandemic. As a result, the region missed out on the opportunity to invest substantial resources in ways that both met the needs of the present and laid the foundation for a more resilient future.

As participants discussed in each of the three listening sessions, resilient systems possess layers of redundancy, anticipate vulnerabilities, and are highly adaptive.

Particularly as it relates to the issue of funding, 2020 highlighted the region’s need further to develop such competencies.

Despite the fact that numerous new mechanisms for funding emerged during this time, the region often lacked the requisite organizational structure, integration, experience, and self-awareness to take targeted and full advantage of such resources. There appear to be three primary reasons for this.

First, given the constantly changing information, guidance, and programs emerging throughout 2020, many individuals and organizations displayed considerable need for targeted and highly specific guidance. As already noted, greater than one out of every ten individuals surveyed reported that they failed to access emergency funding because they did not know how to apply, were unaware FINDING 2E of such programs, or felt that it was not worth the effort. These findings come Substantial disparity exists between from many of the most well-connected and large and small entities regarding access informed leaders in the region. And so, we to funding. can reasonably expect that a much higher percentage of the general public did not In Beaver County, as was also true throughknow where to turn for help. Void of exist- out the country, substantial disparities ing and well-advertised information about existed between organizations of differing how to gain assistance, many throughout sizes and with different resources. Despite the region were left to figure things out for political rhetoric suggesting that federal themselves or simply avoid seeking emer- programs were specifically targeted to assist gency funding at all. small businesses, entrepreneurs, and early Second, and because of the rapid onset stage organizations, many of these entiof COVID-19, many of the more adaptive or ties struggled to take advantage of such targeted funding mechanisms that emerged resources. As one participant explained, during 2020 relied heavily on long stand- “There have been a lot of programs put ing relationships and organizations. So, out there by the government, but a lot of for instance, in communities with a more those programs don’t necessarily fit small mature social sector, existing organizations businesses. The requirements necessary to were quickly able to function as reputable qualify for those programs are a lot more intermediaries, having established before- advanced when it comes to the amount hand the reputation and processes required of income that you have to have and the 22 | What Did We Learn? • BEAVER COUNTY RESIL IENCE DU RING COVID -19

amount of years [one has been] in business. So, a lot of our small businesses were left behind with no access to capital.” Such reflections were particularly true of very small or early stage businesses that were often lacking in detailed historical financial records. As one participant explained, The early parts of the PPP funding really favored the larger businesses because they had access to financial reports and departments [who could generate] everything that they needed.”

Although relatively few large corporations participated in the listening sessions, those who did reported far superior capacity to respond to emerging programs and needs. One leader of such a large corporation noted, their company was “very fortunate to have a lot of resources and the ability to bring in diverse perspectives” to help sort out how to react to quickly changing conditions. This same participant explained, “When COVID first hit, we actually kicked off our crisis management team, which is a group of people across the entire organization, from our corporate headquarters…. And we initiated meetings every day to start understanding what the issues were and what problems needed to be solved.”

Such disparities, while both predictable and understandable, helped to explain how many of the smallest and most vulnerable entities in the region failed to benefit from the numerous programs and opportunities that were made available throughout 2020.

At a time when many organizations were struggling just to survive, the added responsibility of learning about and responding to such opportunities was a luxury they simply could not afford.

THEME 3

Moving Forward The vast majority of regional stakeholders indicated interest in working toward community and organizational resilience, but they are unsure where to start. This tension—being willing to move forward, yet remaining unsure how to do so—was, perhaps, one of the most recurring themes emerging out of this project.

Stakeholders recognize that we must act in new ways to become a more resilient version of ourselves. Despite such self-awareness, they also lack exemplars and guides that can help them develop the skills, relationships, and processes necessary to create a culture of resilience.

FINDING 3A

Beaver County stakeholders believe that resilience will not happen easily and that we have a long way to go, creating a spirit of defeat and limited motivation to proceed. But, even so, they generally agree that moving forward is critically important.

