As 2025 comes to a close, one thing is clear: Greater Reading is rising. This year, the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance (GRCA) continued to Advance, Connect, Champion and Engage our business community in ways that strengthened our regional economy and expanded opportunity for all.<\/p>\n
Here are GRCA\u2019s Top 5 Achievements of 2025, each reflecting the strength, innovation and resilience of our business community:<\/p>\n
\u2014 GRCA\u2019s Marketing Team earned its third Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives Award in five years, placing Greater Reading among the nation\u2019s most creative and effective chambers.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Greater Berks Development Fund closed a historic $2 million loan with Bally Ribbon Mills, fueling expansion and innovation for a major local manufacturer.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Membership surpassed 900 organizations, signaling strong business confidence and trust in GRCA\u2019s leadership, mission, vision and ROI.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Women2Women held its largest conference yet in Downtown Reading at the DoubleTree by Hilton Reading, demonstrating the region\u2019s commitment to leadership development for women.<\/p>\n
\u2014 GRCA completed a full reset of its Advocacy program, strengthening engagement with elected officials and championing a pro-growth policy agenda with visits to Harrisburg and Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
Beyond these milestones, 2025 was defined by regional momentum across several strategic priorities.<\/p>\n
Business Engagement & Chamber Programming<\/p>\n
GRCA delivered one of its strongest years on record, hosting more than 70 networking events, expanding training and professional development programs and creating new opportunities for members to collaborate, grow and shine.<\/p>\n
Transportation Infrastructure<\/p>\n
GRCA continued supporting progress toward restoring passenger rail service while also helping elevate the Reading Regional Airport as an economic development engine through new marketing, enhanced signage and event programming.<\/p>\n
Workforce Housing in the City of Reading<\/p>\n
GRCA launched a Workforce Housing Strategic Focus Group, introducing structured discussions with major employers, developers and government partners to address one of our most pressing workforce challenges\/opportunities.<\/p>\n
Business & Talent Attraction + Retention<\/p>\n
Through Meet Greater Reading and regional-reach marketing campaigns and billboards, GRCA helped raise Greater Reading\u2019s profile as both a talent and business destination and a place where people want to build their careers.<\/p>\n
Looking Ahead to 2026<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a sneak peek at a some GRCA strategy coming down the track:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Lead a Workforce Housing Action Plan Taskforce focused in the City of Reading<\/p>\n
\u2022 Advance transportation priorities including passenger rail and airport development<\/p>\n
\u2022 Expand strategic marketing and advocacy efforts<\/p>\n
\u2022 Elevate Greater Reading through America250 initiatives and FIFA World Cup games in Philadelphia<\/p>\n
As we move forward, I am proud to introduce a new guiding message I\u2019ll be using for 2026: #GreaterStartsHere.<\/p>\n
It reflects who I believe we are: innovators, collaborators, builders and believers in the future of Berks County.<\/p>\n
It signals to businesses, talent, visitors and residents that Greater Reading is not just a place on the map.<\/p>\n
It is a place where ideas take root, where momentum grows and where greatness begins.<\/p>\n
At GRCA, we remain committed to championing the people, businesses, and partnerships that make this region Greater.<\/p>\n
Because in 2026 and beyond, #GreaterStartsHere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As 2025 comes to a close, one thing is clear: Greater Reading is rising. This year, the Greater…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,60,1559,1560,28,128,130,129],"class_list":["post-73761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-business","tag-opinion","tag-opinion-columnists","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}