The Great Allegheny Passage Conservancy (formally the Allegheny Trail Alliance) and Fourth Economy (an economic development consulting firm) deserve a standing ovation for their just released Economic Impact Report on the Great Allegheny Passage. If you are interested in outdoor recreation, environmentally sustainable development and Trail Towns, I suggest you dig into their Impact Report. I have seen thousands of … Continue reading
News Archives
2021 GAP Annual Economic Impact Report
The Progress Fund is pleased to share the most recent study on economic impact along the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP). According to Bryan Perry of Fourth Economy, “Tourism along the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage drove over $121 million in economic impact in 2019, according to a year-long analysis by Pittsburgh-based consulting firm Fourth Economy released on November 30, 2021. Fourth Economy conducted 64 interviews … Continue reading
What you order speaks volumes
PART FOUR – If you joined our entrepreneurial summer series during week three (we hit the rafts, bikes, canoes, kayaks), you may still be hungry. This week, we’ll share a booth with some of the most innovative restaurateurs in the region, where they’ll try to read the minds of the dining public – an exercise which might go better with a nice Moscato. Continue reading
It crawled from the Yough
PART THREE – Whether you joined our entrepreneurial summer series at a bed & breakfast (week one) or a distillery (week two), you know that change is a constant in small business. As a result, adaptation is a key phase in the entrepreneurial life cycle. Nowhere is that more true than along the trails and rivers, where consumer tastes shift almost as surely as weather changes. Continue reading
Kick it up a notch
PART ONE – Summer is make-or-break time for many of the small businesses in our towns, along the trails, and in the city’s most festive neighborhoods. This summer, many entrepreneurs are thinking big. For the next six weeks, The Progress Fund – which has helped 311 businesses over 21 years – is going to take you into the heat of an entrepreneurial summer. Continue reading
Pittsburgh’s first hostel opens Easter Sunday, April 1st
Pittsburgh natives, Paul Kletter and Mary Beth Karabinos, are opening South Side Traveler’s Rest, with help from The Progress Fund.
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Some former coal towns turn to nature tourism as a new economic driver
Last night, our regional story went national on Marketplace Business News! Last year, our work along the GAP aired on the local environmental show, the Allegheny Front. It was re-broadcast last night as part of NPR Marketplace’s national show. Continue reading
From coal towns to trail towns: rebuilding Appalachia
The Allegheny Front dug into our impact along the trail towns— and the stories of the lives it changed. Like Rod Darby, who had a great idea, but hit a snag when banks “weren’t sure about this trail thing.” Guess what? We were. And that’s just 1 piece of a major movement along the Great Allegheny Passage. Check out the full … Continue reading
“Communities must embrace bike visitors.” Here’s why.
A biking-hiking trail like the Great Allegheny Passage is an economic development opportunity for the communities it passes through — but only if those towns capitalize on it. And, said David Kahley, president and CEO of the Greensburg-based Progress Fund, McKeesport hasn’t exploited the Great Allegheny Passage to its fullest potential. Continue reading
CEO talks Trail Town challenges and benefits on “Two Rivers, 30 Minutes” radio show
Topics Discussed: As bike trails are being built, everyone thinks it will boost economies in these communities, “but there aren’t cash registers on trails,” Kahley says. So how should Western Pennsylvania towns be capitalizing on bike trails? What are they doing right and wrong? How does the Progress Fund’s Trail Towns Program help? Continue reading