Slate Belt Rising's First Year Report

Lovers' walk, Portland

It'soften derided, but I love the slate belt. A lack of infrastructure has made it less attractive to developers. That may very well be a mixed blessing. Sure, it's poorer than most of the Lehigh Valley. But it has been untouched by the commercialization that has gone on everywhere else. The natural beauty of the area is jaw dropping. The people who live there are the biggest treasure of all. I love to listen to them talk at meetings or the Mount Bethel Diner. You can stop at a real Italian deli in Roseto. You can usually get most everything you need at one of the farms. I think the slate belt has already risen. I wish the rest of the Lehigh Valley were more Tiny Town, as Bob Cartwright likes to call Portland, than the other way around.

But that's just me. Community leaders who know better will be making improvements over the next six years. Below is their first year report, which focused on Bangor

Slate Belt Rising enticed Judd Roth, an Allentown developer who owns 55 Broadway, a high-profile building in the center of Bangor's business district, to spend additional funds of his own on the property's facade. The four-story, mixed-use building houses two businesses, Bangor Chiropractic, Inc. and Grace on Broadway. Improvements to the facade included pressure washing, painting, and a new awning. Those improvements complemented streetscape enhancements, including new planters and trees on Market Street and Broadway in Bangor. In addition, four businesses were able to take advantage of the group's funding to purchase attractive new business signs. Those businesses were Borked PC, Bray's News Stand, Bloom Creative Studio, and VS Eyewear.

Additional projects included the purchase of street trees and plants for Pen Argyl, Portland, and Wind Gap.

Support for local community events that help build community spirit included the Summer Sounds Concert Series, a wine and music festival, and a block party. Audio visual equipment was purchased for The HUB Teen Outreach Center, which provides weekly programming for youth in the Slate Belt. A website was created for Slate Belt Rising (www.slatebeltrising.org) and a new, regional branding strategy was commissioned, the results of which will be unveiled at a later date. In total, $88,535 was spent on first-year projects, not including the cost of staff support.

In addition, Slate Belt Rising hosted, in partnership with the Slate Belt Chamber of Commerce and CACLV subsidiary The Rising Tide Community Loan Fund, a four-week seminar on how to start a business that was attended by 35 prospective entrepreneurs. More than 40 prospective homebuyers attended CACLV's homeownership counseling program in the Slate Belt. Also, CACLV weatherized 73 homes in the boroughs and began rehabilitation of one owner-occupied home.

Janell Connolly, a Pen Argyl Borough Councilwoman and Co-Chair of the Slate Belt Rising Steering Committee, presented the group's plans for 2017-2018 with a focus on the Borough of Portland. She said Slate Belt Rising would be hiring a planning consultant to draft a proposal for revitalizing the borough's small central business district that has the potential to be "as quaint and appealing as any small town in the country with a little love, a little creativity and a little help."

Connolly added that the four boroughs have agreed on a branding strategy for the region, hoping to build broad community support for the region rather than leave individual boroughs to fend for themselves. This strategy is intended to attract investment, shoppers and homebuyers.

She reported that tree planting and façade improvements will continue, as will the youth development activities of Year One, including new initiatives like a regional police activities league intended to foster positive relationships between the boroughs' law enforcement officers, community and youth as the Slate Belt becomes increasingly diverse. Slate Belt Rising will also hold a training session for landlords in the region in order to preserve the housing stock.

Funding for the Slate Belt Rising program is provided by Waste Management and Merchants Bank of Bangor, both of which receive tax credits from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Additional support is provided by ESSA Bank and Trust, Lafayette Ambassador Bank and the County of Northampton.