The Active
Economy
Report

An independent analysis of fifteen years of community-led investment across the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio river valleys — conducted by the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Social and Urban Research, commissioned by RiverWise and New Sun Rising through the Strategic Foundation Initiative.

Research By

UCSUR · Univ. of Pittsburgh

Commissioned By

RiverWiseNew Sun Rising

Funded By

Just Transition Fund

03 / Summary of Findings

UCSUR · REMI Transight + SROI
20-year cumulative · 2016–2036

20-Year Cumulative Portfolio Value

$872.9M

GRP + SROI · 2016–2036 · $872,925,621

Realized · 2016–26
$85.7M10%
Projected · 27–36
$787.2M90%

Fifteen years of community-led investment across the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio river valleys produced value that traditional economic indicators do not capture. Counted across two independent frameworks, traced to every funded project, the full footprint is one figure.

Job-years sustained
9,607
Funded projects
21
Measured by
REMI Transight + SROI

Impact Over Time

Fig. 1 · REMI Transight + SROI

Realized · 2016–2026

Proven, in the ground

$85.7M

Portfolio value · GRP + SROI

Regional GRP
$60.2M
Social return · SROI
$25.5M
Job-years
482

Projected · 2027–2036

Modeled, 10-year horizon

$787.2M

Portfolio value · GRP + SROI

Regional GRP
$672.8M
Social return · SROI
$114.5M
Job-years
5,406
Realized + Projected$872.9M20-year total

Of the projected figure, $53.2M (372 job-years) is one-time construction impact; the balance recurs annually through 2036. Job-years are sustained across the full horizon (9,607 total) and are not the arithmetic sum of the two phases.

Impact by Sector

Fig. 2 · 20-year GRP + SROI

Share of 20-year portfolio value · GRP + SROI

Sector clusterShareRealizedProjectedJob-years20-yr value
Real Estate Developmentn = 9 · McKees Rocks Opportunity Campus
88.2%
$43.4M$726.3M9,083$769.7M
Creative Industriesn = 2 · RiverWise
5.7%
$24.1M$25.8M300$49.9M
Mobilityn = 2 · Communicycle
2.3%
$4.4M$15.6M1$20.0M
Small Business + Workforcen = 1 · The Greenhouse Lab
2.0%
$10.3M$6.9M40$17.1M
Energy Production + Efficiencyn = 4 · Energy Efficiency Empowerment (E3)
1.1%
$0.7M$8.8M129$9.6M
Food & Nature-Based Infrastructuren = 3 · Reforest Our Future
0.8%
$2.8M$3.8M54$6.6M
Portfolio total100%$85.7M$787.2M9,607$872.9M

Impact Details, by Outcome Theme

Social return · 6 themes

Workforce Training & Earnings Gains

$3.0M
Annual SROI at maturity

Training pipelines, pre-apprenticeship preparation, and small business development convert program activity into participant earnings. Wage gains accrue first to households, then to the local economy as participants spend within the region.

Research benchmark

  • $1,750 / training participantannual income gain
  • $32,000 / small business participantAspen FIELD methodology

Projects contributing

n = 5

  • General Sisters · workforce + pre-apprenticeship
    $1.575M
    future
  • Ambridge Food & Energy Hub · training earnings gains
    $450K
    future
  • Neighborhood North · Museum of Play, workforce dev.
    $429K
    annual
  • Greenhouse Labs · small business cohorts since 2009
    $352K
    annual
  • Crop & Kettle · 11 training participants / yr
    $205K
    annual

Blight Abatement & Real Estate Recovery

$4.45M
Projected future appreciation
$620K
Realized to date

Redeveloping long-vacant or distressed parcels recovers value for surrounding properties. Research shows a single blighted property suppresses values within 500 feet by roughly 2 percent. Recovery flows back to homeowners, municipalities, and the commercial corridors that anchor a neighborhood.

Research benchmark

  • ≈ 2 % suppression / 500 ft radiusWhitaker & Fitzpatrick 2011

Projects contributing

n = 7

  • Ambridge Food & Energy Hub · residential appreciation, Ambridge Borough
    $2.1M
    future
  • Franklin Avenue Park · blight + adjacency uplift
    $744K
    future
  • 216 North Mixed-Use Hub · Millvale business district
    $569K
    future
  • Neighborhood North · Beaver Falls downtown recovery
    $556K
    future
  • Millvale Food & Energy Hub · neighborhood appreciation
    $512K
    realized
  • Beltzhoover Institute · 50 vacant parcels reactivated
    $492K
    future
  • Energy Efficiency Empowerment · 15 retrofitted homes
    $64K
    realized

Food Access, Rescue & Agriculture

$2.24M
Annual SROI

Food hubs, rescue operations, and crop-share networks shorten the distance between farm, table, and households facing food insecurity. Distributed food is valued at $2.45 per pound based on peer-reviewed research, with the 412 Food Rescue program at Millvale producing the largest single share.

