Wall Street West: Northeast PA to Serve as Center of NYC Financial Data Backup Efforts
A new federal program will pump $15 million into northeastern Pennsylvania to support “Wall Street West”-a complete backup of the New York financial markets in the event of disaster. The state was awarded a Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) grant in February by the U.S. Department of Labor.
In the wake of 9/11, the Securities and Exchange Commission recommended that financial services firms develop reliable backup operations outside the New York City power grid. A northeastern Pennsylvania task force prepared a white paper in 2003 that cited the advantages for locating Wall Street’s secondary operations in northeastern Pennsylvania. The report was a key element for the grant proposal.
BFTP was a partner in the initial grant writing proposal and will serve as the program’s designated fiscal agent. “We will focus on building a broadband infrastructure between New York City and northeastern Pennsylvania, as well as creating a talent pool of workers with skills for the financial services industry,” says Chad Paul, Chief Executive Officer of BFTP Northeast.
WIRED Grants Could Transform Regional Economies
The WIRED grants are intended to help transform regional economies by encouraging partnership among businesses, universities and regional economic development agencies. The goal is to produce long-term strategic plans that prepare workers for high-skill, high-wage opportunities into the next decade.
“The concept of Wall Street West stood out because it clearly responds to a national need and meets many requirements, including homeland security,” Emily Stover DeRocco, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training, said during a recent visit to the region to discuss the grant. “It’s very appealing, and it’s also a very practical approach.”
Another plus, she said, was the regional partnerships that exist among the economic, academic and business leaders in Berks, Carbon, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Northampton, Pike and Wayne counties.
Northeastern Pennsylvania is Ideal
“From a geographic standpoint, northeastern Pennsylvania is ideal. We are on a different power grid, yet close enough geographically to the epicenter of the financial services world,” says Paul. “We also have the partnerships and collaborative environment in place to make Wall Street West a reality.”
Two years ago, under Governor Rendell’s direction, a thorough analysis of all Pennsylvania industries found that the financial services industry is one of nine segments of the economy where Pennsylvania has a competitive advantage. Governor Rendell referred to the Wall Street West initiative as a “terrific project,” citing the northeast quadrant of Pennsylvania as being well positioned to become a major player in the growing financial services industry.
“The ultimate impact in terms of number of jobs created and the monetary benefit to the region cannot be quantified at this point because there are so many different aspects,” Paul says. “But the potential is enormous for our region, and it’ll surely have a much larger impact than we can project today.”
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