Regional Growth Strategy
The regional growth strategy is a shared, actionable roadmap with clear priorities, strategies, and tactics for joint implementation to achieve better job growth and economic mobility outcomes across Southeastern Pennsylvania.
The strategy was developed through more than two years of collaboration among regional leaders convened and funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and informed by research and facilitation from the Brookings Institution. It builds on an in-depth market assessment released in 2025 and responds to long‑standing challenges — including sluggish growth, fragmented action, and chronic underinvestment — that have contributed to economic underperformance. The strategy aligns regional partners around shared priorities, makes deliberate choices about where coordination can change outcomes, and translates those priorities into clear, actionable tactics.
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.
How the Strategy Is Designed to Work
Aligns partners across sectors and counties around shared goals and a regional framework
Makes deliberate choices about focus, concentrating effort where coordination can drive impact
Centers early action in three Opportunity Industries as leverage points for broader regional growth
Integrates business growth and workforce development so job creation leads to quality, accessible employment
Pairs stronger baseline investment with focused collaboration, rather than fragmented or short‑term initiatives
Uses sector coordinators and activation workplans to guide implementation and sequence early actions
Commits to sustained execution, with early progress in 12–18 months, competitiveness measured over years, and mobility over generations
