When we talk about resilience, it’s easy to focus on physical infrastructure, buildings, and environmental systems. During this special event, we will hear from four postindustrial Pennsylvania communities whose experiences remind us that, while buildings and infrastructure are critical tools for supporting resilience, it is the vision and determination of the people that spark resilience movements.  

Green Building Alliance’s partners in Etna, Hazelwood, Meadville and Reading will share their stages of resilience and how the (green) built environment is helping them move the needle on community-led transformation.

Over a thoughtfully curated menu, residents and leaders of the four communities will engage in a moderated, fireside-style chat, and lead attendees in collaborative exercises meant to illuminate the successes and challenges overcome during each phase of community resilience.

Meet the Communities

Etna (Megan Tuñon, Etna Community Organization) represents the Organization phase of community-led resilience, the pre-requisite for success. At its peak, Etna was a densely packed economic hub but suffered later industrial decline and decades of hardship. This community’s resilience story began when residents took matters of economic and environmental resilience into their own hands. Beginning with conversations in resident dining rooms and eventually through a formal governance structure (Etna Community Organization), over the course of two years and 36 public engagements, over 400 residents worked together to surface issues impacting the community and changes to address them and improve quality of life. The Etna Center for Community emerged as the resident’s number one priority project, serving as one structure that addresses each of the community’s resilience objectives.

Meadville (Julie Wilson, Common Roots) was built on railroads and manufacturing, making it a key player in Pennsylvania’s industrial economy. However, postindustrial decline that followed brought job losses, disinvestment, and housing challenges to the community. The organization Common Roots emerged out of Allegheny College to create pathways for people to remain in the community and gain access to Ownership, participation, and a shared responsibility in the community’s resilient future. Through Common Roots, housing is not viewed as a product being delivered to residents, but a process that residents actively participate in and help shape. Through creative pathways to ownership, Meadville residents can invest in the places they love, build economic stability, and contribute to vibrant neighborhoods where permanently affordable housing, wealth-building, and connection are present.

Hazelwood (Tim Smith, Center of Life) was a thriving community before the demise of the steel industry and redlining that forced local businesses, schools, and other amenities to close, and displaced residents. After years of organizing, the challenge became Activation of new opportunities while ensuring residents benefit from reinvestment. Leaders look to the sustainable development of Hazelwood Green as one potential solution, and measure success not simply by the volume of development activity, but by whether residents can remain, participate, and benefit from that development. The 178-acre former brownfield is being leveraged to create social, economic, and environmental opportunities. Ongoing and meaningful resident participation in decision-making is vital to keep Hazelwood Green’s future aligned with the needs and aspirations of the community. The soon-to-be-constructed Community Hub will act as a bridge, offering an approachable space the community already feels connected with through the beloved non-profit Center of Life.  

Reading (Bethany Ayers-Fisher, City of Reading), historically a transportation and manufacturing hub, faced industrial decline and some of the highest poverty rates in the country. Today, public-private partnerships are transforming the community through clean energy initiatives and green Infrastructure investments. Reading exemplifies how collaboration between sectors can lead to benefits such as renewable energy, improved emergency preparedness, and greater community inclusion. The city educates developers and leverages funding opportunities such as Municipal Investment, City Revitalization, and Guaranteed Energy Savings Act funds to incentivize resilient infrastructure among partners, and these unified efforts are creating transformative momentum. These small, repeatable, and impactful changes all move toward a future where people might assume that resilience in Reading was always the rule, and not the exception.