Today, four leading organizations announced the formation of the Potomac Regional Alliance, a new framework to strengthen the long-term competitiveness, resilience, and growth of Greater Washington and respond to the unprecedented disruption resulting from cuts to federal jobs and spending.
Formed by the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the Greater Washington Partnership, the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area, and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, Alliance members believe the region can capitalize on this moment to expand collaboration across sectors and jurisdictions.
As first reported this morning by the Washington Business Journal, the Alliance’s initial action will be to launch a year-long effort to craft a first-ever Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for the region. A new CEDS Steering Committee will hold its inaugural meeting on Thursday, September 24.
This renewed push for collaboration comes at a time of significant economic opportunities and challenges. If it were a state, Greater Washington would rank 14th in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and is the most diverse and educated in the nation.
However, over the last five years, economic growth in Greater Washington has been lagging at seven percent compared to peer regions growing at an average of 13 percent. The region has also lost 63,900 federal jobs since the beginning of 2025. The 311,900 federal jobs in the Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area recorded in August 2026 is now the lowest level since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began recording these numbers in 1990.
By partnering on a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, area leaders will lay the foundation for pursuing a federal Economic Development District (EDD) designation, a step that will strengthen the region’s ability to coordinate and compete for future federal and state funding as well as private investment.
The CEDS will help area leaders align efforts as Greater Washington vies with other regions to attract businesses and seeks to diversify its economy. The committee overseeing the CEDS includes a diverse array of 36 leaders representing area economic development authorities, business groups, academic institutions, and foundations.
View the CEDS Steering Committee Roster
In addition to the CEDS initiative, the Alliance will regularly convene the region’s executive leadership and is planning a State of the Region event with the Maryland and Virginia Governors, District of Columbia Mayor, and area leaders for early 2027.
The Alliance will also focus on developing a more unified identity to better market Greater Washington, which has lacked a coordinated regional brand, and has been primarily known as a company town for its largest employer, the federal government.
The Alliance will leverage recent partnerships that its organizations have helped launch, including Talent Capital, the region’s first AI-powered workforce platform, which provides career resources and vetted training opportunities for job seekers. The site currently connects more than 84,000 active users to 71,000 full-time jobs.
Each founding regional organization brings a distinct strength to the Alliance. The Board of Trade helps mobilize cross-sector leadership and connect business priorities to regional competitiveness goals. The Greater Washington Partnership adds the perspective of leading employers, data-driven economic analysis, and experience moving complex regional priorities from strategy to action. The Council of Governments provides a critical bridge to local governments and regional policy coordination. The Consortium of Universities contributes the reach of higher education, research, and talent development across the region.
“While area leaders have been responding to the current economic headwinds in innovative ways, like region-wide job fairs and Talent Capital, more collaboration will be critical,” said Clark Mercer, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. “Through the Potomac Regional Alliance and a first-ever, regional economic strategy – we have a unique opportunity for government, business, and academic leaders to start rowing in the same direction.”
“The Potomac Regional Alliance is about moving from shared concern about our economy to shared action,” said Kathy Hollinger, CEO of the Greater Washington Partnership. “Our region has extraordinary assets, but competing for the next generation of business investment, jobs, and economic growth will require us to operate more intentionally as a region. The Partnership will bring the perspective of our leading employers, our economic analysis, and our work across the region’s growth sectors to help identify where we can compete, what businesses need to invest and grow here, and where coordinated action can have the greatest impact. This Alliance gives us an opportunity to turn those priorities into a stronger regional economic strategy.”
“Greater Washington has spent decades building an extraordinary concentration of talent, knowledge, institutions, and capabilities,” said Jack McDougle, President & CEO of the Greater Washington Board of Trade. “But having those assets isn’t enough. What matters is what we do with them. We have a real opportunity right now to think differently about our economy, move beyond old boundaries and assumptions, and build a Greater Washington that is less dependent on what was and more ambitious about what it can become. The Potomac Regional Alliance has the potential to help us do that.”
"We are proud to boast that the Washington region has the greatest talent pool in the nation, and economic opportunity should follow," said Andrew Flagel, President and CEO of the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area. "The Potomac Regional Alliance will be a catalyst for business and research funding and position us for faster growth. I'm thrilled to see what we can build and advance together."
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