Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, PA -
Since 2002, Penn’s Northeast has been hard at work, helping to not only further develop the region, but to bring jobs to the area and to unite communities and neighbors. Monday night’s 20-year anniversary celebration at The Woodlands Inn was symbolic of all the above.
President and CEO of Penn’s Northeast John L. Augustine III reflected on those two decades of service and said, “It’s really a testament to the partnership that we’ve built. When we set out to do this, more than 20 years ago, and started talking about it (NEPA) as a region, we weren’t necessarily cooperating and partnering on projects. And so, it was a challenge to get everybody to think differently.”
In the time since, partnership and cooperating have become synonymous with the work Penn’s Northeast does. Augustine noted that what started out as a partnership in the region as “three or four counties” has now doubled to eight. Furthermore, he noted that Penn’s Northeast is internationally recognized, and continues to set the standard for economic development and taking care of its people.
Don Brominski, director of business development for UGI Utilities, serves on the Board of Directors for Penn’s Northeast. In keeping with the spirit of furthering the region, he said, “Well, UGI Utilities is one the founding members, and we know the value of regionalism. You know what they say, ‘the rising tide lifts all ships.’ And by combining the efforts of all the economic development agencies and chambers through Penn’s Northeast, it gives people a regional footprint and it gives us the exposure we need to draw business and jobs here in Northeastern Pennsylvania.”
Rachel Hawk, marketing director of Penn’s Northeast is a native to the region. “I’m proud to work for Penn’s Northeast and market the region for businesses to come here,” she said. “I’m proud to help bring quality jobs to Northeastern Pennsylvania.”
And speaking of quality jobs for Northeastern Pennsylvania and taking care of people as mentioned earlier, Augustine offered an very exciting statistic.
“In just three short years, we’ve taken the average starting wage at nine dollars an hour and it’s now nineteen dollars an hour with benefits. That’s a living wage to an individual,” he said. And the plan is to continue to see the growth continue and to create good, quality jobs that pay well. “We’re fortunate to be a ‘live, work, and play’ region. And so, continuous improvement on those certainly makes us one of the best places in the country to live.”
Brominski echoed similar sentiments, as he said, “This is a great idea to combine our resources and work together as a larger area, instead of everybody competing, we’re realizing that what’s good for one is good for the other.”
And for the next 20 years? Well, Augustine hopes for more of the same quality cooperating, partnership, and development.
“Hopefully what we’ve created is set in stone forever,” he said.
