{"id":252961,"date":"2026-07-27T15:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T15:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/252961\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T15:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T15:16:10","slug":"erie-conference-calls-for-collaboration-to-remedy-economic-inequities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/252961\/","title":{"rendered":"ERIE Conference Calls for Collaboration to Remedy Economic Inequities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Manufacturer & Business Association<\/p>\n

Various official and organizational leaders recently gathered for the 21st annual Economic Research Institute of Erie (ERIE) conference at Penn State Behrend to discuss growth, collaboration, and what will drive Erie’s economy forward.<\/p>\n

The message at the 21st annual Economic Research Institute of Erie (ERIE)<\/a> conference this year was clear: while Erie County remains “relatively stable” for another year, it is falling behind state and national growth, with the City of Erie taking the brunt of the blow.\u00a0Ken Louie, Director of ERIE at Penn State Behrend’s Black School of Business, said that the impact of inflation and income disparities continues to ail the county, but the remedy of collaboration may be easier said than done.\u00a0Louie brought together various officials and organizational leaders from the city and county to\u00a0present at the conference on Wednesday, including City of Erie Mayor Daria Devlin, County\u00a0Executive Christina Vogel, Infinite Erie<\/a>‘s Executive Director Kim Thomas, Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership<\/a> President Brandon Mendoza<\/a>, Manufacturer and Business Association<\/a> (MBA) President Lori Joint, and others.<\/p>\n

First, attendees heard from Louie about the data behind ERIE’s conclusions. From 2001 to 2024, Erie’s real gross domestic product or GDP \u2013 the total value of final goods and services\u00a0produced by the economy \u2013 has increased by 5.3 percent while the nationwide GDP has increased by 67.6 percent and Pennsylvania’s GDP has increased by 41.7 percent.\u00a0From 2007 to 2025, average weekly wages increased by about 120 percent, but when adjusted for inflation, it is about 19 percent, giving people only about $137 more buying power weekly in 2025 compared to 2007.\u00a0At the same time, median household incomes were drastically different with the countywide\u00a0median income at $63,354 \u2013 already much lower than the statewide $77,971 and nationwide\u00a0$80,734 averages \u2013 while the City of Erie’s median income is $46,113, with Census Tract 1\u00a0coming in at $16,838.<\/p>\n

However, the unemployment rate, 4.3 percent, is at a historic low, similar to the national 4.2 percent rate, showing that the problem is not about jobs existing, it’s about jobs paying enough and reaching the right neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

“The people of my city are not doing as well,” Devlin said in reaction to Louie’s data.<\/p>\n

The day before the conference, Devlin and Vogel toured Behrend, and Devlin said she asked questions like how many minority students are enrolled, especially from the city. She noted that\u00a0being at a career fair as an option for high schoolers is not enough anymore \u2013 the workforce\u00a0pipeline needs an infusion of support, and she said it falls on businesses to intentionally reach out and eliminate barriers to education and employment.\u00a0“I have to make sure that the dollars come down to the neighborhoods and people who need it\u00a0the most,” Devlin remarked.<\/p>\n

Even though the city’s budget doesn’t have extra money for new initiatives, she agreed with\u00a0Louie that collaboration and leveraging existing infrastructure would be beneficial. Joking, Devlin\u00a0and Vogel noted that they might spend more time with each other than with their families at this\u00a0point, showing their commitment to working together after a history of misalignment.\u00a0“Confusion, chaos, and dysfunction are very expensive, and alignment amplifies impact,” Vogel\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

Upon taking office, the local business owner found the county to be in a difficult financial situation and has since made intentional decisions to bring more money into the county without\u00a0placing the burden on taxpayers.<\/p>\n

Recently, the Erie County Council approved the refinancing of bonds for the Erie County Convention Center Authority, providing the county $368,000 more in the first year of refinancing, followed by $627,000 in years two through nine.\u00a0When North East grape farmers were left in limbo earlier this year by sudden contract cancellations, Feeding America and Second Harvest Food Bank along with state legislators were able to secure $500,000 to purchase and process Erie-area grapes to provide fresh juice\u00a0to local food banks through the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System.\u00a0Vogel emphasized that it’s important to collaborate locally in order to compete nationally, and\u00a0although alignment does not mean agreeing on everything, she said that it means having the\u00a0same goals and moving forward together.<\/p>\n

One example of working together to compete nationally that was presented at the conference\u00a0was the Choose Erie (Build Ships Faster)<\/a> project \u2013 an Erie Maritime Initiative built around leveraging what the region already has, rather than building something new.\u00a0The initiative points to Erie’s natural harbor, industrial land, and shipbuilding history that dates\u00a0back to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s fleet built during the War of 1812. The initiative’s list\u00a0of backers doubles as a snapshot of collaboration on display at the ERIE Conference. Vogel\u00a0and Devlin signed on alongside Thomas’s Infinite Erie, Joint’s MBA, and the Erie Regional\u00a0Chamber, as well as Penn State Behrend, both of Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senators, Gov. Josh\u00a0Shapiro, and several state and local legislators.<\/p>\n

MBA’s Joint said this is an initiative that her organization has been tracking and supporting from\u00a0the very beginning. An example of collaboration itself, MBA began in1905 when 61 manufacturers first decided they’d be more effective working together than separately. That premise has carried the organization for more than 120 years \u2013 “come together, don’t reinvent the wheel,” as Joint put it \u2013 and MBA has kept applying it well beyond Erie’s borders. The organization co-hosts the Western Pennsylvania Legislative Reception alongside the Washington County Chamber of Commerce and the Pittsburgh Business Exchange, a regional gathering that connects state lawmakers, industry leaders, and business owners around issues affecting the broader western Pennsylvania economy.<\/p>\n

When it comes to collaboration, Joint cautioned that collaboration isn’t automatic or risk-free. It can just as easily become a way for organizations to blur responsibility as to share it, she said, unless partners deliberately delegate tasks and hold each other accountable.\u00a0“Trust is really at the foundation of collaboration,” Joint said \u2013 and trust, she added, takes courage: sharing credit, sharing resources, and putting the region’s success ahead of any one organization’s own.<\/p>\n

Despite that warning, Joint said that she sees more momentum in Erie, the city that she calls\u00a0home, than she has in years, and she cited that momentum as a reason to push harder, not pull\u00a0back.<\/p>\n

Chloe Forbes is a local journalist. Reach her at chloeforbes14@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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