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September 20, 2021 9:01am

Greater Louisville Inc. Celebrates One Year of ‘Now Louisville’

First anniversary highlights significant progress in executing five-year strategic plan

Louisville, Ky. (September 20, 2021) – Today Greater Louisville Inc. recognized the one-year anniversary of its five-year strategic plan, NOW Louisville. Since the strategy launched in 2020, 78 companies with a local presence have contributed over $3.26 million to fund the core initiatives of the plan.

Through months of planning, GLI and its investors generated this forward-thinking plan to align the region for accelerated growth by driving innovation in current industries and investing in programs and initiatives to bring advancing industries and top talent to the region. With this goal in mind, six pillars were created to guide the work: innovation, startups, clusters, talent, inclusion, and connectivity and mobility.

“The Now Louisville plan allowed us to continue moving forward even when the pandemic caused much of the world to stop,” said Sarah Davasher-Wisdom, president and CEO of GLI. “In the midst of a major economic recovery, the Now Louisville plan enabled our business community to take intentional action to align our region for accelerated growth over the next five years.”

While the plan includes metrics and action items that stretch over five years, progress in each pillar has already been made. Key accomplishments include:

  • Developed and launched the Power to Prosper Minority Business Accelerator
  • Developed and launched the Greater Louisville Racial Equity Pledge which currently has over 200 signers. To complement the pledge, GLI also rolled out an Inclusion Toolkit and Equity Inclusion Index, created in partnership with EquityVested
  • Formed a new DE&I department with a Senior Director and Strategies Manager
  • Developed and launched the Career Acceleration Network with 15 employers and the addition of a Workforce Success Navigator that has already placed individuals in jobs in under three months with countless more currently in the pipeline.
  • Created and launched ‘Finding You in Lou’ to retain local interns
  • Launched the TechFirst Network
  • Developed and launched GLI’s first ever campaign to recruit skilled workers to a local healthcare company through the Live in Lou platform and targeted advertising
  • Facilitated countless introductions between entrepreneurs, small businesses, diverse-owned businesses and large corporations to provide contracting opportunities for those businesses, allowing them to scale and grow

“Despite the tremendous challenges the region faced in the last year, the GLI team has worked diligently to not only respond to the changing needs of the business community but also make significant progress in rolling-out the NOW Louisville plan,” said Jennifer Willis, 2021 Chair of the GLI Board of Directors. “There are many more exciting initiatives and projects from the plan in the works, and I am looking forward to 2025 when we can look back and see how far our region has come.”

While a majority of the plan is funded, the GLI team is still working to secure the remaining funding needed to bring all aspects of the plan to fruition. Learn more about NOW Louisville and see a list of all contributing funders here.

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About Greater Louisville Inc.

Greater Louisville Inc. - the Metro Chamber of Commerce is focused on growing the regional economy. As the region’s largest convener of business leadership, GLI leads economic and global outreach strategies focused on business attraction; nurtures the entrepreneurial eco-system; and champions the development of the community’s talent base.  As the voice of Greater Louisville’s business community, GLI advocates for a pro-business environment and facilitates businesses engagement on issues that impact regional competitiveness.  For more information, visit www.greaterlouisville.com.