34 Distillation Guidebook Co-Lab • 9.18–9.19 2025 Rivers as Organizing Principal The rivers of Beaver County have long shaped how communities see themselves – economically, historically, and emotionally. For generations, the waterways connected towns through the steady movement of people, goods, and industry. Local identities remained strongly tied to these riverbanks, but over time a broader regional identity fractured. When industry closed, the rivers that once linked communities came to be seen as physical boundaries between them. At RiverWise, Daniel explains, “the rivers are geographically and emotionally at the heart of our decisions,” working to realize once again their potential as a civic asset that can connect communities across the county. The rivers’ enduring presence in the landscape – in the story of how these communities were formed and sustained – makes it a powerful organizing device for collective decision-making and longterm community investment. RiverWise uses extensive community storytelling to reclaim Beaver County’s FEATURE The Small Cities Lab spoke with Daniel Rossi-Keen, PhD, Executive Director of RiverWise, about the significance of the Beaver and Ohio Rivers to the county’s regional identity. Once powerful connectors that structured industry and movement, the rivers later became markers of division and fragmentation. RiverWise asks how the waterways can be reclaimed as an organizing device for cultural and economic benefits.
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