Onward From the Summit

Last week, at our annual World Class Summit, more than 300 regional leaders came together to learn about the new Global Positioning Strategies (GPSes) focused on improving education and talent development outcomes and boosting business growth in Greater Philadelphia. The auditorium at WHYY was standing room only, and the collective energy of our region’s civic leaders was palpable and inspiring. (Check out photos from the Summit on the Economy League’s Facebook page.)

We’d like to extend a big thank you to all of our World Class sponsors, partners, co-chairs, strategy team members, and general supporters for helping to make this year’s Summit a success. As Mayor Nutter remarked during our program, “Coming together as a region is really the only way that we’re going to have the kind of collective impact that we want and that we need.” (You can watch the Mayor’s full Summit remarks here.) Your ongoing support and engagement around the strategies outlined in the World Class GPSes is essential to ensuring that our work together translates into real impact for Greater Philadelphia over the long run.

In the near-term, the hard work of building momentum and making an impact around the World Class agenda will require highlighting collective efforts and spearheading new ones that get us closer to the World Class goals we’ve established together.

That’s why we convened a panel at the Summit focused on “New Approaches to Ongoing Challenges” that featured Bob Moul of Artisan Mobile, Danielle Cohn of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB), and Jill Michal of United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. They chatted with Economy League Deputy Director Josh Sevin about how Startup PHL, the PHL messaging campaign, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded kindergarten readiness assessment campaign being led by United Way, the Economy League, and other partners are emblematic of the type of focused, impactful collaboration that the World Class initiative is all about.

To build on what we heard from Bob, Danielle, and Jill at the Summit, we have asked contributing writer Bill Hangley to take a closer look at these three efforts and their respective connections to the World Class agenda in articles now available on worldclassgreaterphila.org.  Check out Bill’s articles to learn more about how Startup PHL, the PHL messaging campaign, and the kindergarten readiness assessment effort are bringing together regional leaders to advance World Class strategies focused on growth and opportunity in our region.