By Chris Foreman, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, March 25, 2011

Community revitalization efforts in Fayette County were highlighted as part of a symposium Thursday sponsored by the New York-based Local Initiatives Support Corp.

Since 2000, LISC, through its Rural LISC program, has invested more than $6.8 million in the county through a partnership with the Fayette County Community Action Agency.

Over the past decade, projects involving the partners have led to $62 million worth of development in the county.

The symposium yesterday on rural Pennsylvania focused on Fayette County and the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership in Schuylkill County.

"They're basically the places we're using as our testing ground for building sustainable communities," said Joe Yarzebinski, senior program director for Rural LISC.

James Stark, the Fayette County agency's chief executive officer, said the greater Uniontown area struggles with higher poverty and unemployment rates than the rest of the state, with about 22 percent of residents eligible for food stamp assistance and 26 percent eligible for medical assistance from the government.

The agency's goal is to try to strengthen communities so they can better deal with socioeconomic issues, he said.

Rural LISC awards grants, loans and lines of credit to the Fayette County agency.

Among the projects Stark lauded were:

-- A medical clinic operated by Cornerstone Care Inc. that serves the uninsured and underinsured;

-- Development of a Republic bakery, owned by former Pittsburgh Steelers player Robin Cole, to make cheesecakes;

-- Construction of a new East End United Community Center.

In a video shown at the symposium, community center Executive Director Barbara Wright called the facility "truly the gem of the community."

Read original article here at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.