It’s no longer a staple that Cambria County has been known for throughout the years.  The defense industry is shrinking and so are the jobs that come with it. 

However, officials in the county say they have been proactive this past year to bring new jobs and diversity to the area.  They’ve worked with Concurrent Technologies Corporation to complete a study and are now ready to implement new strategies.

“We did a lot of meetings, met a lot of business owners, and talked to them about where they’re heading with their businesses and things they’re looking at doing. Then we did an extensive amount of research to identify other possible revenue resources that a lot of these defense contractors could explore,”says the grant facilitator for the county, John Dubnansky.

The study is part of a grant process through the county and the Department of Defense.  The overall grant amount is worth $530,000.  The strategy involves non Department of Defense sources and commercializing businesses.  They’re also looking to have a group lead a county entrepreneurial program to start the development of new businesses within the region.

“We’re also going to explore this idea of building a bridge to Pittsburgh where we’re going to work more with businesses in Pittsburgh and educational institutions in the Pittsburgh region.”

Officials believe the county can offer the Pittsburgh area good deals because it is located in a low cost area for business.

“In addition to that we’re going to see potential collaboration projects that could be between the existing businesses in the Pittsburgh region and what we currently have.”

The whole idea is based on what the county can do to create more job opportunities in our region.  As defense contractors lose work and shrink in size, the county wants equal jobs for those employees.