On September 5, the Pittsburgh Citywide Task Force on Employee Ownership held its inaugural meeting. The purpose of the group is to increase the number of employee-owners and thereby "dramatically change the lives of Pittsburghers for the better." The goals of the group are to assess the current situation, provide education, create a toolkit for business owners considering employee ownership, facilitate funding for transactions, and explore possibilities for municipal legislation. 

The 23-member task force includes policy makers from city council, the mayor's office, the governor's office, the Pennsylvania state legislature, several nonprofits, representatives from employee-owned companies, and academics. The co-chairs are Erika Strassburger of the Pittsburgh City Council and Kevin McPhillips of the Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership (PaCEO). Chatham University is the host.

The announcement from the PaCEO notes that "The Task Force members will spend the next year working to create a model for spreading employee ownership at the city level. The model will then be exported to municipalities around the nation."