July 22, 2025
DVRPC participated in a multiyear, cross-sector regional collaboration led by the Brookings Institution to identify actions to advance economic opportunity for southeast Pennsylvania. The initial output from the Southeast Pennsylvania Economic Collaborative, a market assessment report, is now available.
DVRPC participated in a multiyear, cross-sector regional collaboration led by the Brookings Institution to identify actions to advance economic opportunity for southeast Pennsylvania. This collaboration included economic and workforce development leaders from each of the five counties in the DVRPC region—Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia.
The initial output from the Southeast Pennsylvania Economic Collaborative is a market assessment report and data-driven framework for strategic action, which aligns with the goals and policies in the region’s long-range plan, Connections 2050, and the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), Growing Greater Philadelphia.
Southeastern Pennsylvania holds significant untapped potential for creating more quality jobs. The region’s economic mobility gaps are directly connected to the competitiveness of external markets. Since the five-county region shares common economic and workforce systems and programs, it is the right scale to address this challenge. As such, the assessment report prioritizes three high-potential industry clusters for economic mobility: Enterprise Digital Solutions, Materials Machining/Fabrication and Electronic Components Value, and Biomedical Commercialization. Each cluster reflects regional strengths and employment potential that align with local workforce assets and accessibility.
As the bi-state Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and Economic Development District (EDD) for Greater Philadelphia, DVRPC actively supports this regional effort and continues to work to integrate economic initiatives with transportation access. DVRPC looks forward to continuing to work with the Collaborative as it translates the opportunities identified in the market assessment into shared strategies for quality job creation and access throughout the region.