Goals, Strategies, and Metrics
The IMAGINE Berks planning team gathered valuable insights and feedback from the community members and reviewed this information in conjunction with quantitative data to form a comprehensive understanding of Berks County’s economy – both its current state and future outlook. The planning team used this information to assess the community’s strengths, challenges, and opportunities. Based on this analysis, six focus areas were identified:
- Placemaking
- Small Business & Entrepreneurship
- Business & Industry Growth
- Talent & Economic Mobility
- Infrastructure & Land Use
- Leverage the County's position as a regional partner
For each of these focus areas, the project team prioritized goals and strategies based on their potential impact on economic development and feasibility for implementation. Metric were assigned to each focus area to track the progress of implementation. and overall state of the economy over the course of this 5 year plan.
IMAGINE Berks was more than a planning process...
Business & Industry Growth
Goal: Encourage industrial and commercial redevelopment
- Invest in site development where conditions call for a public role
- Support growth in industries that offer opportunity jobs
- Support agricultural industry growth
Small Business & Entrepreneurship
Goal: Support small businesses and encourage the entrepreneurship to enable the creation of high-growth ventures, main street amenities, and wealth-building for residents
- Increase government and school district spending with local businesses
- Support small business and entrepreneurial ecosystem resource mapping and strategic plan efforts that are underway
- Improve access to financial resources and market access for businesses
- Support small businesses working to scale their operations
Talent & Economic Mobility
Goal: Invest in Berks County’s greatest asset – its people – by supporting structures to connect residents to opportunity jobs so that they may more fully contribute to and benefit from the Berks County economy
- Retain and add workers to Berks County, prioritizing retention and support for the unemployed and underemployed
- Invest in and support workforce readiness and upskilling initiatives
- Support businesses in recruiting talent for immediate hiring, retaining employees, and reducing the number of labor exits
- Match disconnected youth and Latino talent with opportunity jobs and pathways to prosperity
Placemaking
Goal: Invest in and highlight community assets that provide access to a variety of arts, culture, greenspace, and recreation opportunities for all residents
- Fund enhancements to new and existing public spaces located across the county, prioritizing greenspace and inclusive gathering spaces
- Support main street and commercial district revitalization programs
- Continue investment in the trail systems
- Develop a cohesive and collaborative Berks County message, along with shared marketing resources
Infrastructure & Land Use
Goal: Support land development that increases the tax base in Berks County
- Identify growth corridors and communities for development opportunities
- Examine existing and potential public transit and ensure it aligns with business and industry growth
- Support passenger rail expansion
- Support growth and positioning of the Reading Regional Airport as a critical economic development asset
Housing
Goal: Address the county’s needs for new housing and redeveloped housing that is accessible and attainable
- Assess and address the mismatch between housing stock and housing demand, including age, price point, type, and location
- Promote adaptive reuse and redevelopment of obsolete commercial and industrial properties