Starting when I was about six years old, I would go with my father to the bank to help him translate. A skilled terrazzo floor worker who immigrated from Italy in his 30s, he didn’t speak much English, and people weren’t always kind. But he never let that stop him. The early lesson I learned from him — that determination, hard work, and the willingness to act matter as much as ability — has been a guidepost throughout my life, as the first in my family to go to college, and now as president of Holy Family University.
This same belief in the power of opportunity frames my perspective on Southeastern Pennsylvania’s economy. When the Brookings Institution released a market assessment of our region this summer, the findings were sobering: Over the past decade, we missed out on nearly 188,000 jobs, most of them “opportunity jobs” — family-sustaining positions with health and retirement benefits that provide a real pathway into the middle class. This jobs shortfall is a warning sign. But it is also an invitation to build on our unique strengths.
Southeastern Pennsylvania has one of the nation’s strongest talent pipelines, running through our excellent universities, colleges, and health care organizations, collectively known as “eds and meds.” Eds and meds have long been a regional backbone of economic growth and represent the fastest-growing part of the regional economy.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics noted in March 2025 that Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties together employed 758,000 people in the Education and Health Services sector — equating to roughly 27 percent of all jobs. In August, a Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission study showed that in the past year, these sectors had added 35,500 jobs – a 4.9 percent increase, outpacing the national average.
Our region’s more than 80 institutions of higher education consistently produce talented, skilled, workforce-ready graduates. Holy Family is one of many institutions in our region that are affordable, accessible, and closely aligned with workforce demand. Collectively, these schools educate thousands of health care workers each year — from medical billing experts to radiation therapists, administrators, and nurses — and sustain health systems that employ nearly one in four workers in the region. We train much of the teaching force that fills classrooms across Philadelphia and its suburbs.
Southeastern Pennsylvania has a higher education and health system that is the envy of the nation, connecting students to jobs, skills, and opportunity.
And across Southeastern Pennsylvania, the fast-growing life sciences sector is building biotech start-ups and research enterprises, and attracting new and established companies to our thriving innovation ecosystem. The sector’s success is dependent on well-qualified lab technicians, clinical researchers, data analysts, and other skilled professionals with bachelor’s and master’s degrees, as well as PhDs and medical doctors — all of whom are essential to the life sciences’ continued growth here.
Our region has many educational models that are already delivering what our economy needs, and growing alongside the life sciences sector and others. Our task now is not to reinvent the wheel, but to recognize and strengthen the institutions that are quietly creating opportunity every day. This year, Carnegie’s new university classification system recognized Holy Family University and many others for producing graduates who earn significantly more than their peers without a degree, and who are part of a well-rounded student body that reflects the communities where they are located. At Holy Family, many of our students come from communities in Philadelphia and Bucks County, are from working-class households, and/or are the first in their families to attend college.
After graduation, they have a clear path to an opportunity job here, and often stay in their communities to become nurses, teachers, business leaders, and medical and technology professionals. There are many schools – large, small, public, private, ecumenical or faith-based — that emphasize an affordable, accessible degree that produces workforce-ready graduates who want to make a difference and build productive lives in the Philadelphia region.
The Brookings report is a wake-up call – but it also a reminder of how important it is to support, defend, and invest in education and in the people who pursue it. Southeastern Pennsylvania has a higher education and health system that is the envy of the nation, connecting students to jobs, skills, and opportunity. If we continue this work, we can not only recover what was lost — but ensure our region is a national model of equitable growth.
For me, this is personal. I am living proof of the impact of opportunity and the importance of mentorship — by helping a first-generation student navigate college, or guiding a graduate into a meaningful career. Just as my father’s determination shaped my path, we now have the chance to shape the future of our region by lifting people up, providing the tools they need, and trusting that they will rise to meet the challenge.
Dr. Anne Prisco is president of Holy Family University, a Catholic university in Northeast Philadelphia.
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