GROVE CITY – A partnership is being built between Grove City and Grove City College, said Brian Powell.
Powell, Grove City College’s senior director of development, was the keynote speaker at Tuesday’s Grove City Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner.
Speaking before a packed crowd of around 200 at the Grove City Country Club, Powell said the partnership benefits all economically.
“A thriving downtown helps the college attract students, faculty and staff at a time when it’s increasingly competitive,’’ he said. “And it reinforces the idea that the college is not just located in this community – it is part of this community.’’
The college, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, and the community have always been intertwined, Powell said. A $179,000 Richard King Mellon Foundation grant will create a five-year strategy for the downtown.
But Grove City College isn’t trying to run the downtown, he said.
“We can add capacity focused on downtown and help bring people together,’’ Powell said.
Last November around 75 local residents met a public open house to discuss ideas and plans are to hold another one later this year, he said.
“The mission is to make downtown into a magnet for entrepreneurship, growth and investment,’’ Powell said.
A new organization will be created to focus on the downtown’s goals and to partner with existing groups, he said.
“Our downtown is our front porch,’’ Powell said. “It’s the first impression for visitors and the lasting memory for those who grew up here,’’ Powell said.
Beth Black, the chamber’s executive director, told the audience the organization had a good year and was looking to do more this year.
“We want our members to meet more people and build more relationships,’’ Black said.
Doug Thomas received the chamber’s Community Service Award at the event.
Sourced from Allied News
Photo and article by MICHAEL ROKNICK Herald Business Editor
Event recap video:
", "url": "https://renewgc.org/read/downtown-update-shared-at-chamber-of-commerce-dinner", "title": "Downtown update shared at Chamber of Commerce dinner", "date_modified": "2026-03-15T00:00:00.000Z", "tags": [ "Downtown" ] }, { "id": "urn:sha256:e4973dd3535fb346a829ab388fda1562cd211d59e118ed9e72f85869bbd9925c", "content_html": "U.S. Sen. David McCormick, R-Pa., visited Grove City College on Monday to meet with College officials and civic and political leaders from Mercer County.
McCormick said he wanted to “talk a little and listen a lot” to learn about the challenges and opportunities that regional leaders see and how his work in Washington, D.C., can advance the interests of western Pennsylvania.
In response, the first-term lawmaker heard from local economic development officials, municipal leaders, state lawmakers, and Brian Powell ’03, senior director of Development for Grove City College, who discussed the College’s lead role in a downtown revitalization effort.
The College received a $179,000 grant in May from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to support work to develop a strategic vision for economic development in downtown Grove City as well as conduct market analysis and develop master building and financial sustainability strategies for the community.
Working with local leaders and citizens, the College has helped to identify the borough’s strengths and develop strategies to increase economic development.
“This past year, we’ve been bringing together a lot of stakeholders in the community, and the college has worked with those folks to understand and really come out of the gate with a clear vision for downtown and the surrounding area,” Powell told McCormick.
McCormick said the approach sounds a lot like one he’s been pursuing since his election, working with everyone who has an interest in finding solutions to the state’s problems and positioning Pennsylvania to be a leader in burgeoning technology, energy development, rebuilding manufacturing, and onshoring jobs.
Recalling his military service, McCormick talked about the concept of unity. “Unity of effort would mean that even if you don’t have the same command structure over everything that for the mission, all the different organizations would be coordinated in a very targeted way to accomplish the mission. And that’s what feels like is going on here,” he said.
“You’ve got this great alignment of Grove City College and the community leadership, state leadership, the business leadership, to make the things that I was trying to describe – at the commonwealth level, the national level – you’re making that happen at the community level. It seems like everybody is on the field in the same mission,” McCormick concluded.
Grove City College President Bradley J. Lingo ’00 thanked McCormick and the others for their contributions to the discussion and said the College was prepared to play a role. “We don’t want to just be a great college, we want to be a great neighbor for our community,” Lingo said.
