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Technical.ly
04-06-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
With federal support for robotics and defense, this Pennsylvania town is reinventing itself
The New Economy Collaborative of Southwestern Pennsylvania announced a $62.7 million Build Back Better grant toward workforce development in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Follow coverage of the 11-county project here. If you're a company looking for defense manufacturing, Southwestern PA is the place to be. For the 34th year in a row, major corporations from around the world joined government officials and local organizations in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to attract defense contracts to the region. Called the Showcase for Commerce, the annual event has long served as a hub for collaboration, where attendees from around the world come to exchange ideas, forge partnerships and ink defense contracts that fuel the regional economy. But Johnstown faces a growing challenge — who will do the work to fulfill these defense contracts? 'We're losing young people,' said David Grimaldi, director of workforce development at JARI, a nonprofit economic development organization in Johnstown. 'We just want to keep the people and provide a workforce for our manufacturers who are in desperate need of it because of the contracts they have.' The Johnstown metro area ranked as the third fastest-shrinking city in the country in 2017, and in the years since, it has struggled to reverse that trend. The most recent figures put the population of Johnstown proper at 17,668, a nearly 4% decline since the 2020 Census, or a drop of nearly 1% per year, according to data from the World Population Review. With local defense manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and Martin-Baker America landing big contracts in recent years, demand for entry level workers trained in basic manufacturing skills is growing, according to Grimaldi, and federal dollars are already flowing into Johnstown to address this problem. The New Economy Collaborative (NEC) of Southwestern Pennsylvania, an organization tasked with administering $62.7 million of the federal Build Back Better (BBB) Regional Challenge, is providing grants to organizations in the region to expand pathways to entrepreneurship and new manufacturing jobs. That $62.7 million is part of a broader $1 billion BBB initiative, launched in 2021 through the American Rescue Plan to spur post-pandemic economic recovery and revitalize communities impacted by decades of industrial decline. Southwestern Pennsylvania was fortunate to receive federal funding to supercharge robotics and automation, according to Jackie Erickson, the senior director of federal government affairs for the Allegheny County Conference on Community Development, which is part of the NEC. 'For many years, most of the funding for robotics went into Carnegie Mellon University, and a lot of that was geared towards the defense sector,' Erickson said. But in recent years, partially thanks to NEC funding, robotics adoption is spreading beyond the city of Pittsburgh, out into more rural areas of Southwestern Pennsylvania. The NEC is deploying funds through five projects across 11 counties in the region, including Cambria County, where Johnstown is located. The projects focus on adopting robotics in manufacturing, upskilling the regional workforce and commercializing new technologies for the advanced manufacturing sector. Helping people find work, helping companies find skilled labor JARI recently received a $144,000 grant from the New Economy Collaborative to support workforce development programs aimed at underemployed and unemployed residents in the region. 'We go directly into the Johnstown Housing Authority units and provide work readiness skills to those people that are underemployed or unemployed, giving them the skills that they need to get into the workforce,' said Grimaldi, the organization's workforce director. The initiative is already showing results. In the first cohort of JARI's Work Readiness Program, a mother and daughter participated together, Grimaldi said. After her father's recent death, the daughter had been working part time at a local Dollar General, while her mother was unemployed. Completing the program helped the daughter get into Drexel University, while her mother enrolled at the Greater Johnstown Career and Technology Center to train as an automotive technician. Without NEC and BBB funding, JARI wouldn't be able to offer as many economic development opportunities in the area, Grimaldi said. Down the street, a local makerspace called Made in Johnstown is using the same federal funding to change residents' lives through workforce training bootcamps, certification classes and entrepreneurial mentorship. Director Michael Rottam received federal funding routed through the NEC to help him launch the makerspace and provide programming. Since opening Made in Johnstown's doors, he's seen the space make a tangible impact on the community. 'One gentleman who went through our bootcamp, he was working at the local Walmart and had three children and wanted to better his life,' Rottman said. After attending the makerspace's workforce training bootcamp, the father enrolled in a local vocational school to become a robotics technician and now works for a local manufacturer. 'Robotics and defense go hand in hand' JARI and Made in Johnstown were featured at last week's event, where government officials from both sides of the aisle, including US Sen. John Fetterman and US Rep. Glenn Thompson, were able to see their work firsthand. The showcase has a rich history, according to Allegheny Conference's Erickson, who helped coordinate the showcase for a number of years while working for Bob Casey, Pennsylvania's former senator. Over 30 years ago, former US Rep. John Murtha established the showcase to promote job creation and advanced manufacturing in the region, Erickson said. Since his death in 2010, the event has continued with strong bipartisan support. The showcase has helped introduce large and small manufacturers from around the world to the region, helping develop a strong defense supply chain in Cambria and surrounding counties. And Southwestern Pennsylvania is well positioned to advance the defense sector moving forward, Erickson said. 'Robotics and defense go hand in hand,' Erickson said. 'As we look towards what the Defense Department is doing with different and new capabilities for future national security reasons, robotics is going to be at the heart of that.'
