It's all for one and one for all.

That's the concept behind Mercer County participating in a regional marketing initiative with Lawrence, Crawford and Venango counties. Dubbed Team Pennsylvania West, the concept is a collaborative effort among the lead non-profit development groups in each county, including Penn-Northwest Development Corp. which represents Mercer County.

Pennsylvania Power Co. provided financial support to launch the endeavor.

"It's kind of unique that four counties are collaborating and working together to come up with common marketing material to support economic development on a regional basis,'' said Larry Reichard, executive director of Penn-Northwest.

For years Pennsylvania has encouraged forging cooperative efforts among counties.

"Quite honestly this isn't something the state was pushing us to do,'' Reichard said. "This is something we all recognize was a positive for the region.''

Working closely in recent years, the four development organizations from each county have developed close ties. With the I-79 and I-80 corridors running in or close to each of the four counties and having similar demographics, it makes sense to form a joint marketing effort, Reichard said.

Team Pennsylvania West was formally launched at the FabTech Trade show in November with direct contact being made to more than 100 national and international machinery and equipment manufacturers. Additional trade shows and promotional events are planned for this year.