The Mon Valley Alliance runs the operation from a renovated bank building in downtown Monongahela.
The Mon Valley Business Resource Center is ready to make impactful changes in the region – especially for small businesses.
In 2021, Mon Valley Alliance partnered with Community Bank to relocate its office and create a business resource center in the former bank building on Main Street in Monongahela.
The property, valued at $280,000, was sold to the MVA for $50,000. Significant improvements have been made there over the past three years. The ground floor, which will house the Business Resource Center, is almost complete.
According to MVA Executive Director Jamie Colecchi, it’s an investment of about $400,000 in the center that will be focused on equipping business owners with the tools and resources they need to grow and succeed.
The project was funded with $250,000 in Local Share Account funds, a $50,000 grant from the Washington County Community Foundation, and an additional $110,000 from the MVA to cover final costs.
The work took longer than expected because the MVA also hoped to obtain statewide LSA funds to further expand the project, but was unsuccessful.
“We applied for state LSA funds for the balance in hopes of being able to do more, but it took a long time to make those decisions and you can’t start a project without getting the green light or you’re not eligible,” Colecchi said. “We waited all that time and unfortunately weren’t successful, but decided to move forward vigorously to make this happen.
“If we had received these funds, you would have seen a lot more bells and whistles, and the outside would have been completely renovated, but we went through with the project and focused on the essentials.
“All the money and investment here has gone into this main level to make it ADA compliant and suitable for training, meetings and networking events.”
The renovation transformed the ground floor of the building into a small, soundproof single office space, a large meeting room, a kitchenette, handicapped-accessible bathrooms and flexible spaces that can be used for networking.
“The space out there is a little empty at the moment, but it is a flexible space that could be used as an additional office if needed,” Colecchi said.
Colecchi hopes to start an art competition to showcase the Mon Valley and its young artists.
If the MVA finds a sponsor, the art competition would impact the Business Resource Center’s ability to offer programs to local business owners and would also benefit the art program of a winning school.
It’s just an idea at the moment, but since Cait Lee was hired as the MVA’s full-time Director of Business Resources, ideas have been pouring out.
Lee, a small business owner and resident of Fallowfield Township, began working as a consultant for the MVA in February.
When they realized what she had to offer, they felt she would be the perfect person to get the Business Resource Center up and running.
“I like to think that she appreciates the work that we are doing and will be doing, and we were fortunate to be able to have her join our team as the director of business resources, so the person who is really responsible for the services that are going to come here,” Colecchi said. “I think this place is going to be a vision, it’s going to be a spark.”
The Resource Center aims to fill a gap in the services businesses need to succeed and serve as a vehicle for providing education, training and services to businesses in the region looking to grow or expand their reach.
“There just aren’t a lot of vendors here,” Colecchi said. “If you have a presence, more gets done, more trust is built and I think it will be successful. Cait is a small business owner herself and understands these things, so I think she’s a good fit.”
Lee runs her own business providing application services and sees the Business Resource Center as an opportunity to stimulate economic growth.
“I’m excited about the center because it can be a catalyst for larger change,” Lee said. “I look forward to being a resource and advocate for businesses.”
“I think companies often don’t know what they don’t know when they’re not involved in these networks. Often they don’t know what’s available to them, so resources go unused, which is a missed opportunity.”
She said based on information from WCCF’s recent needs assessment, resources are available for businesses throughout Washington County, but there is a lack of appropriate marketing, making them not easily accessible.
“People don’t know what they don’t know,” she said. “I know enough, but I also know there are things I don’t know enough about. So I know we need to build connections with accountants and human resources professionals to really build a support network around each business owner.”
Lee is currently working on mapping the resources available to businesses across the region.
“We don’t want to step on anyone’s toes or take their place,” she said. “I think there is enough need in this sector for anyone to exist.”
She said sometimes it’s about finding the right program, company or service that meets specific needs and being able to access it.
“I think about when I first started and had no idea who was doing what,” she said. “It can be overwhelming. So I look at the entire system and everyone who serves our area to develop business, categorize the services offered and build relationships with them so it can be a warm handoff to connect people, not just sending an email to connect people.
“If we don’t maintain these relationships with these organizations or this good relationship with entrepreneurs and other stakeholders, we will never be able to close these gaps within the business world.”
Colecchi said building these relationships is important to the success of the center and surrounding businesses.
“The key word here is warm handoff, that’s what sticks with me,” Colecchi said. “I work in this space where I help businesses, and when you transfer them, sometimes the call doesn’t go through and they don’t get connected to that resource. But with a warm handoff, as Cait explained, we talk to the resource provider and connect directly, so there’s no cold calling and then silence, so the service can be realized and used.”
To get a better idea of where to start, the MVA launched a small business survey two weeks ago to hear directly from business owners about what they need or what they would like to be offered.
The aim of a short survey is to collect information about companies and their interest in capacity building support and resources to be brought to the region.
It will remain open until October 1 so Lee and other MVA employees can collect contributions.
The data collected through this survey will be used to inform and secure resources, services and opportunities for small businesses in the area.
Lee hopes the programs can be soft launched this fall.
“We’re not quite sure what the programs are yet, which is why the survey is so important, but it would be great if we could get preliminary programs, workshops and things like that here to try things out with people,” she said. “We want to respond. Whatever the survey results show, we’ll use them to make a plan to do what we need to do.”
Colecchi hopes the Business Resource Center will help companies look to the future.
“Everything is so often reactionary, but planning for what comes next is an element that I hope we can bring in here to help with planning and capacity building,” he said.
The Washington County Chamber of Commerce wants to help the MVA get the word out about the survey, and Colecchi hopes other local chambers of commerce will get involved as well.
“We are often known as industrialists and developers,” he said. “In the small business community, we have to earn and build that trust.”
He believes Lee and the MVA are ready to get to work to make this happen.
“I think we’re fortunate to have Cait on board to lead this mission and share our vision to make it happen,” he said. “That vision is within our capabilities at MVA and MVAF and I think we have no choice but to be successful, I truly believe that.”
“We are doing it right and will lead by example to provide the small business community with the service they deserve.”
To take the survey online, go to monvalleyalliance.org. A link to the survey can be found at the top of the page under the “Business” tab.
For information about the Business Resource Center, email Lee at [email protected].
