Partnership Vision

Founded in 1989, with a merger of the Houston Chamber of Commerce, the Houston Economic Development Council and the Houston World Trade Center, the Greater Houston Partnership is dedicated to building prosperity throughout the ten-county Houston region.
In 2005, the Partnership Board of Directors re-examined the organization's focus and direction. The result is the new Strategic Plan, a ten-year visionary document designed to serve as the Partnership's North Star. Like its celestial counterpart, the Strategic Plan will guide the Partnership--and the ten-county region--through the next ten years, with an emphasis on public policy and business development.

Business Development

The Greater Houston Partnership understands the strong role it plays in helping businesses around the region thrive. That's why business development is such a core component to the Strategic Plan. The Plan sets the goal to develop 600,000 new jobs across the region over the next ten years. The Partnership plans to achieve this goal through the marketing of Houston as a powerhouse for:

By building on the strong foundation of Houston's existing business clusters, the Partnership's business development arm will ensure the region remains a dominent business force in Texas and throughout the world.

In the arena of public policy, the Partnership will focus on making sure the region's business interests speak with one voice to local, state and federal policy makers. Government relations, regional planning and regional issues will converge into a cohesive public policy plan that will keep the Houston region business-friendly, and lead to its continued success.

A Focus on Issues that Affect the Region

The Partnership focuses on a number of issues that affect the region, from transit planning to business development to advocating referenda during elections. Before the Partnerships backs an issue, an extensive vetting process occurs, to determine whether the issue will enhance the quality of place within the region, and whether it meshes with the Partnerships goals

10-Step Key Issue Vetting Process

  1. Issue identified by either the Board and Executive Committee, Committee volunteers or community leaders, or the Partnership professional staff
  2. Preliminary Evaluation of the issue by volunteers or management to ensure the issue is consistent with the Partnership's mission and goals
  3. President and CEO and Chairman's Review Process to determine if the issue should be assigned a task force, handed to the Emerging Issues Committee or submitted directly to the Executive Committee
  4. Issue Referred to Committee
  5. Committee Chairman and Steering Committee establish a committee agenda, develop a research approach for hte issue and convene meetings
  6. Subcommittee or Task Force Develop A Position on the issue
  7. Committe Chairman and Management review whether there is a consnensus on the issue and if the impacts are clearly understood
  8. Board of Directors and Executive Committee receive the position on the issue and take action on it
  9. Communicate the position
  10. All positions adopted by the Partnership are in support of the visions laid out in the organization's Strategic Plan.

The Strategic Plan also serves to drive the Partnership's Program of Work, the roadmap for the Partnership's day-to-day operations. The Program of Work is updated yearly.

The 2005 Program of Work set the following goals:

  • Create a Strategic Plan for the Greater Houston Partnership
  • To guide our programs and policies over the next five to 10 years;
  • To retain and expand our membership; and
  • To satisfy our members’ changing needs by providing quality targeted services and programs.
  • Emphasize a Regional Approach
  • To reach out and engage businesses across our eight-county region;
  • To build strong cooperative relationships with business organizations and institutions throughout our region; and
  • To advance regional strategic initiatives including: Economic development and job creation; International trade promotion; Regional planning initiatives in transportation and clean air; Regional business issues including education/workforce, quality of life and health care; and
    Government relations at the local, state and federal levels.
  • Complete a Successful State Legislative Session
    To effectively communication our priorities to, and cooperate with, our regional delegation and our state leadership team and
  • To actively promote and communicate our clearly defined agenda including, but not limited to: Public school finance/tax reform, Transportation funding, Texas Enterprise Fund, Workers’ compensation reform, CHIP/Medicaid restoration, Air quality, Asbestos tort reform, Quality of life initiatives