Industry and Population Shifts | Deteriorating Infrastructure | Advancing Technology |
Land Development Limitations | Challenges for Agriculture | Workforce Development Issues |
Planning and Coordination
Planning and Coordination
Historically economic development planning in Chester County has not been well coordinated with the implementation efforts of economic development professionals.
Economic Development is a relatively new area of focus for community planners. While Landscapes did address the topic, the focus was very broad, and implementation steps were generally left to other entities. Chester County planners have not worked closely in coordination with community developers and economic development professionals. Many new programs and initiatives have been launched since the adoption of Landscapes, administered through multiple agencies. Coordination of many of these efforts is lacking.
Sources of economic development data are varied, use differing standards of measurement, and can be inconsistent on many levels.
Sources of economic development data for Chester County include, but are not limited to the U.S. Census, the Census of Agriculture, the U.S. Dept. of Labor/Economic Development Administration, the North American Industry Classification System, and the PA Dept. of Labor and Industry/Center for Workforce Information and Analysis. These data sources show little consistency. They may report on different time schedules, use different classification systems, and view economic situations in inherently different ways. Researching and analyzing data into a practical and useful format presents great challenges for economic development planners.
Resources for efforts such as brownfield redevelopment are not coordinated between federal, state, and local agencies.
While there are many resources available to assist communities with economic development initiatives, and to assist businesses to develop or expand, coordination of these resources, from federal to state to local level, has been slow in developing.
Industry and Population Shifts | Deteriorating Infrastructure | Advancing Technology |
Land Development Limitations | Challenges for Agriculture | Workforce Development Issues |
Planning and Coordination
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