Source: Montgomery County, Pa./Facebook.com
(The following press release was published verbatim from Montgomery County)
Regional leaders, including economic and workforce development organizations from Montgomery County, today launched an ambitious collaborative effort to grow quality jobs and strengthen economic competitiveness in Southeastern Pennsylvania with the formation of the Greater Philadelphia Growth Partnership.
The Partnership is a new business-led, cross-sector entity created to drive more robust economic growth and expand opportunity for regional residents. The Partnership launched alongside the release of a regional growth strategy developed by economic and workforce development leaders from all five Southeastern Pennsylvania counties – Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia – to help guide shared priorities, investments, and action.
In Montgomery County, the effort is anchored by the Montgomery County Commerce Department and MontcoWorks (the Montgomery County Workforce Development Board), which are joining regional partners to ensure that local employers, workers, and communities benefit from a stronger, more competitive Southeastern Pennsylvania economy.
“This partnership represents the best of local government: working together to improve our region for the betterment of those who live, work and invest here,” said Montgomery County Board of Commissioners Chair Jamila H. Winder. “By working across county lines and sectors, we are aligning our strengths to grow quality jobs, expand opportunity, and ensure that economic growth benefits workers, families, and communities in every corner of the region.”
“This is a new way of doing business,” said Montgomery County Commerce Director Stephen Forster. “Since I joined Montgomery County over two years ago, we have been committed to a regional effort and growing cooperation. Together, we’ve built the Partnership through a truly collaborative approach, and now we’re bringing Southeastern Pennsylvania into a new era of job growth and opportunity.”
The Partnership is coming together to address two core challenges facing the region – sluggish job growth and declining economic mobility. Its initial programmatic efforts will focus on expanding capacity to execute core economic development functions like business expansion and attraction, regional marketing, research, and international engagement; focusing shared action around cluster-building in high-opportunity industries; and connecting talent to employer demand.
“This partnership marks a truly exciting and important step forward for our region,” said Greater Philadelphia Growth Partnership Executive Director Claire Marrazzo Greenwood. “Southeastern Pennsylvania has always had the assets to compete. This effort represents a level of collaboration, focus, and commitment to spur growth unlike anything we have ever had in this region.”
The Partnership emerged from a sustained collaborative effort catalyzed by The Pew Charitable Trusts and supported by the Brookings Institution to develop a shared, data-driven approach to improve growth and mobility outcomes in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Over the past two years, local and regional economic and workforce development leaders have convened as the Southeastern Pennsylvania Economic Collaborative for an intensive planning and strategy development process leading up to today’s announcements.
“Pew is pleased to have built a solid foundation for this effort and proud to be a partner in making it happen,” said Pew senior vice president Donna Frisby-Greenwood. “Increasing access to upward economic mobility is critical to our work in Greater Philadelphia. By developing and advancing a shared regional strategy, we can grow middle-wage jobs so more people have the opportunity to thrive.”
The regional growth strategy builds upon an in-depth evaluation of the region’s economy – its strengths, challenges, and opportunities – released by the Brookings Institution last year, as well as extensive stakeholder engagement to identify targeted tactics for growth. The strategy prioritizes early, coordinated action in three opportunity industries selected for their overall job growth potential as well as their ability to create family-sustaining jobs at scale, particularly those that are accessible without four-year degrees. These industries are enterprise digital solutions, precision manufacturing in industrial technologies, and biomedical engineering and production. The regional growth strategy is available here.
Montgomery County is already home to a strong base of employers across these opportunity industries, including enterprise digital solutions firms such as SEI, Boomi, Vertex, and Qlik; precision and advanced manufacturing companies including Teledyne Judson Technologies, C&L Rivet Company, SPS Technologies, Electro Soft, Nicomatic, and Scheerer Bearing; and biomedical and life sciences employers such as Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Globus Medical, Biocoat, and Rockland Immunochemicals.
“The partnership and data-driven strategy mark a fundamental shift in how Greater Philadelphia advances economic growth and opportunity, raising the region’s execution to match the proven practices of the nation’s most successful peers,” said Brookings Institution Nonresident Senior Fellow Marek Gootman.
The Partnership has secured $5.4 million in seed funds to date from corporate and philanthropic investors for its first three years to build durable collaborative infrastructure for regional growth. Founding investors include Wawa, Essential Utilities, Jefferson, Independence Blue Cross, Cencora, and The Pew Charitable Trusts, and early planning support came from Comcast and the Philadelphia Foundation. The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia will play a significant role in ensuring business community leadership and in fueling the Partnership, contributing staff support and $4 million in annual activity currently allocated to its economic competitiveness programs.
“Wawa is proud to be among the founding investors in this crucial effort,” said Wawa CEO Chris Gheysens. “This is a once in a generation chance to reshape how our region competes and build an economy that works for everyone. The Partnership gives the business community the structure and accountability to finally match our region's potential – and we're ready to step up, invest, and lead.”
The Partnership and the growth strategy have an explicit focus on increasing the supply of quality jobs that offer family-sustaining wages and career pathways and on aligning employer demand with educational and workforce systems. By scaling job creation and improving access, the Partnership will ensure that economic growth translates into real opportunity and upward mobility for more residents.
“A coordinated regional approach allows workforce partners to be more responsive and more effective,” said MontcoWorks Executive Director Jennifer Butler. “This partnership helps align training and support systems with the industries driving growth, so employers have the talent they need and residents have clearer pathways to quality jobs.”
