When you wake up in the morning, do you remember what you dreamt about? Somedays you will remember a sliver, but it often fades before your morning coffee is finished. When you daydream, it is often from when your mind is wandering away from a specific task at hand. IMAGINE Berks is using an intentional process of dreaming about what we want Berks County to be when it grows up. What we want it to look like. What we want it to feel like. What we want people to think of when they hear Berks County. We know that when people dream and put their imagination to work, the possibilities are endless.
IMAGINE Berks is more than the content of the pages of a plan, it is a different way of approaching community and economic development than in years past. When we expanded the IMAGINE Berks tagline to the Berks County Comprehensive Plan, we carried through that same intention, idea and energy to dream about the next 10-year chapter of Berks County.
So, what does that look like in practice? It looks like meeting with our municipal officials, school districts, community organizations, and residents in our community and listening. It looks like taking the time to actively engage, dialog, and plan for the future together.
During May 2026, the Berks County Planning Commission, along with other key partners, are hosting 7 meetings across Berks County to talk about the IMAGINE Berks Comprehensive Planning process. By presenting real time demographic and development information, we are looking to provide a base of data and feedback from which our communities help to build the plan. We also get to see firsthand what is happening in our Boroughs and Townships. This communication, outreach, and collaboration all contribute to how we frame the plan.
Creating a plan does not happen alone and it does not occur in a vacuum. The internal partners for this process include Berks County Department of Agriculture, Berks County Planning Commission, and the Berks County Workforce Development Board. Some of our external partners are the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance, Reading-Berks Association of Realtors, Berks County Industrial Development Authority, and the Berks County Redevelopment Authority. The work each of these organizations do each day directly tie into the future of Berks County and it is important to understand the interconnectedness between housing, agriculture, workforce and economic development is essential.
In addition to land uses, the plan recognizes the quality of life and larger physical environments including open space and recreation and how we support our residents and future residents. Companies need people to run their businesses, but in recent years, housing options have dwindled for some of our most essential workers. Nurses, Teachers, and trades workers are essential workers in careers that pay family-sustaining wages; however, rising housing prices continue to be a barrier. As future developments are planned, a wider variety of housing types at different price points can help attract workers to fill open job postings and continue to keep our community vibrant and growing.
As we begin to work on the chapters of the plan later this Fall, the picture will slowly begin to take shape. From what started as a collective of dreams, it will morph into a plan where hundreds of individual contributions become one providing a unified roadmap for the future.
IMAGINE Berks is not a plan, it is a mindset. This mindset represents a shift away from “we have always done it this way” to when we work together, we are able to accomplish anything. Berks County is a place where you can make your dreams come true, so join us in continuing to dream about what is possible when you IMAGINE Berks.