Warren Worx faces questions on results
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Warren Worx has spent the past year building its brand, expanding its marketing reach and developing partnerships across Warren County, but officials told Warren City Council members they still cannot provide concrete evidence that those efforts have produced measurable economic or population results.
That lack of measurable outcomes, and the expectation that meaningful population changes could take years, was a central issue during a presentation by Jenny Philips, Warren Worx marketing director, to the council during its public meeting this week.
Phillips emphasized that reversing Warren County’s population decline will not happen quickly.
"This effort is a marathon," Phillips said. "In two years, I’m not going to solve population decline."
Warren Worx was created in response to declining population and workforce challenges in the county. Its work has focused largely on marketing Warren County, developing partnerships and promoting local employers, businesses, amenities and quality of life.
The organization reported significant activity during the past year, including engagement with 60 businesses and organizations, support for more than 28 community projects, 29 marketing campaigns and more than 45,000 website visitors.
Its social media efforts generated more than 1.6 million impressions, while its videos accumulated hundreds of thousands of views and reached households across Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Ohio.
But council members, and members of the public that were in attendance, pressed Warren Worx representatives on a different question: What measurable results have those efforts produced?
At present, there is no clear answer.
"I don’t have a conversion metric to say that I marketed to John Smith and he moved here," Philips said, explaining that the organization could not, at this time, determine whether its marketing campaigns had actually resulted in people moving to Warren County, taking local jobs or otherwise producing a measurable economic benefit.
Council members also asked whether companies featured in Warren Worx marketing efforts had experienced increased sales, website traffic or hiring as a result.
Phillips said the organization is still developing a process to determine that.
"We’re still in the process of following up with the companies," she said, acknowledging that establishing a system to measure those results had not been done at the beginning of the effort.
Warren Worx now plans to develop a follow-up process that could track results at intervals such as several weeks or months after a campaign.
The organization's representatives can point to website traffic, social media impressions, video views, marketing campaigns and the number of organizations it has worked with.
But those figures measure exposure and activity, rather than whether the organization’s ultimate goals have been achieved.
The organization’s long-term objectives include reversing population decline, increasing the workforce, growing businesses and improving quality of life.
Phillips said those goals cannot be expected to show immediate results.
According to figures presented during the meeting, Warren County had a population of 38,584 in the 2020 census. A 2025 estimate showed the county’s population was still down about 4%.
Employment also declined. The county had 12,592 jobs in 2023, down 1.7% from 2022, according to figures presented by Phiilips.
Philips also told the council that local manufacturers continue to have significant hiring needs.
When asked how many jobs are available, Phillips estimated there are hundreds of openings across local manufacturers.
Those positions range from entry-level manufacturing jobs to highly skilled technical positions and executive roles.
However, Warren Worx does not currently have a figure showing how many of those openings were filled as a direct result of its marketing efforts.
Similarly, the organization does not yet have data showing how many people who live outside Warren County and commute into the county have been persuaded to move locally because of its efforts.
Antoinette Lindell, president and CEO of the Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry, also participated in the presentation, acknowledging the need for harder measurements going forward.
She said Warren Worx initially focused on establishing its infrastructure, including its brand, website, partnerships and marketing strategy.
The next phase, she said, needs to include key performance indicators that demonstrate whether those efforts are having the desired impact.
Population growth will remain one long-term measurement, but Lindell said Warren Worx also needs to identify shorter-term actions that can be measured and tied to its larger goals.
The organization’s representatives repeatedly characterized population growth as a long-term undertaking.
Rather than expecting Warren County’s population numbers to change quickly, Warren Worx plans to build its efforts over multiple years.
Phillips said the organization’s first phase was primarily about establishing a foundation and building awareness. The current phase is focused on marketing, workforce development, business development and community projects.
The expectation is that those efforts eventually will contribute to population growth and a stronger workforce.
But for now, the organization has not demonstrated a direct connection between its marketing activity and those outcomes.
The organization has helped to establish a recognizable county-wide brand and generated substantial digital activity, but the harder question, whether those efforts are leading to improvements in the county’s population, workforce or economy, remains unanswered.
Philips and Lindell told the council they intend to begin answering that question with more concrete performance measurements in the future.
For now, the organization’s largest goals, including reversing population decline, remain long-term objectives rather than demonstrated results.