Impact & Strategy

The Greater Reading Chamber Alliance (GRCA) is positioning our community for economic development growth in 2024 and beyond.

The economic development team works to bring the necessary tools and resources to the table to help companies locate or grow their business in our community. Whether a company is seeking information to better understand its customer, looking for a property to accommodate relocation or expansion or requires assistance with financing, our team has the resources to make it happen. The results bring jobs and growth to our region.

Our economic development team is strategically focused on the following areas:

• Business and Industry Growth, Retention + Attraction
• Community and Economic Development

Business and Industry Growth, Retention + Attraction

• Business visits to identify challenges and opportunities and match appropriate resources
• Financing
• Real estate development of available sites for future use
• Talent attraction and retention
• Targeted industry support for the manufacturing and agricultural sectors specifically
• Training

COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Lead local efforts to prepare for restoration of passenger rail service. This will not only provide additional travel options to alleviate congestion of the US 422 corridor and the regional road system, but will also have significant economic and community development opportunities. It will help revitalize the communities along the corridor, including the Greater Reading region. Read more here.

Lead local efforts to prepare for the return of passenger rail to City of Reading, supplementing the train related activity taking place under the auspices of the Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority.

As the designated coordinator or grantee, GRCA will continue to manage and promote several economic development programs:

• Keystone Enterprise Zone
• Keystone Opportunity Zone
• Keystone Innovation Zone
• Foreign Trade Zone 147

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Top GRCA Economic Development Accomplishments of 2023

• Launched a national talent attraction and retention campaign through the Meet Greater Reading brand 
• Collaborated with 75+ companies and partners across Industry Partnerships to make connections, identify common issues & offer resources.
• Hosted 70 personalized development trainings and industry roundtable discussions to:
  • 500+ attendees 
  • 110+ individual companies
• Funding:
  • In partnership with Neighborhood Housing Services, launched $430,000 small business loan fund. 
  • Over $1.4 million in grant applications submitted to support local non-profits and development projects.
  • $925,000 submitted through the Small Business Credit Initiative (Pennsylvania Loan Catalyst Fund) on behalf of Berks County companies.
• Hosted the bi-annual Building Berks Awards & Expo which featured 30 nominated projects and represented:
  • $148 million in investment 
  • 1.2 million square feet of development 
  • 2,100 jobs created
• In partnership with the County of Berks Department of Agriculture, launched an interactive, local food directory and map featuring over 230 producers and farmers. See it on GrowTogetherBerks.com 
• Hosted over 150 economic development professionals at the Pennsylvania Economic Development Association (PEDA) Fall Conference in Downtown Reading.

Read more about Economic Development in 2023>

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Become an Economic Development Investor!

GRCA has a $1M annual budget to fund the important economic development activities cited above. However, while the Berks County Commissioners provide substantial financial support to help fund this important work, we also rely heavily on Berks business “Investors” to provide critical support for our team and programs. If you would like to support this ongoing work to build our Berks economy, become an “Investor” at one of the following levels:

Thank you to our Platinum Investors!