Mercer County non-profit aims to re-populate area and fill open jobs

As population numbers drop in Mercer County, one Hermitage based non-profit is looking to give kids a reason to stay. Penn Northwest Development Corporation just received $100,000 in Grants from the PA Dept. of Community and Economic Development for their programs, Future Leader and Homegrown Initiative.

Both programs bring local businesses to 5th through 12th grade students in schools to showcase the industries and open jobs in the area.

“We’ve helped kids in welding, in fabricating and electricians so everything blue collar to white collar to everything in between,” Jake Rickert, Penn Northwest's Director of Workforce Development said.

Mercer County has been losing about 1% or 1,000 people in their population every year. It’s a downward trend the region has been seeing since the steel industry left, taking a lot of people with it. 

To stop that bleed, Penn Northwest believes the key is showing off those industry leading jobs that are in the county that kids just don’t know about.

“We have to show these kids that you can have a good career here, a career that sustains a family, buys a better house, good vehicles,” Rickert said. “It’s an all encompassing approach.”

“For so long we’ve been telling young people if you want to be successful you’ve gotta find that success somewhere else and that's just not the case anymore,” Rod Wilt, Penn Northwest’s Executive Director said. 

If the population continues to decline, schools would have to merge together, business will start to leave and the county will lose taxpayer dollars.

“As we lose our tax base less money goes into the community which makes it more difficult for our upkeep. So it’s vastly important that we have people here,” Rickert said. “Regardless of what you want to go for, there's an opportunity here for you no matter what your interest is.”

“The biggest thing that we can do right now is connect our young people with career opportunities as soon as possible before they find that opportunity somewhere else,” Wilt said. “There's not just a job waiting for you right now, there's a career waiting for you.”

By 2030, Penn Northwest wants to see Mercer Counties population number grown by 1% and hit at least 110,000.