Delaware Prosperity Partnership – Strategic Operations Plan

Challenge

In late 2015, TIP Strategies was commissioned by the Delaware Business Roundtable to prepare a statewide strategy for economic growth and prosperity. The Roundtable engaged state, business, and community leaders in creating an agenda focused on increased capital investment and statewide job creation. Establishing a new public-private partnership (P3) was a major recommendation of the resulting strategy, the Delaware Growth Agenda, published in July 2016. The State of Delaware embraced the approach endorsed in the Growth Agenda and the Delaware Prosperity Partnership (DPP) was formally created by the Delaware General Assembly in July 2017.

Response

TIP was re-engaged by the state to design an organizational blueprint to guide the DPP’s activities and programs over a five-year planning horizon. The strategic operations plan was developed with close support and guidance by the DPP’s executive leadership and board of directors. This included direct input from the state’s business community, elected representatives, and governor. The strategic operations plan outlined the DPP’s mission, role in statewide economic development, and guiding principles. Major areas of emphasis included external marketing, business attraction, incentives, business retention and expansion, entrepreneurship & innovation, and talent. The plan also identified target industry clusters the DPP should be working to attract, develop, and expand. Finally, the plan included performance measures that would allow the DPP to demonstrate what the organization is doing and the impact that its work is having on Delaware’s economy. The final plan was approved by the DPP’s Board of Directors in September 2018 and presented to the public in October 2018. TIP was re-engaged by the DPP in 2020 to create a strategy to support the development of a more inclusive tech talent pipeline in the state.