Allegheny Conference on Community Development

From 2021-2023, as part of the Allegheny Conference's 10-year plan "next is now: a 10-year vision of vitality for the pittsburgh region," with the support from more than 250 regional investors council members and partners, the Allegheny Conference advanced an agenda with strategic priorities to mobilize members and partners across the region. Together we laid the foundation for achieving our shared vision for a vital, globally competitive region with opportunity for all by growing our economy, galvanizing inclusive regional engagement and unlocking the region's potential. (continued on schedule o)together we are growing our economy by securing business investment and job creation. In service to the 10-county pittsburgh region, we helped to secure 82 wins representing $2.58 billion capex and 7,072 new and retained jobs and created a strong pipeline of over 100 prospects representing billions of dollars and thousands of jobs. These economic Development efforts focused on opportunities in key high-growth, future-focused industries where the region has competitive advantages, including: autonomy and robotics, cybersecurity, financial services and life sciences. By focusing efforts on key high-growth, innovation-driven industries where the region has competitive advantages, our region achieved economic Development wins such as:advanced manufacturingbci steel and nexttracker: a regional steel factory revitalized to manufacture components for solar panels.re:build manufacturing: a new manufacturing hub at new kensington advanced manufacturing park to serve energy, life sciences, robotics, aerospace and other high-growth industries.shell polymers monaca: the first major polyethylene manufacturing complex in the northeastern united states commenced operations and opened its innovation center representing a multibillion-dollar investment.energyeos energy enterprises: a groundbreaking long-duration battery manufacturer in east pittsburgh that received a conditional $398.6 million federal loan guarantee to support a major expansion.westinghouse: an evinci microreactor business in a former factory in etna to manufacture nuclear batteries.life scienceselevatebio basecamp inc.: a $35 million cell and gene therapy facility to open in pittsburgh's hazelwood green.robotics & aigecko robotics: a $100 million investment from a $5 billion technology fund from pittsburgh's thomas tull and expanded role within the u.s. department of defense to accelerate maintenance.spaceastrobotic: a $20 million investment to renovate a five-story building near its headquarters on pittsburgh's north side as the company prepared the first commercial launch of its peregrine lander to the moon.year over year, we expanded the reach of the newly created business investment brand, pittsburgh region. Next is now, highlighting the region as an iconic place where what's next is happening now and where companies, startups, universities and more are all meeting the world's biggest challenges and building a next generation economy for all. Compared to 2022, digital marketing efforts in 2023 resulted in:10% increase in earned media impressions. 30% increase in linkedin followers.+300% increase in paid media impressions.140% increase in conversions across media platforms.+402.7% increase in website visitors.post-pandemic, we implemented a more aggressive, targeted foreign direct investment strategy with an initial focus on germany through a series of bilateral trade missions.recognizing that a globally competitive economy depends on the availability of talent and a skilled workforce, we led efforts to attract and retain high-demand talent, especially people of color, with an initial focus on talent retention. We supported employer talent attraction efforts with the launch of a pittsburgh regional talent marketing initiative, belong. Become. Be., focusing on raising awareness of the region's differentiated assets with an initial focus on students at colleges and universities across the region, all tailored to what talent is looking for in a community.the 2023 pittsburgh passport kicked off its fifth year as a marquee program to showcase the region's amenities and opportunities to retain more college students and recent graduates to fill the talent pipeline for regional employers. Nearly 8,000 students enrolled into the program, representing more than 45 countries, 44 states and more than 250 cities. Of the students reached, 40% were from diverse backgrounds. It gained nearly 2,000 more students than the previous year.

