Etna launching Community Heart and Soul initiative

Etna Borough officials want to have a conversation with residents.

Toward the end of the year, residents will be invited to meetings to speak about how to make the community a better place to live. According to borough manager Mary Ellen Ramage, officials are hoping to focus on community outreach and engaging residents who have had barriers to participating in community events. Ramage said that those barriers could include residents without computers not being able to join public meetings virtually, or people without cars being unable to attend meetings in person.

“This is like going into the community where they are and holding meetings,” said Ramage. “We’re going to be hearing their stories and hearing what’s important to them. We want to address what the residents feel are priorities.”

She said the first two topics that officials want to address are ensuring affordable housing and food security.

The initiative comes after the borough was awarded $200,000 to integrate Community Heart and Soul, an engagement process that helps residents work with local officials to help plan their future. The funding will assist officials with implementing changes or ideas that residents tell them about.

“The process touches a lot on the human aspect,” Ramage said. “Things like food insecurity, equity and the divides … within communities.”

To be a part of the Heart and Soul process, the borough had to choose a non-profit to partner with. Ramage said Etna officials chose two – the Etna Community Organization and the Garden of Etna. She said each one aligns with the vision that Heart and Soul will help achieve.

“The Etna Community Organization aims to shepherd the Etna Ecodistrict Plan, which is a lot of things but the main umbrella of their cause is looking at things through the lens of equity,” Ramage said. “The Garden of Etna tends to residential garden beds, but it also provides a lot of food to our food bank.”

Officials intend to set up meetings and go out into communities to speak with residents after they have gone through training. The training will teach them how to reach residents who are typically not able to participate and implement ideas that residents tell them.

The program will be incorporated in communities throughout Western Pennsylvania and the Route 6 Heritage Corridor to the north. Additional support will be provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and Community Heart and Soul’s Seed Grant program.