The Pittsburgh Regional Alliance is taking a unique approach to economic development and learning from 150 companies in the region that are doing it right.
Pittsburgh !mpact, launched this month, is a business growth initiative based on research conducted around what successful, smaller and medium-sized high-growth companies in the state are doing to generate jobs and growth. The idea is to offer greater support to the companies that are supporting the region, a paradigm shift for economic development.
Pittsburgh !mpact hopes to become an economic development model for the rest of the state, says Albert Ciuksza, director of Pittsburgh !mpact.
The strategy is based on two separate research projects, sponsored by Team Pennsylvania Foundation, the state-wide organization that commissioned the studies. The research identified thousands of high-growth companies statewide and interviewed more than 600 company CEOs across a spectrum of industry sectors.
In Pittsburgh, the PRA has created a model based on the 150 Pittsburgh Impact companies, focusing on nurturing these companies, referring them to much-needed resources, creating opportunities for expanding their profile and helping them continue to grow, says Ciuksza.
“Pittsburgh is unique in that we are leveraging all of our regional economic development assets to focus on the companies that were identified within the 10-counties (as fitting the success-driven criteria),” says Ciuksza.
The initiative is a joint effort of the PRA, the state Department of Community and Economic Development and Team Pennsylvania Foundation.
Source; Albert Ciuksza, PRA
Writer: Deb Smit
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