Clarion County Connect - Clarion County EDC

Community-Driven | Community-Focused

Clarion County Connect is the community development arm of the CCEDC and utilizes a place-based approach to drive economic development. Understanding the challenges within its communities, Connect seeks to coordinate action and investment to improve quality of life. The defining characteristics and qualities of Clarion County’s communities is the engine for planning and development. Connect takes a bottom-up approach, working with local leaders on the ground to find pathways towards impactful and sustainable community development.

Connect’s key focus areas include main street revitalization, entrepreneurship, small business development, municipal engagement, and resource sharing.

A Place-Based Approach

“Place-based economic development is based on the premise that a local economy must be developed as an appropriate response to the opportunities and limitations of that particular place. Place-based economy is a participatory bottom-up economy where the individual community building efforts of local businesses and residents create a collective unique identity and sense of place.” – Kaizer Rangwala, AICP, CEcD, CNU-A