Allegheny Together, a small business revitalization organization,
launched the Healthy Downtown Business Program last Wednesday to
encourage employees and residents of eight communities to explore their
commercial districts by foot.
The program has
distributed walking maps to small businesses in Bellevue, Bridgeville,
Coraopolis, Elizabeth, Stowe Township, Swissvale, Tarentum, and Verona,
which encourage people to get physically fit while supporting downtown
revitalization. In addition, they have also distributed walking logs,
which allow participants to chart how much they walk through their
downtown area.
"We have over 600 people signed
up, which exceeds what we anticipated," says Jessica Mooney, assistant
manager of business development for Allegheny County Economic Development.
Business
employees can look forward to special awards for their log efforts. At
the end of September, the logs will be returned to Allegheny Together,
and prizes will be given to the "healthiest downtown business" and
"healthiest downtown business employee" in each community.
Allegheny
Together was started in 2007 by Allegheny Economic Development in order
to "reinvigorate small businesses by bringing residents back to our
traditional, walkable shopping districts," says Dan Onorato, county
executive for Allegheny County.
Financial
support for the Healthy Downtown Business Program comes form a
combination of public and private funds made possible by the Health
Department. Allegheny Together hopes to expand the program in the
future, by offering more features, such as free pedometers and even more
detailed walking maps.
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Source: Jessica Mooney, assistant manager of business development for Allegheny County Economic Development
Dan Onorato, county executive for Allegheny County
Writer:
John Farley
Photograph courtesy Mara Dowdy