Given the region’s relatively recent history, it is not surprising that many stakeholders express a lack of confidence in creating the kind of widespread cultural change that is required to generate community and organizational resilience. When resilient practices have emerged, they have generally cropped up in isolated communities or organizations, and not between and among expansive collaboratives or broader systems. Noted one participant, “Alliances or agreements … are fragile things, particularly in the beginning stages. And if those things have not gone well in the past, that could be challenging to overcome.”

Even as participants express concerns about the challenges ahead, they also recognize that we are in a unique time of opportunity where numerous stakeholders are thinking about the importance of regional resilience in ways they rarely, if ever, have before. “This is,” noted one stakeholder, “a time to diversify your organization and receive the innovation and creativity that all people can bring.” Another participant was more direct: “You have to

accept the challenge of growth and either get busy being born or get busy dying.” Noted yet another stakeholder, “This conversation about resilience reminds us of the relentless need to be layering on top of what we already have. You know, another layer of care, another layer of cooperation, another layer of vision. And if and until we do that as a matter of course, the resilience piece will elude certain aspects of our community.”

FINDING 3B

Seventy percent of participants were willing and eager to continue thinking and talking about regional resilience.

When asked about their willingness to continue contributing to regional conversations about resilience, nearly 7 out of 10 respondents (69.7%) indicated that we may contact them for further information. Even more encouraging, 53.1% expressed willingness to invest time in helping to move forward regional resilience efforts. Roughly 1 in 3 respondents (34.4%) indicated interest in learning more about developing efforts, even though they were currently unable or unwilling to devote time to forwarding such initiatives themselves. Explained one resident, who was representative of broader participants’ sentiment, “I want to understand how we can better collaborate, communicate, and leverage resources to help our community.”

B E AVE R COU NTY RE SIL I E NCE D U RING COVID -1 9 • What Did We Learn?

| 23

What Are Our Key Recommendations?

The process initiated by this study was admittedly limited in scope. As a result, the findings presented here raise many unanswered questions and call out for additional research, conversation, and reflection. Even so, these data suggest a number of concrete and tangible steps that ought to be undertaken by those within Beaver County who remain committed to growing in regional resilience.

Before spelling out specific recommendations, we would like to draw attention to four key principles that we believe ought to characterize all future activity related to the development of regional resilience.

The need to act according to these principles is, we believe, supported by the findings offered. And, the specific recommendations that follow these principles are likewise responsive to such matters.

24 | Why This Report? • BEAVER COUNTY RESILIENCE DURIN G COVID -19

Four Principles to Guide Growth in Regional Resilience

PRINCIPLE 1

We must privilege action over certainty.

PRINCIPLE 2

We must seek progress instead of perfection.

PRINCIPLE 3

We must learn by doing and showing.

PRINCIPLE 4

We must work toward focused leadership instead of occasional advocacy.

A culture of resilience will only take root as regional stakeholders begin working and learning how best to move forward together. We cannot wait until we are certain how to do that before beginning such a journey.

This will sometimes require acting before we are certain, trusting that the process is important enough to bear the weight of such risk.

One of the key features of resilience is the ability to persevere through and learn from adversity. Particularly at the level of large and interconnected social systems, this takes time and will involve missteps along the way. We must commit ourselves to enacting such processes, recognizing that progress toward a culture of resilience will always be incremental and forever incomplete.

Learning to become resilient is not merely a theoretical exercise. It is a process, a disposition, and an acquired competency. If and until we begin enacting resilience, we are unlikely to understand it well or be able to teach it to others. As a region, we must become committed to practicing and demonstrating resilience as a way of encouraging its growing adoption.

If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is that focusing on resilience is not a luxury but a necessity. As a region, we must quickly move beyond thinking of resilience as something for which we occasionally advocate.

The need for resilient systems will not pass once COVID-19 subsides. And so we must lead in ways that build resilient thinking and acting into the fabric of our communities, organizations, businesses, and institutions.

BEAVE R COU NTY RE SI L I E NCE D U RI NG COVID -1 9 • What Are Our Key Recommendations?

| 25

Fifteen Recommendations to Enhance Regional Resilience

“...we are hopeful and expectant that such recommendations will produce numerous creative and collaborative responses...”