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Johnstown companies awarded $256 million in military defense contracts
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WTAJ) — Three Johnstown manufacturing companies were awarded contracts from multiple military defense and commercial companies. JWF Industries, Enterprise Ventures Corporation and Concurrent Technologies Corporation were given multiple contracts for manufacturing projects and advancements in military technology for nearly all branches of the military, resulting in $256 million. JWF accounted for $166 million while Enterprise Ventures and Concurrent Technologies footed the additional $90 million to the area. 'It allows us to take solutions that we developed for one branch, and we're able to share that with other branches to help them become more cost-effective and efficient,' President and CEO of Concurrent Technologies Ed Sheehan Jr. said. Johnstown students preview drone emergency service program The announcement was made during a press conference on the third day of the Showcase for Commerce in Johnstown. Bred as a steel and coal town in the years prior, officials now see a chance to evolve. 'We're no longer dependent on two major industries like coal and steel,' Sheehan said. 'We depend on manufacturing capability, advanced manufacturing processes. We also count on financial institutions. Our health care industry is the largest employer in the region, but we also have universities and colleges. We also have a lot of other businesses that help the overall health of our economy. And so I think we're in a much better position today than we were 50 years ago.' 'There's a lot of veterans working in these companies, and those values are all there,' Linda Thomson, the president of JARI, said. 'So, it just makes sense that we are such a strong player in this marketplace.' The contracts rolling in will not only add money to the area but opportunities for growth. Officials mentioned more jobs in the area, helping boost the economy and revitalize the area. 'It completely means retention of great talent,' Thomson said. 'How that we don't lose talent that's already here, and that we can attract additional talent to the region.' 'We're part of an ecosystem here in the region that allows other defense companies to continue to grow and benefit from the success that we heard today,' Sheehan said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Johnstown students preview drone emergency service program
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WTAJ) — Community members and students at Greater Johnstown High School saw a preview of the newest advancement in emergency services. Aerium, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a pipeline between students and the aerospace industry, demonstrated how one of its drones can deliver medical supplies to an emergency site. The drone service is part of a pilot program called Drone 814, which will soon come to the Johnstown, Westmont and Southmont areas. 'Today's event was an opportunity for us to display to the public the first demonstration,' Glenn Ponas, executive director of Aerium said. Showcase for Commerce returns to Johnstown convention center Once someone calls emergency services, the drone will head over to the site with a package full of supplies, featuring tourniquets, glucose for diabetics, Narcan for drug overdoses and electric defibrillators for heart failures. Once arrived, the dispatcher on the phone will instruct the patient to use the supplies until paramedics arrive on scene. 'We want to ensure that we are getting first response faster and that the outcomes for patients are better,' Ponas said. 'So once the 911 team gets there, the end result is that we have better patient outcomes at the end of that.' Test flights are set to begin in the first week of June and continue into the summer. Drone 814 expects to release a regional rollout plan in October. Click here to view the plan. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Showcase for Commerce returns to Johnstown convention center
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WTAJ) — Showcase for Commerce returned for its 34th year at the Frank J. Pasquerilla Conference in Johnstown. The three-day conference started on Wednesday. 'Johnstown is very well equipped to be a leader in the defense industrial base. We have been growing over a period of time over these 34 years,' Linda Thomson, President & CEO of JARI, said. Thomson is the outgoing president at JARI. This year will be her last showcase. She said JARI has helped Johnstown stay competitive by working with other businesses. Somerset teacher shortage, leaders warn of worsening child care crisis The 2025 Showcase for Commerce has even more exhibitions on a national and regional level. 'I think one of the things that JARI's been able to do over the years is to be, sort of a catalyst for bringing information and help to any of the companies that we work with. Everyone here works together. And I think the real lesson learned for me over these years is collaboration works. And if we all pull together, we actually succeed,' Thomson said. Thursday's Keynote speaker was Congressman Glenn 'GT' Thompson. He shared some ideas on how he believes the government acquisition process is in need of reform going forward. He also thanked all the companies and employees who provide great manufacturing for national security. He also said that being a great listener is key for government acquisitions. 'For government leaders, I mean, I think that's the most important skill that we come to the table, those elected officials, at whatever level of government. And that is, as I like to say it very simply, use what God has given us two ears, one mouth,' Thompson said. Showcase for Commerce ends at the Cambria County War Memorial on Friday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
