As PHL Open for Business reaches its two-year milestone, we’re taking the opportunity to reflect on the progress we’ve made so far. Through a collaborative partnership between the Office of Policy Planning and Delivery, the Department of Commerce, and departments across City government, we’ve worked to reduce barriers, improve services, and create a stronger foundation for businesses to thrive.

Laying the groundwork for success

Every successful initiative starts with a clear vision.  Our work is grounded in Mayor Parker’s EO 10-24 – a call to make Philadelphia a destination where businesses can grow and thrive. To bring this vision to life, we’ve built a foundation for change by empowering dedicated project teams, strengthening cross-departmental collaboration, and developing tools and strategies to turn ideas into action.

Reducing burdens for businesses

Reducing unnecessary barriers has been a core focus of our work from the start. Over the past two years, we’ve advanced reforms that make it easier to do business in Philadelphia, including:

  • Eliminating outdated and redundant business licenses, including Scales and Scanners and Amusement licenses.
  • Launching PHL PRIME (Project Review and Infrastructure Made Easy), which streamlines approvals and provides personalized support for high-impact economic development projects.
  • Developing a commercial waste and recycling portal to consolidate multiple compliance processes into a single online system.

Expanding access to information and support

Businesses need clear information and responsive support to succeed. In 2024, Commerce launched the Mayor’s Business Action Team (MBAT) Business Navigator unit – a specialized team providing one-on-one support and issue resolution. Since April 2024, the unit has supported nearly 300 businesses, with 70% of cases resolved in fewer than two days.

We’ve also expanded language access for businesses by:

  • Producing multilingual videos promoting City business programs, including the Storefront Improvement and Business Security Camera programs.
  • Piloting multilingual food safety certification training for nearly 40 Khmer-speaking food vendors.
  • Creating multilingual inspection guidance to help businesses prepare for food safety and building inspections.

Strengthening service by empowering staff

Improving the business experience also means investing in City employees. Working with departments across government, we’ve advanced:

  • De-escalation and customer service training for staff assisting the public with licenses and permits.
  • Training and resources that help inspectors conduct respectful, effective inspections.
  • Technology solutions that improve workflows and processing times, including electronic payments, digital applications, and inquiry management systems.

Sustaining change through learning and evaluation

To ensure long-term impact, we’ve embedded ongoing learning and evaluation into the initiative. This year, we launched a customer satisfaction survey with Commerce and MBAT to gather feedback and identify opportunities for improvement.

Looking ahead, we’re sustaining change by:

  • Developing an initiative-wide evaluation plan to assess our impact and growth opportunities.
  • Documenting case studies to showcase our projects and share best practices.
  • of our priorities, goals, and success metrics to guide the future of PHL Open for Business.

Read our to learn more about our work.

Read our Open for Business by the Numbers post to see our impact in numbers!