Gov. Ed Rendell announced yesterday that teams of leaders from 22 communities, more than half of them in Western Pennsylvania, will receive training to create long-term revitalization plans for their hometowns.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, PNC Bank and Sovereign Bank are providing a $158,000 grant for the program, known as Blueprint Communities. The money will fund a series of training sessions for teams of five members or more from each municipality.

A gathering for Western Pennsylvania teams will take place at Hidden Valley Four Seasons Resort in Somerset County in December.

"The expectation is that they'll finish with at least a vision statement and draft plan," said John Bendel, director of community investment for Federal Home Loan Bank.

Under federal law, the bank is required to give 10 percent of its profits to projects for affordable housing. Many of those projects would attract more financing if they became part of comprehensive development plans, said Bendel, who started organizing the program two years ago.

He said the bank is starting the program in Pennsylvania because Rendell has shown a strong interest in redeveloping the state's older municipalities. When he became governor, Rendell created an office of housing and community revitalization.

Rendell's office said it would try to help the communities apply for state grants when they complete their new development plans.

The leadership teams have already been organized.

"We're definitely going to benefit from this," said Ann Stromberg, a member of McKeesport City Council and one of seven people on the municipality's team. "We have been struggling for years to regain our status, and the blueprint program could be part of our renaissance."

Other Western Pennsylvania municipalities that will participate in the program include Carnegie, Etna and Wilkinsburg in Allegheny County; Brownsville, Connellsville and Uniontown in Fayette County; Irwin and New Kensington in Westmoreland County; Aliquippa in Beaver County; Canonsburg in Washington County; and Waynesburg in Greene County.

Pittsburgh's Larimer and Hazelwood neighborhoods will also participate.