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Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro seeks to 'catch up' to New Jersey, Ohio with new economic development plan

As he prepares for a formal budget address before legislators in Harrisburg on Feb. 6, Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday outlined a series of key investments he'd like the commonwealth to make as part of a new 10-year economic development plan for Pennsylvania.

His administration said this pitch is the first "comprehensive plan of its kind" to assist with Pennsylvania's economic growth in nearly 20 years.

The plan features five defined goals: A call for more investment into competitive economic growth opportunities; sustaining his administration's mission of making the government "work at the speed of business" via faster permitting and approval processes; increasing job opportunities for Pennsylvanians by creating more career pathways for those already in the workforce; backing more innovators and entrepreneurs at the state level; and improving on and enhancing regional strengths for the betterment of the entire state.

Specifically, Shapiro is seeking the following investments:

-$25 million for the new Main Street Matters program to support small businesses and commercial sectors in communities around the state;

-$10 million for the Agriculture Innovation Program to lead to business-favorable disruption in the agriculture sector and "significant" innovation-related funding for startups and entrepreneurs;

-$3.5 million to launch the new Pennsylvania Regional Challenge to drum up localized growth efforts based on established strengths;

-$2 million for the ‘Career Connect’ program to better pair employers with employees, offer thousands of internships, keep young adults in Pennsylvania and ensure everyone can obtain a "family-sustaining" job; and,

-A "major investment" in site development to promote more commercial and industrial growth that hopes to build on last fall's PA SITES program, which saw 102 applicants request more than $236 million in funding out of the offered $10 million that had been set aside for grants to be used on site assessments and remediation prep work

Shapiro's economic vision is also focused on the five key industry sectors of agriculture, energy, life sciences, manufacturing, and robotics and technology.

Article behind paywall here:
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia...a-economic-development-plan-shapiro.html