Build Back Better framework brings funding to southwestern Pennsylvania

By Nina McCambridge

In October 2023, the Block Center for Technology and Society selected nine projects to receive Build Back Better-funded grants to projects focusing on the labor market of the technological future. Four of these subawards were granted to members of the Carnegie Mellon community, distributed among recipients in the Heinz College, the School of Design, the School of Architecture, and the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy.

According to Peter Kerwin, Carnegie Mellon’s Director of Media Relations, “a number of the community projects are in the process of getting contract approvals and the like, so we’re not even at the ‘money being spent’ phase of the project yet.” It is not yet certain when the budgets of these projects will be finalized.

President Biden’s Build Back Better framework, a plan he campaigned on heavily in 2020, includes a special allocation of money to Pittsburgh, investing in technology and innovation across the Southwestern Pennsylvania region.

Build Back Better was adapted into bills including the American Rescue Plan (ARP), which was passed in 2021. The bill responded to economic woes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It enabled the Department of Commerce to spend $3 billion, $1 billion of which went to the Build Back Better Regional Challenge. This program distributes money among 21 competitively chosen regional coalitions to “rebuild regional economies, promote inclusive and equitable recovery, and create thousands of good- paying jobs in industries of the future such as clean energy, next-generation manufacturing, and biotechnology,” the White House said in a Sept. 2022 statement.

One such regional coalition, the Southwestern Pennsylvania New Economy Collaborative, received $62.7 million in development funds. This coalition claims that with the grant, it can “expect to create or retain 17,250 direct jobs and generate $700 million in direct regional GDP.” About half of these benefits will go to Allegheny County and the other half to 10 surrounding counties. Carnegie Mellon’s Block Center for Technology and Society, which focuses on social issues of technology, was part of this coalition, and was the organization that gave out the subawards to Carnegie Mellon-affiliated projects.

Carnegie Mellon President Farnam Jahanian serves as co-chair of the Collaborative Board of Directors, which decides how the funds will be allocated.

The southwest Pennsylvania coalition focuses on robotics rejuvenating coal communities. The coalition’s plan also involves partnerships with unions.

The American Rescue Plan also granted the City of Pittsburgh $335 million beginning in 2021. Pittsburgh received its funds over the course of two years and spent the money over the course of four years, including projected spending this year. It went to city projects, job retention programs, and wage increases.