Building a Stronger Future for the Mount Carmel Area
The Mount Carmel Area Revitalization Initiative brings residents, community leaders, and partner organizations together to create new opportunities, strengthen community assets, and build a more vibrant future throughout the Mount Carmel Area.
Get Involved in the Initiative
Working Together. Investing in People. Strengthening Our Community.
The Mount Carmel Area Revitalization Initiative is a long-term collaborative effort focused on investing in the people, neighborhoods, businesses, and community assets that make the Mount Carmel Area special.
Through workforce development, education, strategic planning, economic opportunity, and community revitalization, the Initiative is helping local and regional partners coordinate their expertise and resources around a shared vision for the community’s future.
Mount Carmel Area has always been defined by its rich history, resilience, strong sense of community, and hometown pride. This Initiative builds upon those strengths, honoring what makes the community unique while creating new opportunities for current and future generations.
Our Approach
Lasting community revitalization cannot be accomplished by one organization or through one project alone. It happens when residents, local leaders, businesses, schools, nonprofits, and community partners work together toward common goals.
The Mount Carmel Area Revitalization Initiative is designed to:
- Create meaningful workforce development and career-building opportunities
- Strengthen local organizations and community leadership
- Improve important community spaces and neighborhood assets
- Support businesses, entrepreneurship, and economic opportunity
- Coordinate partners, projects, and funding resources
- Engage residents in shaping the Mount Carmel Area’s future
- Turn community priorities into practical, achievable projects
Building the Roadmap for Tomorrow
The coalition’s long-term vision includes the development of the GoMountCarmel! Plan, a community-driven roadmap for revitalization and investment throughout the Mount Carmel Area.
SEDA-Council of Governments will pursue funding for the planning process and, once funding is secured, lead the selection of a qualified planning consultant. Residents, businesses, schools, nonprofit organizations, local governments, and other community partners will be invited to help identify priorities and shape practical strategies for the future.
The planning process is expected to explore topics including:
- Housing and neighborhood investment
- Downtown revitalization
- Business development and entrepreneurship
- Workforce development and education
- Parks, recreation, and community spaces
- Infrastructure and public improvements
- Economic opportunity
- Overall quality of life
The goal will not be to create a plan that sits on a shelf. The GoMountCarmel! Plan will identify actionable projects, potential partnerships, and funding strategies that can guide implementation for years to come.
Follow Our Progress
The Mount Carmel Area Revitalization Initiative is just getting started. As the effort grows, coalition partners will continue to:
- Pursue funding for community priorities
- Expand workforce development opportunities
- Develop new projects and partnerships
- Engage residents and local organizations
- Share project milestones and accomplishments
- Build the foundation for the GoMountCarmel! Plan
Visit this page for project announcements, community engagement opportunities, funding updates, and ways to participate.
Be Part of Mount Carmel’s Future
Everyone who cares about the future of the Mount Carmel Area has something valuable to contribute.
Whether you are a resident, business owner, educator, student, nonprofit organization, community group, employer, or potential funding partner, we invite you to become part of this growing collaborative effort.
Together, we can build a stronger, more vibrant, and more resilient Mount Carmel Area for generations to come.
Be Part of Mount Carmel’s Future
Contact Us
SEDA-Council of Governments
Attn: Betsy Kramer
Director of Community Revitalization
201 Furnace Road
Lewisburg, PA 17837
bkramer@seda-cog.org
A Shared Vision for Mount Carmel
“No single organization could accomplish this alone. By working together, we can pursue funding, coordinate implementation, support local leadership, and help transform community ideas into lasting projects that strengthen the entire Mount Carmel Area.”
~ Betsy Kramer, Director of Community Revitalization & Resiliency, SEDA-COG
Our First Project
The Initiative’s first project puts its guiding philosophy into action: invest in people while making visible improvements to the community.
Workforce trainees will participate in a hands-on pilot project based at the Mount Carmel Area Community Center. With workforce training and construction mentorship provided by H&P Construction, Inc., and local project oversight provided by Mayor Bing Cimino, participants will complete landscaping and site improvements around the Community Center while gaining valuable skills and practical work experience.
The project is more than a beautification effort. It creates an opportunity for residents to learn, grow, and contribute while improving a community asset that serves the entire Mount Carmel Area.
The Community Center is the starting point, but the Initiative’s vision extends throughout the community.
Built Through Partnership
The Mount Carmel Area Revitalization Initiative was launched with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, whose investment served as the catalyst for local, regional, and national partners to begin building the relationships, shared vision, and collaborative framework behind this effort.
That support also enabled Mount Carmel Area representatives to participate in the Partners for Rural Impact Rural Summit for Cradle to Career Success, where community leaders from across the country explored innovative approaches to rural revitalization, workforce development, education, and cross-sector collaboration.
Today, the Initiative brings together organizations with expertise in workforce development, education, economic development, community engagement, construction, research, strategic planning, grant development, and nonprofit capacity building.
Coalition Partners
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Founding funder and Initiative catalyst
Coalfield Development
Coalition leadership, workforce development, and capacity building
Partners for Rural Impact
Rural prosperity and opportunities for children, families, and communities
Central Susquehanna Opportunities
Participant recruitment, supportive services, job training, and community engagement
Mount Carmel Area Community Center
Community hub and location of the first pilot project
Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit
Education, workforce development, and career readiness
H&P Construction, Inc.
Workforce training, construction mentorship, and pilot project implementation
Bucknell University
Research, technical assistance, place-based partnerships, and student engagement
Borough of Mount Carmel
Local leadership, community engagement, and project support
SEDA-Council of Governments
Strategic planning, grant development, funding strategy, coalition coordination, and communications
