The 2021 Rural Policy Summit was a virtual series that brought together a wide range of stakeholders, including policymakers, nonprofit leaders, academic researchers, industry professionals, and others interested in rural conditions and trends, to learn about and discuss major policy issues that will affect rural Pennsylvania over the next five to 10 years.
This session was a roundtable discussion on creative approaches to municipal services, including shared services and collaboration with nonprofits and other organizations. Leaders and experts representing local governments and nonprofit organizations offered insights, practical advice, lessons learned, and best practices to other communities or organizations that may be looking to implement similar services and that can help inform policy.
The summit panelists were:
- Jim Becker, Executive Director, Economic Progress Alliance of Crawford County
- Amanda Settelmaier, Executive Director, Turtle Creek Valley Council of Governments in Allegheny County
- Alexis Eroh, Borough Council Member, Plymouth Borough, Luzerne County
The panel was moderated by Julie Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, and Lawrence Feick, interim associate dean of the College of Business Administration and professor of business administration at the Katz Graduate School of Business/College of Business Administration, University of Pittsburgh.
The series was cohosted by the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health, Pennsylvania Rural Development Council, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Pennsylvania Downtown Center, and Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank’s Community Development and Regional Outreach Department.