Economy League Receives Grant

from Monday's inbox:

The Economy League of Greater Philadelphia announced today that the US Economic Development Administration http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif(EDA) awarded a $150,000 grant to the League's World Class Greater Philadelphia initiative.

The EDA is an agency under the US Commerce Department charged with promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. World Class Greater Philadelphia is a multi-year initiative to help make the Philadelphia region a world class place to live, work, and play by the year 2026 -- the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

This grant supports work to develop and implement a program to anticipate challenges that the region may face in the future and prioritize collaborative, proactive responses to them.

"World Class Greater Philadelphia is a strategy to develop consensus around the things that need to be done, no matter what the future looks like, to ensure a prosperous and sustainable future for all stakeholders - residents, institutions, businesses, government-- in the Greater Philadelphia region," said Steve Wray, Executive Director of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia.

Foundational research on how Greater Philadelphia is perceived nationally and internationally was completed in 2009. In spring 2010, the Economy League convened 17 roundtables throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware of diverse groups of business, nonprofit, government, labor, and community leaders to discuss their priorities for the region's future. That fall, the distillation of those roundtables informed a two-day scenario planning workshop led by Conshohocken-based strategy firm Decision Strategies International. And at the end of April, the Economy League will publish the scenarios and begin a second series of roundtables to develop a set of focused priorities -- or success factors -- key to advancing the region toward world class status.

"We're thrilled to have the support of the US Economic Development Administration in the form of this generous grant," said Gerard H. Sweeney, co-chair of the World Class Greater Philadelphia project and President and CEO of Brandywine Realty Trust. "The grant provides further validation of the importance of the World Class Greater Philadelphia initiative, as well as the value the project holds in the strategic planning of the region's future."

Additional co-chairs are Steven M. Altschuler, MD, President and CEO of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Jane Pepper, former head of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society; and Wendell Pritchett, JD, PhD, Chancellor of Rutgers University-Camden.