Reimagine Greene County

Reimagine Greene County brings together local economic development leaders to clarify shared priorities, learn from successful rural communities, and identify practical next steps to improve economic opportunity. We focus on building strong shared relationships, processes, and stories that build trust, support collaboration, and make action possible.

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What we accomplished

1. Listening
To achieve real impact, it is essential to begin with the “why” behind the community’s visions and pain points. To ground our initiative in local experience, we gathered input from local leaders, reviewed plans and reports, and examined data to understand Greene County’s challenges, strengths, and opportunities and how these are perceived by those working towards economic development. In October 2025, we were joined by 41 community members to dive deeper into the biggest strengths and challenges they experience in their community through hands-on activities. Andy Walker of the Meadville Community Revitalization Corporation and Ben Bush of Forward Lawrence joined us to share inspiration about how other local communities in southwestern Pennsylvania are meeting similar goals and challenges. 

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2. Visioning
From a deep understanding of local strengths and challenges, we moved forward towards building collective ownership and shared vision–key strategies that lay the groundwork for solution development. In February 2026, 33 community members came together in a facilitated session to align on priorities and imagine what shared success looks like for Greene County. Through human-centered design activities, we refined community visions, explored how supporters and partners map onto these visions, and determined next steps for further learning. We were also joined by Amanda Workman-Scott of the West Virginia Community Development Hub, who shared how leading regional rural communities are making similar goals a reality. From these activities, we developed three core strategies for Greene County: Investing in quality of life, building regional collaboration, and supporting a regenerative local economy. 

3. Learning
Having identified key shared visions grounded in local realities and common values, we turned our view beyond the local context to gain inspiration and develop creative solutions for moving forward. Throughout April 2026, over 100 participants joined us for in-person and virtual learning journeys tailored to Greene County’s goals and needs. A field trip to Buckhannon, West Virginia hosted by the West Virginia Community Development Hub, online Collaboration clinic offered by ElevateNP of SWPA, and a webinar featuring national economic development experts Dr. Amanda Weinstein and Charles Buki provided innovative solutions and state-of-the-art insight into how to make rural economic development initiatives thrive. Check out our lessons learned!

4. Action
In our final workshop in April of 2026, 23 of Greene County’s most committed leaders came together to connect the dots and make a plan for action. Integrating our common goals with the regional inspiration we gained, we moved through a series of activities designed to surface the most important “small wins” to get each priority moving and mapped out how existing tools, knowledge, partners, space, and initiatives support these directions. We also identified clear platforms for ongoing collaboration to bring the work forward. These include: 

• Step Up Greene, a new online platform spearheaded by local business owner Ben McMillan to drive community engagement around small, high-impact projects.

• Revitalization of Waynesburg’s Community Development Corporation, with a focus on preserving historic buildings downtown and enhancing community cultural spaces. 

• A regional “Reimagine Greene” collaborative, with bi-weekly meetings to support continued communication and collaboration into the future.

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"The collaboration amongst our group has been a wonderful journey for the community. The ideas have been generated at the grassroots level and therefore have more likelihood of being carried out. Sarah, Megan, and Emily have been incredible and we hope to keep working together."  

- Workshop participant

Community Resources
Interested in how our approach in Greene County can serve your community? Check out the activity templates we used throughout this initiative:

• Future Laddering: Exploring and understanding the why and how behind your goals

• Round Robin: Collaboratively breaking down major goals into small wins or actionable steps

• Affinity Mapping: Synthesizing small wins and resource needs for major goals

• Networking: Identifying key stakeholders to consider and include in future actions

• Next Steps: Deciding which goals are small, mid, and long term; identifying learning needs to accomplish goals; identifying immediate actions participants can take to further goals

• Radar: breaking down needs, activities, and shifts by topic area and duration

These activities draw on human-centered design principles to open up creative problem-solving, engage multiple voices in complex issues, and help community members identify the root challenges they most want to address. If you’re interested in how these activities can be adapted to your local community, our staff are happy to help!

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Partners
Reimagine Greene County is a partnership between the Southwestern Pennsylvania Municipal Project Hub, the Community Foundation of Greene County, Waynesburg University, and the Greene County Industrial Development Corporation. We thank the Heinz Endowments for their support of this initiative.