Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia president visits Lebanon’s WEPA

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Anna Paulson, participated in a roundtable discussion with the Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce and then took a facility tour of WEPA at 9 S. 9th St., Lebanon, on Oct. 7.

Paulson, who started her new position on July 1, previously served as the executive vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. With her move to the Third District, which includes eastern and central Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware, Paulson has conducted multiple community tours throughout the area to connect with communities.

She said the tours help her connect her work at the national level to its impacts in smaller communities.

“I want to be able to have in my head, who are we setting policy for? We’re doing these things at this very macro level, but they have impacts in people around the kitchen table, in the lives of people who are trying to find a job, finance a home, buy a car, and so it’s really important for me to be able to have that picture and that image,” Paulson said. “And then I learn a lot from these things. What are the real challenges? How are people solving those challenges? What role does economic policy play in people’s real lives?”

It also helps her see economic conditions throughout the region. She can meet with working-class people to discuss wage changes and what is driving local investment.

According to data on the WEPA website, Lebanon city has a 43.8% Hispanic population, highlighting the need for bilingual services. The median income in the county is $28,000, below the statewide median income of $39,546.

The WEPA tour mainly focused on the Tec Centro Workforce Network, a “coalition of community advocates, public officials, philanthropic leaders, and business professionals,” whose goal is to establish bilingual workforce centers to serve populations that are disproportionately disadvantaged by providing educational resources and support.

Paulson spoke with Brian Raub, a medical assistant who completed Tec Centro Lebanon’s medical assistant training program while working another job and caring for his family.

“It was a very good experience,” Raub said. “I think it could be easily said that WEPA and Tec Centro here is something that a whole community can embrace.”

Paulson said the nonprofit is working to solve problems in the region, which can bring more employment for the communities they’re helping. When more people are employed, they are able to further contribute to the economy through their spending power.

WEPA’s building used to house the ELKS Lodge and is still full of history. The basement has the original wooden bar, and there is elk-themed stained glass and doorknobs. WEPA stands for “Working to Empower People for Advancement.”

“This building seems like it symbolizes continuity of community through a long time period, how it’s being repurposed for the needs of today and then served the needs of yesterday,” Paulson said. “You’re preserving that and repurposing it to create change in people’s lives today, which is a very beautiful symbol.”

The morning meeting with the Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce was not open to the public, but Paulson gave some insight into what was discussed. She said they talked about hiring, creating opportunities for people with disabilities, preparing a generation of workers to collaborate with artificial intelligence and technology, and how investments in tech could create higher-level jobs.

With the tech field expanding, workforces are going to need people who can work, fix, and program the machines. Also, Paulson said, more technology usage could diversify the work people do.

“People think that’s going to help retain workers and give them more investment in the job. They’ll be able to see the bigger picture,” she said. “I thought that was interesting. That wasn’t something that I’d really thought about before, about how the technology can actually expand the opportunities for somebody in terms of the role that they’re playing in the company.”

These visits are coming at the start of her tenure as president, but she said she plans to continue community visits throughout the region.

“How I see that evolving is that there’ll be some regular cadence of these types of visits so that I’ll have this grounding in what’s happening in communities across the Third District in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Southern New Jersey that will feed this need to make sure I’m connecting this D.C. [Federal Open Market Committee] conversation with what’s happening on Main Streets like right here,” Paulson said.