Challenging Brain Drain in NW Pennsylvania

By Gabrielle Bradshaw, AmeriCorps VISTA Project Director

According to CityLab, an online platform that focuses on covering the biggest ideas and most pressing issues facing the world’s metro areas and neighborhoods: Over the past decade or so, cities and metros across the United States have greatly increased their efforts to retain college graduates. College grads are a key driver of innovation and economic development, and are closely connected to the wealth and affluence of cities and metros according to a large number of studies. But Americans are much more likely to move in their mid-to-late twenties, so it’s the metros that hang on to more of their college grads that stand to gain a long-run advantage.

At Allegheny, graduating seniors have the opportunity to challenge retention norms by extending their time living in Crawford County and committing to a year of postgraduate service through the Lake Effect Leaders AmeriCorps VISTA Project. Lake Effect Leaders, or LEL, is a multi-county intermediary AmeriCorps VISTA Program Grant that serves as a pipeline for nonprofit leadership development. Led by a partnership consisting of Allegheny College, Gannon University, and Mercyhurst University, the program professionally equips VISTA members to serve critical capacity-building functions in nonprofit organizations in order to eliminate poverty in northwestern Pennsylvania. Since its inception in 2003, 77 Allegheny College alumni have served one year or more with the Lake Effect Leaders. Recent data shows that roughly five to seven Allegheny College graduates serve with Lake Effect Leaders every year. In fact, Allegheny grads make up roughly one-fourth of each cohort, regardless of size (Table 1 below). Even more impressive is the dedication of Allegheny graduates to the Meadville community. In 2014, Allegheny graduates filled four out of the seven open Crawford County AmeriCorps VISTA positions. In 2015, they filled four out of eight open positions, and in 2016 they filled three out of five openings. Over the past three years, Allegheny graduates have filled all of the openings. This is an accomplishment that could not have been achieved without the support of the Allegheny Gateway's Career Education Office. Table 2 shows that

Table 1 Table 2

numbers have evened as Allegheny graduates have filled every open Crawford County VISTA position from 2017 to current day (Table 2, pg. 10). While these numbers may not seem significant, the residual impact that VISTA members leave in a community is. AmeriCorps VISTA members work towards capacity building, which means they strive to expand the scale, reach, effectiveness, or efficiency of an agency’s anti-poverty program or initiative. In addition, AmeriCorps VISTA members work to effectively generate the commitment of private sector resources, encourage volunteer service at the local level, and empower individuals and communities.

Margaret West ’ 18

To provide an example, current second-year LEL VISTA member and 2018 Allegheny College graduate Margaret West is serving at Common Roots to help develop a housing cooperative in Meadville so that low-income residents gain access to safe, affordable, energy-efficient housing and develop capacities for self and community governance. Since beginning her service in July 2018, Margaret has been able to recruit 29 volunteers to aid Common Roots in its mission and has leveraged over $60,000 in cash resources. After her tenure with VISTA ends, Margaret is interested in staying in Meadville to open her own business.

Jenny Tompkins ’ 18

Additionally, it is not uncommon for VISTA members to become full-time employees of their host site once their service term is over. Jenny Tompkins committed to a year of service through Lake Effect Leaders after graduating from Allegheny in May 2018. As the Opioid Intervention Coordinator for the Crawford County Drug & Alcohol Executive Commission (CCDAEC) and Women’s Services, Jenny worked to understand the demographics of drug abuse and overdose in Crawford County, expand prevention services, and expand intervention strategies to curb the life threatening drug abuse in Western Crawford County. Jenny was hired in September by CCDAEC and now works as their grant writer & development officer. She currently administers four separate grant programs including federal, state, and local funding and spends the majority of her time managing a federal Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) grant to support the development of prevention, treatment, and recovery programs in rural communities to combat opioid and substance use disorder issues. So, while many metros across the United States are losing college graduates, Allegheny College and the Lake Effect Leaders offer a unique opportunity to challenge brain drain and foster a community of young individuals committed to their town and its prosperity. With the help of our local agencies, LEL hopes it will continue to build the next generation of leaders for northwestern Pennsylvania. 

Service Saturday