Governor Shapiro, Lieutenant Governor Davis, Local Leaders Unveil Plan to Revitalize Downtown Harrisburg, Spurring More Than $64 Million in New Investments

Today, Governor Josh Shapiro, Lieutenant Governor Davis, and local leaders launched a new collaborative plan to invest in and spur revitalization in Downtown Harrisburg. Bringing together with state and local elected officials, along with business, community, and nonprofit leaders at 333 Market Street, Governor Shapiro announced that his Administration will be devoting significant funding towards the Harrisburg Works for All of Us revitalization plan – a new plan developed by Dauphin County, the Harrisburg Regional Chamber & CREDC, the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Downtown Center, Senator Patty Kim, Representative Nate Davidson, and Representative Dave Madsen with input from more than 4,400 Harrisburg residents.

Harrisburg Works for ALL of Us Executive Summary

The City of Harrisburg has long been the center of commerce for the capital region. As industry moved and shifted from the core downtown the city became the hub for corporate headquarters, offices, and professional services for the region and the entire commonwealth.

Harrisburg Works for ALL of Us is a partnership-focused and people-centric plan. It addresses the work that can only happen one person, one business, one day at a time. The City of Harrisburg is filled with dedicated and committed community leaders and corporate partners, all doing amazing work for the city, but in many cases independent of one another. The primary goal of this plan is to set the stage for greater cooperation, communication, and cohesion among the various stakeholders and to activate new investment and confidence through partnerships in Downtown Harrisburg and throughout the greater City of Harrisburg.

Complex issues require complex solutions and attitudinal change. Building trust and confidence in partnerships is a shared responsibility. No single entity can do this alone, as this work requires symbiotic relationships with a sense of urgency coupled with a deep sense of purpose. In any community revitalization effort, true complex change will not happen solely through financial investments, but requires collective community buy-in to see it through. Projects alone will not fix the issues, but a commitment to complex change through incremental activity is necessary.

Harrisburg is not that different from many other cities and communities throughout Pennsylvania, in that many plans have been completed over the years. Some have been implemented, others have never been started, and, as is commonplace, many have been started only to be paused with changes in administration, staff capacity, and market forces.

This planning process has provided the groundwork to engage community partners, various public, private and nonprofit stakeholders, and the general public. The Revitalize Downtown Harrisburg website served as a central source for planning updates, public engagement opportunities, community feedback, and funding programs such as the MyHBG Tactical Urbanism Grant Program, helping connect residents and organizations with opportunities to participate in and support revitalization efforts. Now it’s time to activate the plan for partners to initiate investment and implement projects.

We all want downtown to be a place where kids can explore and learn where we came from and where we are going, where people are excited to visit and set down roots, where corporations small and large choose to locate — a Harrisburg that works for all of us.

A future for a healthy and vibrant Downtown Harrisburg that focuses on:
1. Maintaining business retention.
2. Expanding business growth.
3. Increasing downtown living.
4. Supporting downtown workforce.

TRANSFORMATION STRATEGIES

1. Build a Complete Downtown Neighborhood.
2. Fill Storefronts and Grow Local Business.
3. Make Downtown Easy to Reach and Walk.
4. Keep Downtown Clean, Safe, and Welcoming.
5. Upgrade Streets, Storefronts, and Public Spaces.
6. Activate the Riverfront, Arts, and Entertainment.

NEXT STEPS

1. Continue Tactical Urbanism Projects throughout Downtown.
2. Harrisburg Downtown Improvement District Reauthorization.
3. Engage with Block by Block to Ensure Downtown Is Clean and Safe.
4. Invest in Priority Projects That Align With the Downtown Strategy.

Intended Outcomes of the Strategy

1. Pride in Place – Visitors are excited to visit, and residents are thrilled to show it off.
2. Ownership of Solutions – Let’s ask how can we solve these issues together.
3. Sense of Urgency – Now is the time! We can no longer defer what needs to be done now.
4. Strong Sense of Responsibility/Role for Everyone – We can coordinate efforts, projects, funding, and share in acknowledgement.
5. Robust Public-Private Partnerships – No single organization or sector can accomplish this alone. We win when we all win. How can we create more synergistic partnerships?
6. Creative Outside of the Box Thinking – How do we want the next generation to talk about Harrisburg? What will the downtown and the city mean to them?
7. Equitable Entrepreneurial Ecosystem – We must strengthen the infrastructure to develop, incubate, support, enhance, accelerate, retain, and succeed.

Access the full Downtown Harrisburg Revitalization Strategy.