Photo provided to the Times Observer A schematic of the Warren Riverfront Redevelopment Project that was filed with the Pennsylvania Wilds Build Back Better Regional Challenge grant. Final word on the status of the application is not expected until September.

It will be at least another five months until awards are announced for the federal Build Back Better Regional Challenge.

Warren County is part of a 13-county application that has been coordinated by the Pennsylvania Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship.

According to Jim Decker, WCCBI president/CEO, there were 653 applicants nationally. 62 were selected as finalists.

About half of those will get good news in September.

So what’s the competition?

Each of the finalist proposals is broken down by “cluster sector.”

The most commonly cited clusters across all of the finalists are advanced manufacturing, energy and biomedical/healthcare.

Most states have at least one project. California has four including Los Angeles County and Alameda County where Oakland is located. New York has three project proposals that made it to the finalist stage. Other prominent cities with finalists include Las Vegas, Minneapolis, New Orleans and Newark.

The only other project in Pennsylvania is called the “Southwestern Pennsylvania New Economy Collaborative” in the information technology cluster.

That effort “aims to promote economic development in the greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, region by growing the region’s robotics and artificial intelligence sector.”

Warren County’s slice of the Pennsylvania Wilds application is $7.5 million for the “Warren Riverfront Redevelopment Project,” according to the narrative prepared for submission with the grant which was due — and submitted two days early — last month.

That document outlines “six specific improvements planned from creating direct river access with a boat launch to improved pedestrian and bicycle access along the riverfront.”

Decker told the city’s Redevelopment Authority last week that other regional projects include renovating the train station in Marienville and trailheads in Coudersport, among others.

He cited economic impact data to show that the city’s project could generate over $11 million in economic impact annually.

As a result, he views it as a “huge project for the community” and said they will continue to lobby federal legislators for a favorable outcome.

“We do think this is a unique project within the applications that are being submitted,” he said.

By that cluster sector designation, Decker is correct: The Pennsylvania Wilds’ effort is the sole project in the “recreation and outdoor” cluster.

“We’re the most rural of the projects that are being engaged,” he added, noting that the U.S. Economic Development Administration, which will make the final selections for funding, was considering equity as a factor.

“(We) believe the project stands on its own,” he added.