{"id":49797,"date":"2022-01-31T10:06:54","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T15:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=49797"},"modified":"2022-01-31T10:08:23","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T15:08:23","slug":"county-seeks-volunteers-for-usa-250th-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=49797","title":{"rendered":"County seeks volunteers for USA 250th commission"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Chester County Commissioners took the first step last week toward planning the county\u2019s celebration of the nation\u2019s 250th<\/sup> birthday in 2026. The first order of business: the establishment of the America250PA Chester County Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so much to be proud of in Chester County including the contributions we have made and continue to make to America\u2019s history,\u201d said Chester County Commissioners\u2019 Chair Marian Moskowitz. \u201cWe are opening the application process, looking for 10 to 30 \u2018America and Pennsylvania Proud\u2019 residents who want to help us commemorate this 250th<\/sup> birthday, Chester County style.<\/p>\n

\u201cChester County already has a \u2018seat at the table\u2019 for Pennsylvania\u2019s plans to celebrate America 250, as Commissioner Kichline serves on the Commonwealth\u2019s County Advisory Committee.\u00a0 She has already met with state-wide partners and members of our county\u2019s historical community, and will continue to represent Chester County and promote the many initiatives we will be planning over the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Commissioners want people to apply for the America 250PA Chester County Commission over the next four weeks. Further information, and the application can be found at www.chesco.org\/America250<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur plan is to formally appoint members to the commission in March and we are looking for representatives of all ages and from all areas of the county,\u201d said Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell. \u201cBeyond those appointments, there will be other organizing opportunities for volunteers to get involved. This will be a special time for all of us, and we expect there to be a lot of interest in participating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chester County Planning Commission Executive Director Brian O\u2019Leary said planning begins now because it takes a long time to produce ideas and coordinate events this elaborate, particularly with a variety of partners involved. He added that the celebration will cover closer to 300 years because Chester County was active long before representatives from the 13 colonies gathered in Philadelphia to sign the Declaration of Independence in 1776.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are lots of elements of our history that need to be emphasized, whether it\u2019s the iron and steel heritage that we have here or the abolitionists and Underground Railroad movement,\u201d O\u2019Leary said.<\/p>\n

Commission members will serve for up to three years. The County Commissioners will also designate a chair and a vice-chair.<\/p>\n

Chester County is coordinating its activities with the statewide group, America250PA. Two representatives from that organization, Marissa Gioffre and Jaclyn Victor, joined today\u2019s Commissioners\u2019 public meeting virtually to discuss similar celebration planning across the Commonwealth. In their comments, they thanked Chester County for its support.<\/p>\n

Chester County Commissioner Michelle Kichline, who represents the county on the America250PA County Advisory Committee, and who is a board member of the Chester County History Center, said the local commission will work on a parallel track, balancing county events with participation in state-wide activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the short term, the commission will determine where Chester County wants to plant a liberty tree, part of Pennsylvania\u2019s Liberty Tree program. That planting will happen this May. Similarly, they will chart our approach to the Bells Across PA program. Those are more symbolic activities,\u201d Kichline said. \u201cThe commission will then have input into a historic heritage tourism plan. I am excited to see the kinds of ideas committee members come up with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike Philadelphia, where the historic activities will be concentrated in the area around Independence Hall, Chester County\u2019s activities will be spread over a larger area. The commission\u2019s task will be to unite heritage tourism sites for people to visit and tell the story of Chester County.<\/p>\n

The commission will meet quarterly and may branch out to form subcommittees and engage in special programs, events, educational projects or fundraising activities. The Commissioners said the public\u2019s involvement in planning activities will be key to the success of Chester County\u2019s commemoration. The commission will also collaborate directly with stakeholder institutions and municipalities.<\/p>\n

America250PA is focusing on 14 areas around which to create celebratory activities, and Chester County plans to follow this. One of them is agriculture. Pennsylvania has 59,000 farms and the largest rural population in the nation. Chester County fits right into that narrative with its vibrant agricultural community.<\/p>\n

Other categories include arts and culture; commerce and workforce; diversity; education and innovation; the environment; government; healthcare; history and preservation; legacy; nature; military; veteran\u2019s and women; technology; and tourism.<\/p>\n

For more information on how to get involved, please visit www.chesco.org\/America250<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chester County Commissioners took the first step last week toward planning the county\u2019s celebration of the nation\u2019s 250th birthday in 2026. The first order of business: the establishment of the America250PA Chester County Commission. \u201cWe have so much to be proud of in Chester County including the contributions we have made and continue to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[14323,29,7426,602],"class_list":["post-49797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-america250","tag-chester-county","tag-featured","tag-volunteers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49798,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49797\/revisions\/49798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}