A Message from GRCA CEO & President Great to Greater Reflecting on 2022 milestones, anticipating 2023 impact

By Jim Gerlach, President & CEO, GRCA

The first quarter of each year is both a time for reflection and anticipation. We certainly reflect on our successes and remaining challenges from 2022, but we also have a great sense of anticipation regarding the great goals and plans we have made for 2023.

At Team GRCA, we are excited about the progress we made organizationally in 2022 to carry out our three core functions—providing our Chamber members with outstanding services, resources and programming, being a leader of economic development in Berks County, and being a strong and effective advocate for Berks businesses in Harrisburg and Washington, D.C.

We held more than 150 member social and educational events and programs, and we significantly expanded our professional development offerings particularly in the areas of customized English as a Second Language (ESL) training, team building with drones and emotional intelligence training. On the workforce development front, we held another manufacturing summit last fall with nearly 200 attendees while continuing our Manufacturing Industry Partnership program to support local manufacturers’ talent attraction and retention needs.

Much progress was also made with our focus on economic development. We were awarded $2.9 million to support Berks small businesses through a state small business credit initiative, and we were successful in expanding the Commonwealth’s Keystone Innovation Zone to the Alvernia CollegeTowne and Albright Total Learning Experience (formally known as Scientific Research Institute) areas of Reading. Additionally, GRCA obtained approval for $500,000 in PA Enterprise Zone tax credits for the muchneeded SuperNatural Produce project at 4th and Elm in Reading.

On the advocacy front, the voice of Berks businesses was heard loud and clear. Through the hundreds of business advocacy communications, the PA Legislature acted bipartisanly to finally reduce the state’s corporate net income tax. And the PA Department of Transportation finally shelved an onerous bridge tolling proposal. All in all, there was a lot of great progress in our core functions for GRCA success. But what does 2023 look like?

In short, even better Chamber services, greater economic impact and stronger advocacy! We want to build an online resource center to better serve our members. And we are going to expand our workforce development and training services by expanding partnerships with Alvernia University, Albright College and the Manufacturing Resource Center. And we will continue to grow our excellent Women2Women and Family Business Alliance programming. We will continue to robustly market our agricultural industry through our social media strategy, and we will support the work of the multi-organizational Entrepreneurial Ecosystem initiative. We will provide substantial financial assistance to local businesses, and we will continue our leadership role in working with Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority to re-establish rail service from Berks to Philadelphia to New York. And whenever our business community’s voice needs to be heard in Harrisburg or Washington, D.C., we will coordinate that advocacy effort and make sure our government officials know where we stand on critical issues.

All told, Team GRCA reflects with great satisfaction on how we served and assisted our members and communities in 2022, and, with great excitement, we anticipate accomplishing even more in 2023! CQ