Among those in attendance at Monday’s meeting were: state Sen. Michelle Brooks, R-50; state Reps. Tim Bonner, R-17, and Parke Wentling, R-7; Mercer County Commissioners Ann Coleman, Bill Finley, and Tim McGonigle; Penn-Northwest Development Corporation Executive Director Rod Wilt; Grove City Mayor Randy Riddle and Borough Manager Vance Oakes; Grove City Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Beth Black; Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jim Bombeck; Hermitage City Manager Gary Hinkson and Director of Business & Development Mark Longietti; John Inman, vice president for Institutional Support; and Thiel College Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Shiela Nowinski.
Grove City College students Julia Sikora ’26, SGA executive student body president, and Isaac Good ’26, a former intern in McCormick’s office, also participated.
Sourced from Grove City College
", "url": "https://renewgc.org/read/grove-city-college-hosts-sen.-mccormick-regional-civic-leaders", "title": "Grove City College hosts Sen. McCormick, regional civic leaders", "date_modified": "2025-12-15T00:00:00.000Z", "tags": [ "News" ] }, { "id": "urn:sha256:bd857be5396d72a057bf1028396a3ae6c3b6e2f684e512acde6e9f5eb489825f", "content_html": "GROVE CITY — Grove City College held an open house Nov. 18 to get ideas and feedback for its upcoming revitalization project, allowing the community to share ideas and give feedback.
At the open house, people wrote their ideas and feedback about the revitalization project on sticky notes and placed them on boards under various topics. Altair Consulting Group and Real Estate Services will lead the project.
The revitalization project, which will focus on downtown Grove City, is being made possible thanks to a $179,500 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. The foundation funds prosperity and environmental conservation in Southwestern Pennsylvania, according to the foundation’s website.
“We received that over the summer and since then, there have been a number of individual interviews, focus groups, a lot of work with local officials and the borough of Grove City that have been the preparation for developing a plan and vision for the downtown of Grove City,” GCC Senior Development Director Brian Powell said. “So, tonight was really the next step, in inviting feedback from our local community, into the emerging themes for our downtown area.”
Powell said by helping to revitalize downtown, they are embracing their roles as “anchors in our community.”
“Our property literally butts up against the downtown area,” he said. “What being a good neighbor really means to us is that so many of our employees, so many of our faculty live here in the community. We serve students and families that live in our community and some of them graduate and stay in the community.”
By HAILEY ROGENSKI Allied News Staff Writer
", "url": "https://renewgc.org/read/public-open-house", "title": "Public open house hosted for revitalization project", "date_modified": "2025-11-20T00:00:00.000Z", "tags": [ "Events" ] }, { "id": "urn:sha256:d8091e7dab3b8d3fb29fe2e08f2f894afc1413feea9e506b8a57330f77659ea9", "content_html": "Grove City College has received a $179,500 grant to develop a community revitalization plan for downtown Grove City.
According to the release, the grant is from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to support planning and capacity-building efforts in the downtown area.
The Borough and College will use the money to hire Altair Consulting Group to lead community stakeholders in planning a vision for economic development.
The release said Altair Consulting Group will also conduct market analysis and develop building and financial sustainability strategies.
A similar investment was made in 2001 as part of the Main Street Revitalization Initiative. It also supported the nonprofit Grow Grove City for streetscape projects.
The planning period is expected to finish up by December.
\"This is a pivotal moment to strengthen relationships among local stakeholders and bring together new partners,\" Brian Powell, Grove City College Senior Director of Development, said. \"This grant will enable us to develop a sustainable plan that will attract additional investments from public, private, and philanthropic partners.\"
Sourced from WFMJ
", "url": "https://renewgc.org/read/downtown-revitalization-grant", "title": "Grove City College, Borough receive planning grant", "date_modified": "2025-05-21T00:00:00.000Z", "tags": [ "News" ] } ] }