The Greater Reading Chamber Alliance (GRCA) today has released a comprehensive recovery initiative dubbed “Rebuilding Berks” that will provide planning tools to the Berks County business community to prepare for a full re-opening. This plan is a roadmap for Berks County businesses to travel the road to recovery.
The plan includes three, main areas of focus and is housed on GRCA’s website.
- Financial Resources: Businesses can connect with appropriate financial assistance available from the federal, state, local and private sources. Numerous options from these programs as well as information from private financial institutions are outlined.
- Workplace Readiness: To ensure Berks businesses get back to work safely, this page may be used as a goto for providing up-to-date guidelines, protocols and procedures for getting businesses back up and running. Additionally, similar businesses can connect with one another through industry-specific communication channels and peer-to-peer discussions.
- County Data: Berks County has been hit hard by job losses because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but what does that mean for the future recovery? County and state data points are provided paired with explanations.
“The COVID-19 crisis has been an unprecedented challenge that has altered may facets of our daily life. The business community in Berks County has been quick to react to meet these challenges and focus on protecting the health and safety of our employees, customers and the greater citizenry,” said GRCA’s President and CEO Jim Gerlach. “Through proper planning and preparation, we will be ready to reopen our local economy and ‘Rebuild Berks’ while continuing to follow the recommended guidelines for personal responsibility and respect. GRCA’s plan uses local metrics, coupled with targeted resources to help our business community move through this crisis and beyond.”
The plan was created by polling GRCA’s nearly 1,000 members as well as contacting key community business leaders and community stakeholders.
