The Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry (WCCBI) is spearheading one such approach — Warren Worx, an initiative that came straight out of the county’s recently completed comprehensive plan.

The general idea behind Warren Worx is the need to develop a central facilitating entity for initiatives and projects in the county. Warren Worx’ first major assignment would be the development of a county brand that can be used by existing organizations to enhance outreach efforts.

Both city and county governments have been asked to contribute $100,000 to the effort.

That means those officials have questions.

Times Observer photos by Josh Cotton Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry President/CEO Jim Decker speaks during a joint session with city and county officials on Tuesday night at the Northern Pennsylvania Regional College headquarters. The session aimed to answer questions that elected officials have over the Warren Worx initiative.

And a joint session held between the WCCBI, City of Warren and Warren County government aimed at answering those questions.

“I don’t think Warren Worx is a big risk,” WCCBI President/CEO Jim Decker said Tuesday. “It’s so obviously clear … we have to work differently. It’s just something we have to do.”

He acknowledged that “a lot of the details are to be worked out on this thing” but called the “cornerstone of the entire initiative — we’re speaking with one voice.

“(It would) really change the way we do business in Warren.”

The major driver for the initiative, Decker outlined, is data from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania that shows an additional 12 percent in population loss over the next 20 to 30 years. Further, the population is projected to get older, meaning that the county’s labor force is a particularly stark part of the broader population decline.

The Chamber has been arguing that the first step for Warren Worx is to develop a common brand for the county.

“We need to start selling ourselves as a community,” he said.

But Warren Worx would do more than that.

He said it would seek to pool resources, provide project coordination and event support, marketing and facilitate “just talking to each other in a much more collaborative fashion.”

A $340,000 budget has been proposed for 2024. That includes $140,000 put forward by the WCCBI and the requests to the city and the county.

Neither the city nor the county has taken action to allocate the funds requested, though.

Director of Chamber Operations John Papalia said they would like to see those funding commitments by Feb. 1 so that a kickoff meeting could be held by Feb. 15.

“The more people that want to help move Warren County forward the better,” he said.

The timeline also includes awarding a contract for the branding work by March 1 and having a marketing director, the only totally new position created under the Warren Worx proposal, onboarded by June 1.

Papalia acknowledged there is “a lot of work to be done in this time frame” but called it all “doable actions.”

Decker acknowledged that there could be pushback to the initiative.

“We’re hoping to get to the point where everybody comes to the table,” he said. “There could be resistance” but he said he hopes that people will, in time, see that it works, stressing that collaboration and trust are at the heart of the effort.

“Just getting everybody working together,” Shawn Walker, one of Warren Worx advocates, said. “(That) will instantly give us value.”

Decker added that he envisions Warren Worx meetings being open to the public.

Warren City Councilman Jared Villella said his single biggest concern is the city being in a position where it would have to raise taxes to continue to fund this effort.

Decker acknowledged that they’re looking for an “ongoing partnership.

“Our dream is that this becomes the way of doing business,” he said, and that “(we) develop a funding stream to support it long-term.”

“We see it more as an investment,” Walker added.

It was clear that part of the challenge in contributing the funds is the relative lack of tangible products that will come from the effort in the short term.

“If we don’t go through with this,” Decker said, “the most significant impact is going to be within the City of Warren” as employers won’t be able to sustain themselves given labor pool challenges.

“The city has more to lose,” he said, than any other municipality.

He said that the first “tangible return” to Warren Worx will be the development of that common county brand, followed by prioritization and assigning responsibility for the projects outlined in the city and county comprehensive plans.

“We can’t wait for anything else to happen,” Decker stressed. “It’s up to all of us.”