DCED Deputy Secretary Visits Tyrone Company, Stresses Value of Small-Town Start-Ups

TYRONE/BLAIR COUNTY, Pa — Earlier today, the Deputy Secretary of Technology and Entrepreneurship for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development paid a visit to a startup company in Tyrone, that is prospering through the DCED’s Benjamin Franklin Technology Development Authority.

Deputy Secretary Steve D’Ettorre says that having the Ben Franklin’s provide small-town startups with resources to grow has been hugely effective.

“It’s essential," he said. "The Ben Franklin’s cover all of Pennsylvania including the central region. A lot of great companies have come out of this part of the state both historically and currently.”

D’Ettorre visited Steller Floors in Tyrone on Thursday, as an ambassador of the Wolf Administration’s continued investments in advanced technology start-ups, and stressed the importance of keeping successful companies that start in small towns...in those towns.

“There’s a lot of history in these towns and we don’t want to lose that history by having people leave," D'Ettorre said. "We want them to honor that history, stay in these towns have other people come into these towns and make their own history in these towns.”

Something Evan Stover, the President of Steller Floors, and a Tyrone native, says wasn’t encouraged until recently.

“Growing up here every mentor that I can think of recommended to me ‘get out of town, go somewhere else, go find a good job somewhere else and then decide what you want to do,'" he recalled. "To be able to be here and see that this community wants to hold companies like this and have good careers for their people...it’s wonderful.”

Senator Judy Ward also praised the effectiveness of the state’s programs, and this company for taking advantage.

“It’s really exciting for me to see them utilize the programs that are set up by the state to help small businesses and to help entrepreneurs, and they’ve utilized all of them," she said of Stellar Floors. "I mean, they’re the poster child for what you should be wanting in your community.”

Steller Floors has received a whopping $500,000 in funding through the DCED’s program.

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