Jones Lang LaSalle
The Newark Alliance Introduces an Aggressive Economic Development Initiative to Spur Business and Job Growth
NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2006--
The OpportunityNewark Plan includes strategies to link local residents with thousands of jobs expected to be created in the city over the next five years.
The Newark Alliance and a broad coalition of Newark organizations today released an aggressive five-year economic development strategy designed to attract and retain businesses and prepare Newark workers to fill jobs in the city's key growth industries.
The initiative, called OpportunityNewark, is a product of a partnership between the Newark Alliance, the City of Newark, and the City Advisory Practice (CAP) of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), a Boston-based national nonprofit economic development organization. Over the past eighteen months, more than 400 Newark stakeholders- Fortune 500 companies, small business owners, community organizations, local and state policy-makers, representatives of the higher education community, and the faith-based community - contributed to the plan's development.
"This is a step-by-step results-oriented plan that is intended to make Newark and its citizens formidable competitors in the economy of the 21st century," says Al Koeppe, president and CEO of the Newark Alliance and co-chair of OpportunityNewark. "It is a fact-based and inclusive approach to economic development."
"Opportunity Newark has set some challenging but achievable goals and objectives designed to bring business to Newark and to prepare Newark's residents with the necessary skills to fill the jobs created through this effort," said Arthur Ryan, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc. "It is a market-driven economic plan that provides an aggressive blue print for new businesses, job creation and economic growth."
The economic development plan leverages Newark's key competitive advantages: strategic location, a vibrant port, and a strong base of higher education and health care institutions. The plan anticipates that future job creation will occur in the transportation, logistics and distribution services cluster, as well as in the health services, education and knowledge creation and entertainment, arts and retail clusters. The goal is to improve Newark's competitiveness as a business location and to prepare and connect Newark residents to jobs expected in the future. It is projected that over 6,000 new jobs, each year over the next five years, in the targeted clusters will be added to Newark's economy.
To stimulate job creation at that pace, OpportunityNewark prescribes an aggressive action agenda that includes specific recommendations as well as benchmarks to measure progress. The recommended actions address making public policy changes to remove barriers to employment, implementing workforce development and training programs and improving communication channels both for the job provider and the job seeker.
"OpportunityNewark's goal is to prepare local residents for jobs that will be created over the next five years in the targeted clusters," said Professor Michael Porter, Harvard Business School professor and founder and chairman of ICIC. Professor Porter will deliver the keynote address at OpportunityNewark's launch. "The most critical part of the overall process, in reality, is just about to begin - the implementation. The fact that you have created such momentum already will ensure your success."
The strategic action plan also addresses such issues as the shortage of truck drivers and other port workers, the need to upgrade Newark's technological capabilities, and the creation of a promotion campaign for the hospitality sector.
The 90-page report also recommends:
-- Creating a regional council to develop a shared vision for the Port's future;
-- Freeing up valuable space around the Port by redesigning parking structures and storage facilities;
-- Developing a central placement agency for truck drivers to address an endemic workforce shortage;
-- Preparing Newark's residents for technology-related jobs by setting up an industry -led training consortium with participating bio-tech, health services, and computer and electronics companies;
-- Enhancing the real-time web site to be the one-stop portal for information on Newark "at work" , "at home" and "at play"; and
-- Launching a Conventions and Visitor's Bureau to ensure marketing and branding activities are managed.
ICIC was founded by Harvard Business School Professor Michael E. Porter, a world-renowned authority on strategy and competition. The organization has been studying the economic condition of the largest 100 American cities and is working to revitalize inner cities across the country. Newark is the latest in a series of initiatives that include economic growth programs in Oakland, Chicago, Louisville, Boston and Milwaukee, Reading, PA, and Brooklyn, NY.
The Newark Alliance Introduces an Aggressive Economic Development Initiative to Spur Business and Job Growth
NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2006--
The OpportunityNewark Plan includes strategies to link local residents with thousands of jobs expected to be created in the city over the next five years.
The Newark Alliance and a broad coalition of Newark organizations today released an aggressive five-year economic development strategy designed to attract and retain businesses and prepare Newark workers to fill jobs in the city's key growth industries.
The initiative, called OpportunityNewark, is a product of a partnership between the Newark Alliance, the City of Newark, and the City Advisory Practice (CAP) of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), a Boston-based national nonprofit economic development organization. Over the past eighteen months, more than 400 Newark stakeholders- Fortune 500 companies, small business owners, community organizations, local and state policy-makers, representatives of the higher education community, and the faith-based community - contributed to the plan's development.
"This is a step-by-step results-oriented plan that is intended to make Newark and its citizens formidable competitors in the economy of the 21st century," says Al Koeppe, president and CEO of the Newark Alliance and co-chair of OpportunityNewark. "It is a fact-based and inclusive approach to economic development."
"Opportunity Newark has set some challenging but achievable goals and objectives designed to bring business to Newark and to prepare Newark's residents with the necessary skills to fill the jobs created through this effort," said Arthur Ryan, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc. "It is a market-driven economic plan that provides an aggressive blue print for new businesses, job creation and economic growth."
The economic development plan leverages Newark's key competitive advantages: strategic location, a vibrant port, and a strong base of higher education and health care institutions. The plan anticipates that future job creation will occur in the transportation, logistics and distribution services cluster, as well as in the health services, education and knowledge creation and entertainment, arts and retail clusters. The goal is to improve Newark's competitiveness as a business location and to prepare and connect Newark residents to jobs expected in the future. It is projected that over 6,000 new jobs, each year over the next five years, in the targeted clusters will be added to Newark's economy.
To stimulate job creation at that pace, OpportunityNewark prescribes an aggressive action agenda that includes specific recommendations as well as benchmarks to measure progress. The recommended actions address making public policy changes to remove barriers to employment, implementing workforce development and training programs and improving communication channels both for the job provider and the job seeker.
"OpportunityNewark's goal is to prepare local residents for jobs that will be created over the next five years in the targeted clusters," said Professor Michael Porter, Harvard Business School professor and founder and chairman of ICIC. Professor Porter will deliver the keynote address at OpportunityNewark's launch. "The most critical part of the overall process, in reality, is just about to begin - the implementation. The fact that you have created such momentum already will ensure your success."
The strategic action plan also addresses such issues as the shortage of truck drivers and other port workers, the need to upgrade Newark's technological capabilities, and the creation of a promotion campaign for the hospitality sector.
The 90-page report also recommends:
-- Creating a regional council to develop a shared vision for the Port's future;
-- Freeing up valuable space around the Port by redesigning parking structures and storage facilities;
-- Developing a central placement agency for truck drivers to address an endemic workforce shortage;
-- Preparing Newark's residents for technology-related jobs by setting up an industry -led training consortium with participating bio-tech, health services, and computer and electronics companies;
-- Enhancing the real-time web site to be the one-stop portal for information on Newark "at work" , "at home" and "at play"; and
-- Launching a Conventions and Visitor's Bureau to ensure marketing and branding activities are managed.
ICIC was founded by Harvard Business School Professor Michael E. Porter, a world-renowned authority on strategy and competition. The organization has been studying the economic condition of the largest 100 American cities and is working to revitalize inner cities across the country. Newark is the latest in a series of initiatives that include economic growth programs in Oakland, Chicago, Louisville, Boston and Milwaukee, Reading, PA, and Brooklyn, NY.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 12:19 PM
<< Home