We worked to unlock the region's potential by improving competitiveness, removing policy barriers and securing transformative public sector investment.we improved business competitiveness by removing barriers and creating a more business friendly climate. (continued on schedule o)we successfully advocated for the phase down of the corporate net income (cni) tax, resulting from passage of act 53 of 2022. The measure reduced Pennsylvania's 9.99% cni tax immediately to 8.9% and will continue to lower the rate over time until it is cut in half to 4.9%, removing a flashing red light discouraging business investment. We continue to advocate for a more rapid phase down and a higher net operating loss carryforward limit more competitive with other states.we successfully advocated for and helped to secure improvements in the permitting process at the state level, supporting the shapiro administration's executive order to increase efficiency in Pennsylvania's permitting, licensing and certifications, and we advocated on behalf of similar improvements at the county and city level.we partnered with the chamber of commerce of greater philadelphia to advocate on behalf of a statewide economic Development strategy coupled with more robust and faster, flexible statewide funding to support and grow Pennsylvania's existing assets to compete with other states better.we successfully advocated for and helped to secure more than $1 billion from the infrastructure investment and jobs act.we organized a unified regional approach, one region. One voice., to secure passage of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure investment and jobs act and helped secure more than $1 billion in federal and state infrastructure investment for regional projects, including but not limited to: $857 million, montgomery locks and dam. $77 million, emsworth lock and dam. $11.3 million, hill district center avenue reconstruction. $565,000, east busway expansion planning grant. $142.3 million, u.s. department of transportation grant for the eastern pittsburgh multimodal corridor project.we built out key clusters to grow the economy, create jobs and drive regional competitivenessautonomyroboticsin 2023, under the southwestern Pennsylvania new economy collaborative, we effectively advanced the implementation of a $62.7 million federal build back better regional challenge grant, secured in late 2022. This grant aims to establish a robotics and autonomy cluster spanning 11 counties. Our program focuses on three key areas: accelerating autonomous technology adoption, upskilling the regional workforce for emerging jobs and fostering the commercialization of innovative autonomous technologies. Key achievements in 2023 include:small and medium enterprises (sme) robotics adoption, led by catalyst connection: successfully conducted over 100 assessments for small and medium-sized businesses to expedite technology adoption, leading a significant number to project and financial assistance stages.robotics manufacturing hub, led by the advanced robotics for manufacturing institute: fully operationalized de-risking cells at its mill 19 site, initiating collaborations with small and medium-sized manufacturers. Additionally, its innovation accelerator sites are now active in Allegheny, armstrong, Indiana and westmoreland counties.expanded pathways to new economy careers, led by southwestern Pennsylvania commission: actively enrolled students, preparing them for new career opportunities in the sector through workforce-led initiatives with more than 20 regional partners. Pittsburgh robotic network's discovery day engaged over 3,000 participants, enhancing awareness about local ecosystem and career opportunities.the robotics factory, led by innovation works: launched successfully. The inaugural aviation & robotics summit was attended by approximately 300 guests, including Pennsylvania governor josh shapiro. The event facilitated partnerships between major global airlines and local robotics firms. The accelerate program provided extensive support to six startups, including customized mentorship, skill-building workshops and networking opportunities. Expanded pathways to entrepreneurship, led by innovatepgh: launched training and market access for entrepreneurs (tmace) to create a supplier directory for robotics, automation and ai industries. The peer fellowship commenced with five fellows, enhancing their integration into the local ecosystem and setting a foundation for future growth.energy:our energy task force developed and released "our region's energy future: a strategy for accelerating decarbonization, investment and inclusive growth in the pittsburgh region" in 2022. Over the past two years, we've partnered across sectors to support transformational developments across the six pillars of the integrated strategy.stakeholder education and support, including the launch of the southwestern Pennsylvania (swpa) decarbonization forum and two special energy task forces, supporting first movers, encouraging competitive statutes, policies and relations at local, state and federal levels and seeking government investment.raising the profile of our region for energy investment, in 2022, we co-hosted the global clean energy action forum with carnegie mellon university, which brought more than 6,000 visitors from 32 countries to pittsburgh for a global conversation about the future of energy. The effort yielded nearly 100 pieces of media coverage referencing pittsburgh as the host city.

We galvanized inclusive regional engagement to enhance vitality for all.we raised awareness of and socialized the inclusive growth principles to support employment, business growth and Community wealth creation through a series of 11 inclusive growth roundtables for Allegheny Conference regional investors and partners.specific initiatives included:(continued on schedule o)black economic advancement mobility (beam) collaborative, which identifies promising minority-owned businesses with the potential to scale and supports them in building capacity and connecting them with potential customers. In 2023, we created the beam procurement collaborative (bpc) comprised of 13 anchor institutions willing to be engaged in partnering and engaging diverse businesses. Of these 13 businesses, 11 were Allegheny Conference regional investors.strengthening communities partnership (scp), since its inception in 2013, has positioned southwestern Pennsylvania as the dominant recipient of funding awarded by Pennsylvania department of Community and economic Development (dced) through the neighborhood assistance program (nap), capturing about 45% of total state tax credit awarded annually. From 2021 to 2023, scp members received more than $3 million each year through nap tax credits, totaling nearly $10 million.we worked to facilitate catalytic investment in real estate and people by implementing a new strategic focus for the strategic investment fund (sif) that emphasizes investment in downtown pittsburgh and historically excluded communities across southwestern Pennsylvania. Sif has secured to date a total of $39.2 million in a private offering from its existing investors.the most recent sif investment was a $6 million loan to victrix llc to move forward with redeveloping the former gnc headquarters in downtown pittsburgh into a 253-unit apartment conversion.as downtown pittsburgh struggled to fully recover from the covid-19 pandemic, we partnered with pittsburgh downtown partnership and convened stakeholders to develop a strategy to maximize the vitality and economic prosperity of our region's urban core. Efforts included:the urban redevelopment authority developed a $6 million downtown conversion fund and the department of city planning implemented zoning changes to streamline conversion.to improve the pedestrian experience of downtown, the Conference supported the pittsburgh downtown partnership in its effort to raise $5 million over five years from corporate and philanthropic sources to provide a uniformed but non-law enforcement ambassador program to support wayfinding, visitor support, conflict resolution and more.in addition to the existing multi-million-dollar investments in downtown revitalization efforts, we worked with corporate and philanthropic partners to commit an additional $2 million to provide enhanced on-street maintenance, public safety and health outreach efforts, cleanliness and vitality. As part of this funding, we aligned with the pittsburgh downtown partnership and other partners to address the need for public restrooms downtown through a six-month pilot program.in august 2023, with more than 20 partners, we launched indexpgh, an online dashboard to provide fact-based data on the neighborhood's progress across the measures of vibrancy, economy, cleanliness and beautification, and safety and public health. Since the increase of downtown revitalization efforts, we have seen an uptick in visitors to downtown and, going forward, are working with our partners to develop and implement a long-term strategy for downtown.from august 2023 to january 2024, indexpgh reached nearly 22,300 views with more than 4,200 users.the 2022 pittsburgh passport* kicked off its fourth year as a marquee program to showcase the region's amenities and opportunities to retain more college students and recent graduates to fill the talent pipeline for regional employers.in total, the program has reached more than 6,000 college students from 39 states and 41 countries via a hybrid platform of in-person and virtual events. Of the students reached, 40% were from diverse backgrounds. The program is to become a significant element of an intensified and comprehensive approach to retaining and attracting more talent to the region by engaging them with employers, arts and recreation opportunities and other key stakeholders through a new regional talent collaborative convened by the Allegheny Conference for launch in 2023. *pittsburgh passport is a program of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and not affiliated with passport to pittsburgh, llc.