(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

“This is a marathon, it’s not a sprint.”

Those words of Vice Chair Dr. Joseph Guarino summed up the announcement made on Wednesday night at the Community College of Beaver County, in which the New Brighton Superintendent joined Chairman Dr. Roger W. Davis (president of CCBC)  formally introduced “Flourish Beaver County”, a new partnership designed to help further education, workforce development, and the overall cultural impact of Beaver County.

“This leadership team has been assembled to create a collaborative, inclusive, sustainable, [and] resilient county-wide movement that can fundamentally change expectations about student success, maximize future educational and economic opportunities for all our students in Beaver County, and address and overcome the challenges that are impacting the growth of our county,” Davis stated.

Among the partners for Flourish Beaver County are Heritage Valley CEO Norm Mitry, Beaver County Sheriff Tony Guy, and Ambridge borough manager Mario Leone–all of whom were in attendance for the announcement. The announcement was bookended by musical numbers performed by pianist Melanie Flick and singer Demetrius “Meach” Taylor (both from the Big Beaver Falls Area School District).

Included in the process for Flourish Beaver County will be three new task forces, introduced by Dr. Guarino during Wednesday night’s announcement. The three task forces will focus on three components–mental health, academic readiness, and college/career pathways. “We believe these task forces, as they’re staffed and run by dozens of volunteers–[including] many of you in this room tonight,” Guarino said, “will focus their different talents to come together and look at what our young people need.”

The biggest announcement of the night came from Carey McDougall, who currently serves as the interim Chancellor at Penn State Beaver. McDougall announced that Flourish Beaver County’s Board of Directors has approved the exploration of a two-year, last-dollar tuition scholarship for all eligible Beaver County students. “As part of this effort tonight,” she added, “we are launching a fundraising campaign to raise at least 22 million [dollars] towards this scholarship goal.”

Further details regarding Flourish Beaver County will be announced at later dates.