Connoquenessing Valley Elementary School student Brianna Shepherd paints a picture while her classmates work on laptops at the Zelienople school.

Which came first: the job or the employees?

It’s a fairly unique situation in Butler County, where the demand for new employees is supported by an ever-growing workforce ready to hit the ground running in their positions.

Employees, the economic life blood of successful industries, are among the elements that are Building Up Butler County.

“Company after company tells us that the reason they like doing business here is because their employees live here and they need to recruit and retain talent,” said Dick Hadley, Cranberry Township supervisor chairman. “This is where they find that talent.”

In Tuesday’s publication of Progress 2019, the Eagle examines areas from education to recreation that are working to draw businesses, prepare future workers and keep talented workers and their families living here.

The publication examines the growing pains of development and infrastructure improvements like the expansion of Route 28 which keep an estimated $28 billion in commodities moving through the county.

It also addresses the generosity of the community to support worthy causes and tackle problems like the opioid epidemic.

“I’ve worked in all the counties in southwestern Pennsylvania and I’ve not seen any county where people have such a strong sense of autonomy and will solve their own problems and support their own entities,” said John Righetti, director of development for the Jean B. Purvis Community Health Clinic.

To see who is making a difference and what other elements are key in Building Up Butler County, turn to Tuesday’s edition of the Butler Eagle.