Having outlined these guiding principles, what follows is a list of fifteen recommendations that, in one way or another, emerged from the collected findings provided in preceding pages. We believe, and very much hope, that such recommendations will be taken up by various organizations throughout the region. They are not, therefore, intended to activate only those who happened to be involved in the creation of this document. Instead, we view the articulation of such recommendations as providing community-sourced sanction for a wide range of mission aligned activity. For this reason, none of our recommendations identify a specific individual or organization who should undertake such activity. We seek neither to predict nor dictate how or where such activity will emerge. Instead, we are hopeful and expectant that such recommendations will produce numerous creative and collaborative responses that, when taken together, begin to move the region ever closer to a more resilient future.

26 | Why This Report? • BEAVER COUNTY RESILIENCE DURIN G COVID -19

The discerning reader may note thematic unity between the list provided here and existing work that has been emerging around Beaver County over the past several years. This is neither surprising nor accidental. In one way or another, stakeholders throughout the region have been clamoring for enhanced resilience for many years now, even if they have not always explicitly identified the term “resilience” as the end toward which they were working.

The following list of fifteen concrete recommendations is organized around four broad categories: Planning, Resources, Connectivity, and Identity. These four categories are borrowed from New Sun Rising’s Vibrant Communities Framework, and are part of a comprehensive, stakeholder-informed approach to moving toward community resilience. In many ways, both explicit and implicit, activities leading up to the production of this document have been conversant with and responsive to the Vibrant Communities Framework.

Recommendations Related to Planning

01 /

02 /

Beaver County stakeholders are in need of a comprehensive risk assessment that projects the region’s greatest emerging risks between now and the year 2070, identifies key strategies for mitigating such risks, and outlines potential resources and partnerships that can bring these strategies to life. Such an assessment should pay particular attention to those underlying and longstanding conditions that contribute to the region’s lack of systemic resilience.

Beaver County stakeholders require the

04 /

rapid acceleration of efforts at resilience planning that are happening within

some nonprofits, businesses, and municipalities. Incentives and resources must be made available to enact organizational risk assessments, scenario planning, shared learning, and ongoing capacity building.

Investments in technology and services to guide such efforts must be prioritized.

And, personnel must be funded to lead such efforts in targeted and ongoing ways.

03 /

Beaver County stakeholders require homegrown resilience initiatives that are dedicated to understanding resilience, educating the region about resilience, and working to create and maintain proactively resilient systems throughout the region.

The ongoing process of resilience planning requires that local organizations are actively learning about and implementing resilience within their own context. Planning without implementation lacks understanding.

Implementation without planning lacks direction. Beaver County stakeholders require the simultaneous enactment of both.

05 /

Beaver County stakeholders will benefit from thoughtful and informed infrastructure planning and implementation that carefully considers the relationship between the built environment and regional resilience. The choices we make and the things we build have longstanding consequences for the region. We must work together to invest in resilient, healthy, and sustainable community infrastructure (both social and physical), ensuring that such substantive investments promote the longterm vibrancy and resilience of the region.

Beaver County stakeholders must engage in honest and proactive planning

surrounding the growing need for regionalization. This will require patient and principled leadership that recognizes the importance of both fiscal prudence and municipal identity. We must work to understand how similar communities have successfully enacted such strategies, we must identify emerging opportunities to implement these strategies within our own communities, and we must begin to develop aggressive roadmaps that will move us toward opportunistic implementation of this vision.

BEAVE R COU NTY RE SI L I E NCE D U RING COVID -1 9 • What Are Our Key Recommendations?

| 27

Recommendations Related to Resources

06 /

07 /

08 /

Beaver County stakeholders require targeted resilience funding for leaders, organizations, and collaboratives who are committed to learning and enacting the principles of collective impact and regional resilience. Void of identified, organized, and well-resourced champions, resilience is highly unlikely to take hold or spread throughout the region.

Beaver County stakeholders are in need of ongoing resilience funding that is earmarked specifically for creating the kinds of relationships, trust, shared learning, and collaborative planning that are vital to creating regional resilience. Particular priority should be given to funding early stage, collaborative efforts that seek to move beyond addressing symptoms of dysfunction and that instead work actively to assess and respond to the root causes of long standing problems.

