John Polacek | Community building on small businesses

When Bethlehem Steel closed its doors in Johnstown in 1992, thousands of jobs were lost.

Families began to tell their children that after graduation they needed to leave town to find a job. That advice and subsequent brain drain led to continued drops in Johnstown’s population.

Fortunately, times have changed, plenty of family-sustaining jobs are available, and we are beginning to see young entrepreneurs and families return to our region.

At a recent Chamber State of the City event, city officials spoke with great optimism about the current state of Johnstown’s economy. In the past year, there have been more than 30 new business startups. Both residential and commercial sales are at record highs. One only needs to look at the want ads to see the large number and wide variety of good paying jobs available.

Much of this change and growing success in Johnstown rests on the backs of small businesses who truly make up the fabric of our community. The U.S. Small Business Administration says small businesses make up 99.9% of all U.S. businesses. Vision Together 2025 joins the community in supporting and celebrating the success of small businesses in our community while also looking to make the region attractive to new businesses looking for a place to call home.

The positive change underway in Johnstown also comes from a renewed commitment of collaboration. Government leaders, community organizations, corporations, small businesses and individuals are coming together like never before, determined to move our region forward and put the years of brain drain and population loss behind us. Vision Together 2025 is proud to be part of this collaboration. Improving the economic vitality of Greater Johnstown is one of Vision’s seven priority goals. Under that goal, Vision volunteers are working closely with other community partners to look for ways to create more economic vitality and growth. Vision has teams and individuals working on attracting new people to the region, creating new entrepreneurial activities, and continuing to remove blighted properties and preserve historic structures.

While there is still plenty of work to be done to grow our economy, there is also a lot to celebrate. Not only in Johnstown but throughout Cambria County, people are noticing positive change.

We’re also seeing an influx of new visitors and residents.

One local company has hired 108 new workers since January. That same company recently had 20 people visit from California. Those visitors could not say enough about the beauty of the region, the wonderful trails, reasonable cost of living and other factors that make for a high quality of life.

There is definitely not one magic solution, it takes effort, determination and a willingness to risk not doing things the same way they have always been done. At Vision, we encourage everyone to get involved and to be part of the solution. If you have ideas on how to enhance economic vitality and success in our region, we would love to hear them. Reach out to us through www.johnstownvision.com.