Research benchmark

  • $2.45 / pound food rescuedClare et al. 2023

Projects contributing

n = 3

  • Millvale Food & Energy Hub · 412 Food Rescue operations
    $2.2M
    annual
  • Ambridge Food & Energy Hub · food access programming
    $30K
    future
  • Crop & Kettle · 5,000 lb crop share / yr
    $12K
    annual

Carbon Capture & Energy Efficiency

$70K
Annual portfolio offset value

Solar arrays, building envelope retrofits, and efficiency upgrades offset greenhouse gas emissions while lowering operating costs for community facilities and affordable housing nonprofits. Avoided emissions are monetized through the social cost of carbon.

Research benchmark

  • $185 / metric ton CO₂Rennert et al. 2022

Projects contributing

n = 5

  • RISES · New Brighton School District, lighting + solar
    $195K
    future
  • RISES · Ambridge Borough, 56 t CO₂ / yr
    $34K
    annual
  • RISES · Beaver Falls Tribune, 17 t CO₂ / yr
    $14K
    annual
  • Energy Efficiency Empowerment · utility + carbon, 15 homes
    $13K
    annual
  • Beltzhoover Institute · solar array on reactivated parcels
    $624
    annual

Active Transportation, Health & Environment

$1.55M
Annual SROI at maturity

Bicycle distribution, helmet programs, trail connections, and native-plant restoration deliver public health and ecological returns that conventional accounting misses. Each new trail user is valued at approximately $941 per year in health benefit alone.

Research benchmark

  • $941 / new trail userannual health benefit

Projects contributing

n = 3

  • CommuniCycle · 2,400 bicycles, 1,000 helmets, health, volunteering
    $1.4M
    annual
  • Geneva College Trail Connector · 100 net new trail users / yr
    $94K
    future
  • Reforest Our Future · native plant patches, environmental ed.
    $55K
    annual

Programming, Arts & Communications

$790K
Annual programming value
$750K
Cumulative SWPA media output, no cost

Place-based cultural programming, civic communications, and resident-led convenings compound social capital: the connective tissue that sustains participation. Returns build slowly, but they build durably, and they recruit the residents and businesses that drive long-horizon recovery.

Projects contributing

n = 4

  • Neighborhood North · equivalent educational programming
    $348K
    annual
  • Genesis Collective · arts ed., video, public art, podcast
    $194K
    annual
  • RiverWise SWPA Storytelling · documentary, op-eds, community media
    $150K
    annual
  • General Sisters · 164 programs / 3,400 participants
    $98K
    future
Workers installing solar panels on a roof

Solar Generation

227K

kWh generated annually across three RISES community arrays

Ambridge Borough · Beaver Falls · New Brighton

Helmets

1,000

Fitted to riders since 2011

Carbon Avoided

73 t

CO₂ offset annually, two RISES arrays

A cart loaded with rescued green vegetables

Food Redirected

898K

Pounds of food redirected from waste each year

412 Food Rescue · Millvale Hub

Many bicycles parked in a row outdoors

Bicycle Redistribution

2,400

Bicycles redistributed to riders since 2011

CommuniCycle · Beaver County

A historic brick anchor building reactivated for community use

Anchor Buildings

7

Historic anchor buildings reactivated across the portfolio

216 N · Tribune · Boiler & Tank · BHI · Kirkpatrick · Millvale · Ambridge

Vacant Parcels

50

Vacant parcels returned to productive use, Beltzhoover

Home Retrofits

15

Affordable-housing retrofits delivered to date

Annual Programs

164

Programs delivered each year at maturity, General Sisters

Participants Served

3,400

Annual participants at maturity, General Sisters

Storytelling Output

318+

Short videos, plus 7 documentary series and 112 op-eds

Source: UCSUR economic modeling (REMI Transight) and SROI analysis, reconciled to the Active Economy master dataset. Every figure ties to the underlying project ledger.

Sector attribution provisional · primary-cluster basis

02 / Methodology

Report methodology and frameworks

Impact is measured along two independent tracks so readers can weigh economic throughput and social return on their own terms. Every figure in this report is traceable to one of the frameworks below — no composite scores, no proprietary adjustments.

Both approaches are presented together because projects with modest economic footprints may carry a high SROI — and vice versa. Pairing them gives the most complete picture of value created.

Read more about SROI→

Framework A

REMI Transight

A dynamic regional economic model that captures the traditional footprint of EIR activity — jobs supported, gross regional product, and industry output — across direct, indirect, and induced channels. We run scenarios against a counterfactual baseline and report only the incremental change.

Key question

What economic activity does this create?

What is counted
Jobs, economic output, regional income.
Strengths
Standardized; easy to compare across projects.
Limitations
Misses social and environmental value; can understate small programs.

Framework B

SROI

Social Return on Investment monetises the outcomes that markets tend to miss — wellbeing, environmental stewardship, community capacity. Each outcome is valued using published financial proxies, discounted for deadweight and attribution, and reported as a ratio against invested capital.

Key question

What value does this create for people and communities?

What is counted
Social, environmental, and quality-of-life outcomes.
Strengths
Captures non-market value; reflects real community priorities.
Limitations
Requires assumptions; less standardized across studies.

Outcomes monetised

Workforce earnings

Blight abatement

Food access

Carbon & energy

Active transport

Arts & programming