Beaver County stakeholders require the creation of a sophisticated, visionary,

and adaptive intermediary organization who possesses the reputation and

competencies required to communicate nontraditional funding opportunities, evaluate candidates, administer awards, and track the spending of funds. Such an organization could also play a vital role in coordinating collaborative fundraising efforts and attracting funding for nontraditional or emergency projects.

28 | Why This Report? • BEAVER COUNTY RESILIENCE DURIN G COVI D -19

09 /

10 /

Beaver County stakeholders must labor to create increasingly cooperative regional relationships with organizations and networks for whom resilience is a primary concern. Doing so will require drawing heavily upon organizations who prioritize such work in Allegheny County. This will also necessitate connecting Beaver County’s story with a broader set of regional and national initiatives that foreground resilience as a guiding principle for community development efforts.

Recommendations Related to Connectivity

Beaver County stakeholders must actively and aggressively work toward enhanced

diversity of perspective, representation, and leadership at all levels of

community activity. The work of growing in resilience involves developing wider and deeper connections between diverse communities of individuals. Creating conditions where diversity, equity, and inclusion thrive must be integral to any efforts at growing community resilience.

11 /

12 /

Beaver County stakeholders should labor to create a resilience-focused cohort of key social sector organizations who are committed to learning about and implementing resilience strategies within and among their organizations. Such a cohort should be funded not only to enact such strategies, but also to model and teach other organizations how to do the same.

Beaver County stakeholders should provide

tangible and financial encouragement

to those who are working together on generating regional resilience. Open forums should be created that move such efforts forward, goals should be collaboratively established and made publicly known, and regular progress should be celebrated and circulated among a wide array of stakeholders. Co-creating a resilient regional identity ought to become a broadly visible and widely revered public goal that consistently shapes decision making at various levels and in numerous organizations.

BEAVE R COU NTY RE SI L I E NCE D U RI NG COVID -1 9 • What Are Our Key Recommendations?

| 29

13 /

14 /

Beaver County stakeholders should recognize that the way it communicates about itself very often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. As such, stakeholders must actively work to generate the disruption of prevailing narratives about the region’s perceived and real inability to demonstrate resilience. This will require talking differently about our past, our present, and our future. This will also require enacting trustworthy, visionary, and transparent leadership, demonstrating that we are not only speaking differently about ourselves, but are also acting in ways that support such noble narratives.

Recommendations Related to Identity

Beaver County stakeholders must work together to direct focused attention to those areas in which they are currently demonstrating resilience. This means providing

better communication about what services exist and how to access them,

continuing to utilize both digital and print media as primary modes of communication.

In order to ensure that such messaging is successfully connecting with a broad public, stakeholders should labor to create a network of respected and visible influencers who can work proactively to disseminate information both online and offline.

15 /

Beaver County stakeholders must continue to organize, support, and enact initiatives that generate a growing sense of citizen agency. Stakeholders must recognize that the region will continue to lack resilience so long as residents feel disconnected and disempowered to create meaningful change.

Persisting in resilience demands the ongoing enactment of advocacy that continually calls for what has been envisioned. More than perhaps anything else, regional leaders must labor to model and incentivize collective action and advocacy that leads to a shared regional identity, common goals, and the privileging of ongoing community resilience.

30 | What Are Our Key Recommendations? • BEAVER COUNTY RE SI L I E NCE D U RI NG COVID -19

Conclusion The process described in the preceding pages represents a modest beginning.

Research and planning are often necessary first steps on the way to viable solutions.

However, the work initiated here will require action, leadership, and resources to move further toward regional resilience. This process has made two things abundantly clear. First, movement toward regional resilience is critically important to a wide group of Beaver County stakeholders. Second, a growing majority of those stakeholders are willing and interested to take up such efforts in earnest, recognizing that doing this work is vital to the ongoing health of the region. It is our firm hope and expectation that this document will serve as a catalyst to these growing efforts, generating a deeper sense of connectedness and regional unity as a result.

For more information, please contact:

A joint project of:

daniel@getriverwise.com

Beaver County Partnership RiverWise Beaver County Chamber of Commerce Beaver County Regional Council of Governments