North Central Pennsylvania Planning and Development Commission Receives
National Association of Development Organizations 2023 Impact Award

Ridgway, PA: The North Central Pennsylvania Planning and Development Commission announced that it has received a 2023 Aliceann Wohlbruck Impact Award from the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) for the implementation of its Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) and Resiliency Plan 2022-2026 Interactive Dashboard.

Award-winning projects will be recognized during NADO’s 2023 Annual Training Conference, held in Cleveland, OH on November 7-10. The 2023 class of award recipients consists of 108 projects from 71 organizations spanning 28 states. The NADO Impact Awards are presented in honor of the late Aliceann Wohlbruck who was NADO’s first executive director and served 24 years as a tireless champion for regional approaches to economic development in rural communities. The Story Map is available online: http://www.nado.org/2023-impact-award-recipients/

The CEDS innovative dashboard will enhance data analysis and decision-making by drilling down and filtering vital information for the 6- county region. It will focus on population, poverty rate, unemployment rate, median household income, labor force participation, and educational attainment. This state-of-the-art dashboard offers a comprehensive view of economic, community, infrastructure, human services, and technology programs.

As guided by the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) and Resiliency Plan 2022-2026 the dashboard priorities are based on key themes discovered during the stakeholder input phase of the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. The CEDS Resilience Subcommittee utilized that information and determined the following four priorities to serve as the foundation for the Interactive Dashboard: infrastructure, workforce and entrepreneurship, natural resources and tourism, and quality of life. The dashboard will provide key metrics that allow the analysis of the success of each county or success in the region. The dashboard is available online at: http://northcentralpaceds.com.

The North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission serves the public and private sector through planning and implementation of Community, Economic, and Transportation Development throughout the six-county region of Cameron, Clearfield, Elk, Jefferson, McKean and Potter Counties.

NADO is a Washington, DC- based membership association of regional development organizations that promotes programs and policies that strengthen local governments, communities, and economies through regional cooperation, program delivery, and comprehensive strategies. The Impact Awards program recognizes regional development organizations and their partners for improving the economic and community competitiveness of our nation’s regions and local communities. For more information about this award winning project, contact Katie Lenze at klenze@ncentral.com or 814-773-3162.