RiverWise EcoDistricts Incubator

FACILITATION AND ECODISTRICTS GUIDANCE

RiverWise is a newly formed non-profit project by the Beaver County Partnership for Community and Economic Growth.  RiverWise was created to connect three townships that each sit along the Ohio River north of Pittsburgh in Beaver County: Aliquippa, Monaca and Beaver Falls that are all working towards achieving the EcoDistrict Protocol as a means to creating more healthy, vibrant and economically sustainable communities.   .   While at SmithGroup, Steven Baumgartner facilitated a 3-day intensive “EcoDistricts Incubator” to create an aligned direction for how RiverWise should be driving equitable change for these three neighborhoods.    

EcoDistricts is anchored in three imperatives or primary drivers for sustainable community development:  Equity, Resiliency and Climate Protection.  It was clear that systems thinking (across scales and boundaries) and larger identification of issues and opportunities were critical to their collective success.    Fundamental to the sessions were the on-going discussions about relatability of these issues of economic development, environment and social impact to the short-term issues that were impacting the people of these communities: access to food, education, and jobs.

Steven led this effort while at SmithGroup.

Location:  Beaver County, PA (Incubator in Millvale, PA)

Client:  RiverWise Date: 2019

Collaborators:    EcoDistricts.org, evolveEA.