During the summer of 2020, the Chamber introduced a series of projects and initiatives focused on two overall goals: accelerating the region’s post-pandemic economic recovery and differentiating Greater Philadelphia from competitors and peer regions.

A key aspiration of the Recharge & Recover initiative seeks to ensure that Greater Philadelphia becomes a place known for investing in and supporting our region’s small, local, and minority-owned businesses. To best execute on this particular aspiration, the Chamber developed the Diverse Procurement Collaborative (DPC), a group of over 100 mid- to large-sized Chamber companies committed to a multi-year process of identifying and addressing shortfalls in supplier diversity.

The first year of this commitment ended with the Chamber’s fiscal year on June 30. At a mid-June reception, members of the DPC’s inaugural cohort gathered to celebrate their commitments to economic inclusion and to reflect on their activities over the last 12 months. Over the last year, the 100+ members of the DPC have:

  • Facilitated the exchange of best practices through learning about and instituting fair and equitable procurement practices;
  • Built a community of business leaders committed to taking action to increase the diversity of their vendor and supplier network, implementing diverse procurement practices, and broadening relationships with diverse suppliers; and
  • Created accountability through benchmarking current minority supplier spending to see an increase in individual and collective procurement practices and diverse spending from this group over time.

The DPC is one of many crucial Recharge & Recovery initiatives moving the needle on advancing the inclusion, competitiveness, and attractiveness of our region. Over a longer stretch of time, we look forward to seeing the fruits of those labors reflected in topline metrics featured on the Chamber’s recently launched Inclusive Growth Dashboard. In particular, we expect the efforts of the DPC to show positive results in the sections of the Dashboard that measure small business growth and poverty reduction across our city and region.

About the Inclusive Growth Dashboard 

The Inclusive Growth Dashboard is a data visualization tool that will help city and regional policymakers, business and civic leaders, and the public understand the condition of Greater Philadelphia’s economy and measure the region’s success in reaching the five Recharge & Recover PHL aspirations.

With a focus on expanding equitable opportunities, jobs, and wages on par with the U.S. economy and ahead of Greater Philadelphia’s peer metro areas, the Chamber has designed this dashboard—in partnership with Boston Consulting Group—to serve as a one-stop shop for key indicators of the region’s economic health and vitality.

Through these metrics, the dashboard will monitor macro-economic conditions in Greater Philadelphia over time, and in comparison to seven peer metropolitan areas based on a variety of relevant factors: Atlanta, Georgia; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Washington, D.C.