‘Patching Bucket’ to Repopulate Shenango Valley

SHARON, Pa. – Jake Rickert describes the repopulation challenge facing the Shenango Valley as a bucket with a hole, sitting in a sink.

“The goal is, you want to keep that bucket filled with water,” says the director of workforce development at Penn-Northwest Development Corp. in Hermitage, Pa. “You have two options. You can either patch the bucket, or you can crank up the water pressure.”

Larger cities crank up the water, attracting lots of people. Even though they may have a large population exodus, they have new people moving in.

“When you look at rural communities, we don’t have that flow of people in and out,” Rickert says. “So, we really have to focus on patching this bucket.”

Penn-Northwest is focusing on retaining young people as a means of bucket patching. It has embarked on a repopulation initiative to try to ensure there are workers to fill jobs in the community and to stem population loss.

The Problem

The average age in the Shenango Valley skews older than that of the entire state, making it harder to fill jobs as people retire. The average age in Pennsylvania is 40.9 while it’s 44.7 and 44.2 in Mercer and Lawrence counties, respectively.

That’s why the organization is focusing on retaining young people.

“We’ve got the advantage of having such fantastic educational institutions – both our K through 12, and our secondary education – that they’re really attracting young people into our area,” Rickert says. “Now our goal, once they’re here, is to retain them inside our county. How we’re doing that is by connecting with them where they’re at.”

Rickert visits high schools, career and technical centers and colleges and universities in the region, meeting with students and talking to them about the opportunities available in the Shenango Valley. He tries to learn their interests and their majors, and connect them with opportunities that align.

Rickert is also working with school districts and manufacturing companies to develop a job shadowing program where high school students spend a day at a facility.

To counter the narrative that there’s nothing to do in the Shenango Valley, Penn-Northwest’s Homegrown Initiative offers the Future Leaders program. It’s open to young people in the region.

“It’s for people who want to give back to the community,” Rickert says.

The group conducts mixers and raises funds for organizations. It boasts about 30 members.

Getting Involved

One of those members is Delaney Lantz who lives in Greenville, Pa. She’s the youngest ever member of the Mercer County Bar Association Board. While her law firm, Harpst Becker, is in Akron, she’s expanding its clientele in the Shenango Valley.

Lantz, 30, grew up in Avonmore, a small town east of Pittsburgh. She graduated from the University of Akron’s law school. After working for a judge in Erie, Pa., Lantz got a job with a Sharon law firm.

“I moved to start that job and then met my fiancé and joined a bunch of clubs. And I’ve been here ever since,” she says.

While meeting her fiancé factored into her decision to stay in the area, Lantz also likes Mercer County.

“It’s a little bit bigger than where I grew up but similar in culture and atmosphere,” she says. “I enjoy Mercer County and I’m not looking to move anytime soon.”

Lantz belongs to many groups and gives back to the community. The Homegrown Initiative is one of them.

“We’re doing a lot to show people that there’s fun events to be had here,” she says.

Kieran Davis just joined the Future Leaders group. He was born in Sharon, Pa., but moved to Huntsville, Ala., when he was 11. He returned to Sharon as an adult.

“Sometimes, it chooses you,” Davis said of his return. His mother was sick, so he came back to be with her.

He works as a business adviser with the Minority Business Assistance Center at the Youngstown Business Incubator. He also has a clothing line. It started as Contagious, promoting mental health and self-love. But Davis believes there’s a bigger mission so he’s rebranding it Our Solemn Oath.

He realized what pulled him out of depression was his relationship with God and the rebranding reflects that.

Davis, 29, spends his free time with his wife, walking in Buhl Park, working out or playing basketball or watching a game with friends. He’s trying to determine how he can best serve the community as well.

“I enjoy living in Sharon,” he says. “I like the simplicity.”

He isn’t planning to relocate although that could change depending on family and work.

“In small towns, there’s a familiarity,” Davis says. “Everyone knows each other. You build these long relationships. It becomes generational relationships.”

He appreciates that.

Moving to Mercer

Nick Pochiba, 32, is another transplant to Mercer County.

He grew up in Claysville, Pa., a small town near Washington, Pa., and worked at a bank there after graduating from college. He wanted to be a wealth adviser and after a year with the bank, applied for a promotion.

“I was told to come back when I have more gray hair,” Pochiba says.

He didn’t like the idea that such decisions were based on age rather than ability, so he started looking for a new job.

A man who attends Pochiba’s church hired Pochiba to be an account manager and one of his new employer’s clients was First National Bank, then headquartered in Mercer County. The bank became Pochiba’s only client. He made frequent trips to the Shenango Valley from his home in Pittsburgh.

After two years, he decided he wanted to pursue his initial career plan and left to become a wealth adviser. A man who worked at the bank became his first client so Pochiba’s trips to the area continued.

He joined the Mercer Area Chamber of Commerce and Penn-Northwest, developed friendships in the area and gained exposure to the social aspects of the community. At dinner one night, a friend showed Pochiba a house in Hermitage that was for sale.

He was surprised at how inexpensive it was compared to homes in Pittsburgh and the surrounding suburbs. He wanted to be more involved in the Mercer County community and Hermitage was close enough to Pittsburgh that he could still maintain a presence there. The house needed a lot of work, but in August 2022, he bought it.

“I think by moving to Hermitage, it really expanded business opportunities,” Pochiba says. “Now there’s someone local that they can call who still makes house calls, who is young and going to keep them as clients as they’re entering retirement,” Pochiba says.

But he also loves small town life. And if he’s looking for something new, he can drive to Warren or Youngstown in about 25 minutes or to Cleveland or Pittsburgh in a little over an hour.

“It’s really convenient to get the best of both worlds and, quite frankly, I would not have been able to afford a comparable house in a suburb in Pittsburgh,” he adds.

Lantz also points to the low cost of living and she and Pochiba tout the number of activities, restaurants and attractions available for those looking for things to do.

Lantz emphasizes, however, that she made a point of joining clubs and putting herself out there in the community. Lantz and her fiancé, for example, play fling golf, which she describes as a cross between lacrosse and golf.

Davis says there are a lot of things happening in the community like pop-ups and gatherings of food trucks. But you have to be “in the loop” to find out about them.

The People

They also cite the people of the Shenango Valley.

“For me, the community is the biggest piece of it,” Lantz says. “I like the hometown feel, and everybody is so friendly here. And the community was very welcoming when I joined all the groups that I’m involved in. They all welcomed me with open arms. I didn’t really have to try too hard to get into many of them. And everybody I’ve met has been wonderful.”

Pochiba agrees.

“I also liked how energetic young people were up here, like people my age and who I met through the Future Leaders Program,” he says. “And I’ve made some great friends in such a short period of time through them.”

Rickert, the director of workforce development at Penn-Northwest, understands that many young people want to explore new places and live somewhere different from where they grew up. He lived in Colorado for five years before returning to Mercer County where he grew up.

“But the reason I came home and what the message we really need to relate to students is, Mercer County’s the easy yes,” Rickert says. “It’s an easy place to succeed. Whether you’re
looking for education, careers, networking, community events, outdoor recreation – Mercer County is that easy yes. And I think that’s the message to relay.”

Pictured at top: Jake Rickert, director of workforce development at Penn-Northwest Development Corp. in Hermitage, Pa., is working on repopulation of the region.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.