Last week, we introduced you to the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp.’s 2014-2017 Strategic Plan, which clearly outlined our mission, vision and priorities as an organization.

But it also did much more than that. It created a set of specific, actionable initiatives LVEDC will pursue over the next three years to support our goal of helping businesses come, grow and start here.

Those initiatives fall under four different categories: development, marketing, finance and administration/stakeholders. The details for each are available within the full strategic plan.

Below, we highlight the five development initiatives, which LVEDC will follow to increase investment and job creation in the Lehigh Valley within specific industries with above average wages, projected positive growth and participation in commercial activities that will create wealth in the region.

These initiatives will, among other things, transform LVEDC into the leading source of information on the Lehigh Valley economy, and allow us to be a facilitator in the workforce improvement conversation that is already taking place among a multitude of organizations in the Lehigh Valley.

The five development initiatives identified by our strategic plan include:

1. Market and attract growth from targeted sectors. Four optimal industry targets have been identified based on the site-specific characteristics and unique competitive advantages of the Lehigh Valley: food and beverage processing, high performance manufacturing, life sciences/research and manufacturing, and high value business services.
2. Increase market intelligence and available information. To stimulate business investment and spur economic development, we will create a systematic structure of collecting, analyzing and disseminating information related to demographics, business presence, investments, workforce, real estate and more.
3. Coordinate a regional business outreach program. The organization must create and coordinate a Lehigh Valley-wide, seamless, integrated business calling program designed to collect, catalog and analyze information through site visits and interviews.
4. Develop and help facilitate a regional workforce plan. LVEDC will work with its regional partners to develop a plan to assess the current state of alignment between the many providers and coordinators of workforce development services and the needs to support continued economic growth in the region.
5. Coordinate regional efforts to develop industrial sites, create opportunity for small business and grow entrepreneurs. The LVEDC can serve as a coordinator of the many regional partners and resources to ensure all are working together to advance the development of commercial and industrial sites, to stimulate redevelopment, and to create connections between small businesses and large buyers.

Check out next week’s LVEDC e-newsletter as we delve further into the LVEDC 2014-2017 Strategic Plan, with a focus on the five marketing initiatives.