Chamber's Business Retention and Expansion Program Works with More than 530 Local Companies During 2008-09 Fiscal Year

Erie, PA, August 13, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Erie County's Business Retention and Expansion Program (BREP), coordinated locally by the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership (ERCGP), reached more than 500 businesses during the 2008-2009 fiscal year generating more than 400 customer action plans (CAPs) that resulted in direct economic development assistance.

“Our goal is to reach out to our existing businesses base to make sure they continue to grow and flourish in Erie County, and that they have the resources necessary to do so,” ERCGP Vice President for Economic Development Jake Rouch said. “We want our existing businesses and entrepreneurs to know that we are grateful for the jobs they create and appreciate having them in Erie, and we want them to know that the ERCGP is the place to go to access the wealth of resources provided by the 13 organizations in our Lead Economic Development Team and our various partners.”

BREP industry representatives visited 537 local businesses to discuss their unique business management; financial assistance or capital; market development; product development; site location/preparation; infrastructure; technology; workforce and government needs. These visits resulted in 414 customer action plans from an array of economic development partners to address these businesses' hiring, training, marketing, financing and other expansion needs.

Workforce development is consistently at the top of companies' needs. The ERCGP, in partnership with the CareerLink, RCWE and Erie County, employs two full-time workforce development specialists to help match companies with available resources. In 08-09, more than $1.2 million in workforce training funding was distributed to 84 Erie County companies. In addition, the Chamber’s workforce development team helped post more than open 2,000 positions on behalf of area companies through the CareerLink system.

BREP Program Manager Melanie Johnson called these numbers impressive and said that the direct assistance provided through the region's economic development system has allowed local businesses to stay competitive, remain in the community, and even expand.

"A healthy local economy depends on the well-being of our existing investors," Johnson said. "While the Chamber is also coordinating the region's business attraction efforts through our launch of 'Tap Into Erie', we recognize that ‘job one’ is to help local businesses survive and grow in the Erie region."

In Erie, Rouch said, 90 percent of all new jobs are created by existing companies, and therefore it makes sense to have a strong and supportive focus on the region's existing business base.

“Our most cost-effective approach to economic development is to help our existing base grow,” he added.

BREP is a program funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that serves to listen to companies’ needs and identify all of the appropriate resources that can benefit businesses and enable them to thrive in Pennsylvania. There is no cost for a business to visit with a BREP representative to find out if there are tools available to help them grow. The business retention program is part of Pennsylvania’s state-wide effort to retain and grow existing businesses. With over 9,000 face-to-face visits annually, the Pennsylvania Business Retention and Expansion Program is the nation’s largest and most aggressive business retention initiative.

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