Growing Greater Philadelphia, the region's current strategy-driven economic development framework, for DVRPC’s nine-county region—Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, and Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Mercer in New Jersey. Adopted in September 2024, the framework was developed through guidance and support of the Economic Development Committee.
Growing Greater Philadelphia acts as a regional framework for economic development partners to prioritize U.S. EDA economic development investments over the next five years. The report adheres to the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) guidelines and includes a regional snapshot of the most current population, employment, and business data; a regional assessment of the region’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; an analysis of economic trends and sectors; updated goals and strategies as part of a regional action plan; future workforce considerations; and an analysis of the region’s economic vulnerability.
Key Regional Economic Development Projects
EDA encourages EDDs to identify regional projects, programs, and activities designed to implement the goals and objectives of the CEDS. Potential projects should address the greatest needs for the region’s businesses and residents and/or will increase the region’s overall economic competitiveness upon completion. Stakeholders are always invited to submit project ideas. Economic Development Project Submission
CEDS Committee
The Regional Community and Economic Development Forum (RCEDF) was merged into the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Committee. Members now participate in the development of Growing Greater Philadelphia, the U.S. EDA approved CEDS for Greater Philadelphia.
If you are interested in participating on the CEDS Committee, please email kpcilurso@dvrpc.org.
CEDS Update Process
Summer 2023 - Draft Goal Areas
Fall 2023 - Economic Trends Analysis
Winter 2024 - Refine Goals and Strategy
Spring 2024 - Economic Development Project Solicitation (rolling)
Summer 2024 - Project Evaluation/Committee Feedback
September 2024 - Strategy Adoption
Committee Workshops
Economic Goals and Strategies Workshop (Recorded 4/17/23)
Social Goals and Strategies Workshop (Recorded 4/18/23)
Environment Goals and Strategies Workshop (Recorded 4/19/23)
Previous Economic Development Forums
Prior to 2022, the Regional Community and Economic Development Forum (RCEDF) met on a periodic basis to discuss current issues in land use, housing and economic development in Greater Philadelphia. Participants included economic development practitioners as well as a merger of the Land Use and Housing Committee (LUHC) and the Land Use, Transportation, and Economic Development (LUTED) committee. Below are highlights from previou meetings.
Archived RCEDF Meetings
| MAR 2021 | Agenda |
| MAY 2020 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights |
| OCT 2019 | Agenda |
| MAY 2019 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights |
| APR 2019 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights | Presentations |
| APR 2018 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights | Presentations |
| JUN 2017 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights |
| APR 2017 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights | Presentations |
| JUN 2016 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights | Presentations |
| OCT 2015 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights | Presentations |
| JUN 2015 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights |
| SEP 2014 | Agenda | Presentations |
| OCT 2013 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights | Presentations |
| JUN 2013 | Agenda |
| OCT 2012 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights | Presentations |
| JUN 2012 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights | Presentations |
| FEB 2012 | Agenda |
| JUN 2011 | Agenda |
| MAR 2011 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights |
| OCT 2010 | Agenda |
| JUN 2010 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights |
| JAN 2010 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights | Presentations |
| SEP 2009 | Agenda | Minutes/Highlights |
Measuring Economic Performance: CEDS Indicators
Disclaimer: charts and figures updated dailyOver-the-Year Inflation Rate
Source: Bureau of Labor StatisticsUnemployment Rate
Source: Bureau of Labor StatisticsNew Housing Units Authorized by Month
Source: U.S. Census BureauAt-Place Employment by Industry Group,
| Philadelphia MSA | Trenton MSA |
|---|
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Not Seasonally Adjusted
One-Year Employment Change by Industry Group,
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Not Seasonally AdjustedTwo-Year Employment Change by Industry Group,
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Not Seasonally AdjustedGeographies
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA): An MSA is an area with at least one urban core and 50,000 total inhabitants. Each MSA is made up of one or more counties. The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington MSA (Philadelphia MSA) is comprised of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia County in Pennsylvania; Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem County in New Jersey; New Castle County in Delaware; and Cecil County in Maryland. The Trenton-Princeton MSA is comprised of Mercer County in New Jersey.
Use of MSA instead of counties in region: depending on the data source and its variables, some data is not available at the county level. When this is the case, we use the MSA-level data as a proxy for the DVRPC region. Additionally, since the Trenton-Princeton MSA is relatively small, there are times where data is not available for this geography, and in those cases we only show the Philadelphia MSA data.
Terms
Over-the-year: change from one year to the other. For example, the change in industry employment from October 2020 to October 2021.
New Housing Units Authorized: these are development projects that have received permits but have not yet been built.