Harry Hayman on SupplyPHL: This Matters, A Lot | Philadelphia's Stress Test for Economic Justice

This matters. A lot.

When Harry Hayman writes these four words about SupplyPHL, he’s not engaging in typical civic cheerleading or performative advocacy. He’s identifying what he calls “a stress test for Philadelphia,” a moment when the city’s commitment to economic equity moves from rhetoric to demonstrable reality.

What’s happening with SupplyPHL, the public-private partnership between the City of Philadelphia, anchor institutions, nonprofits, and service providers, represents more than another program navigating bureaucracy and good intentions. It’s a fundamental test of whether Philadelphia can build an economy where opportunity is real, accessible, and scalable for everyone, not just those who already navigate systems designed to favor established players.

Harry Hayman understands this urgency viscerally. Through his work with INSOMNIA PRODUCTIONS, the Philadelphia Jazz Experience, and the Feed Philly Coalition, he’s consistently operated at the intersection of cultural vitality, community development, and economic opportunity. He recognizes what many policymakers and economists sometimes miss: small businesses aren’t just economic units generating tax revenue and employment statistics. They’re the lived reality of neighborhood stability, generational wealth building, and what makes Philadelphia fundamentally Philadelphia.

The Stakes: Why SupplyPHL Is Philadelphia’s Economic Justice Moment

Harry Hayman’s framing captures something essential: “If (when!) we get this right, we prove that: Small and local businesses aren’t an afterthought. The City can partner with entrepreneurs, not bury them in process. Opportunity can be real, accessible, and scalable.”

Each of these statements addresses specific failures that have characterized economic development in Philadelphia and cities nationwide. Small and local businesses have consistently been treated as afterthoughts in economic planning that privileges corporate recruitment and large-scale development. City processes have historically buried entrepreneurs in bureaucratic complexity that favors those with resources to hire consultants and navigate arcane requirements. Opportunity has remained theoretical for communities systematically excluded from wealth-building pathways.

SupplyPHL addresses these failures directly. The platform connects local construction and professional service businesses with procurement opportunities from Philadelphia’s anchor institutions, those large, place-based entities including universities, hospitals, and major corporations that collectively spend billions annually on goods and services.

The initiative builds on work begun through Philadelphia Anchors for Growth & Equity (PAGE), a collaborative launched by the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia in partnership with the City and more than a dozen regional institutions. PAGE documented a startling reality: Philadelphia’s 34 universities and hospitals collectively spend approximately $5.3 billion annually on goods and services, but nearly half these dollars leave Philadelphia entirely, funding suppliers in other regions despite local capacity to meet many of these needs.

Research suggests that capturing just 25 percent of the $530 million currently spent outside the region on goods and services that align with local market capacity would translate into 1,250 new manufacturing jobs and 4,000 indirect jobs in Philadelphia. This isn’t aspirational rhetoric. It’s documented opportunity waiting to be realized through intentional system change.

SupplyPHL exists to facilitate this realization. By helping small businesses build capacity to compete for institutional contracts, by simplifying procurement processes that historically excluded firms lacking specialized knowledge, by providing technical assistance and capital access, the platform aims to transform theoretical opportunity into actual contracts, jobs, and wealth building.

Small Businesses: Not “Nice To Have” But Philadelphia’s Backbone

Harry Hayman’s declaration carries conviction earned through direct experience: “Small businesses are not ‘nice to have.’ They are the backbone of this city. They create jobs. They stabilize neighborhoods. They build generational wealth. They make Philadelphia… Philadelphia.”

This understanding connects to broader economic reality often obscured by focus on headline-grabbing corporate relocations or major development projects. Small businesses, typically defined as those with fewer than 500 employees, constitute the overwhelming majority of Philadelphia’s business ecosystem and employment base.

National data contextualizes Philadelphia’s situation. Anchor institutions, particularly hospitals and universities, directly employed nearly 10 million people nationally as of 2019 and created approximately $1.7 trillion in economic activity. Philadelphia ranks fifth among metropolitan regions with populations exceeding 500,000 for anchor employment and employment impact, with anchor institutions generating 12.8 percent of total regional employment.

This anchor economy provides stability. Unlike corporate headquarters that relocate pursuing tax breaks or manufacturing facilities chasing cheaper labor, anchor institutions remain rooted through real estate, infrastructure, and human capital investments. This permanence incentivizes long-term community investment and creates procurement opportunities that, when accessed by local businesses, multiply economic benefits throughout the region.

Yet Philadelphia has historically failed to maximize this opportunity. The Economy League’s analysis revealed that procurement dollars flowing to local and diverse suppliers remained limited not primarily because local capacity didn’t exist, but because systems, relationships, and knowledge barriers prevented access. Small businesses lacked connections to procurement professionals. They didn’t understand RFP processes or insurance and bonding requirements. They couldn’t compete on price because they lacked economies of scale or access to growth capital.

These aren’t individual business failures. They’re systemic barriers that SupplyPHL aims to dismantle by providing what Harry Hayman identifies as essential: support that feels supportive rather than bureaucratic, clear handoffs between system elements, and fluid processes that meet businesses where they are rather than demanding they somehow magically acquire expertise and resources before participating.

Making Philadelphia Philadelphia: The Cultural Economics of Place

When Harry Hayman writes that small businesses “make Philadelphia… Philadelphia,” he’s not romanticizing local flavor or engaging in sentimentality. He’s identifying how place-based economies function and why they matter beyond GDP statistics.

Philadelphia’s identity emerges from accumulation of specific businesses, cultural institutions, and community spaces that together create character distinguishing the city from anywhere else. Reading Terminal Market’s Black-owned businesses like Ma Lessie’s Chicken & Waffles, Sweet Nina’s banana pudding, and Sweet T’s Bakery. Neighborhood restaurants and jazz venues Harry Hayman documents through his cultural work. Construction companies and professional service firms rooted in specific communities, employing neighborhood residents, sponsoring local events, contributing to civic infrastructure that makes neighborhoods livable.

When these businesses thrive, wealth circulates locally. Employees spend wages at other local businesses. Owners reinvest profits in expansion, hire more neighbors, build equity that becomes generational wealth. The multiplier effects of local spending exceed those from chain establishments or national firms that extract value to distant headquarters.

Philadelphia’s creative economy demonstrates this dynamic. The sector generates annual impact exceeding $4.1 billion and supports 55,000 jobs, with recent studies showing nighttime economy generating $26.1 billion annually and supporting 132,000 jobs. These figures emerge from aggregation of countless small businesses and cultural organizations, each individually modest in scale but collectively transformative.

SupplyPHL applies similar logic to construction and professional services. By connecting local firms to institutional procurement opportunities, the platform doesn’t just redistribute existing economic activity. It creates conditions for business growth that enables hiring, expansion, and wealth accumulation that stays in Philadelphia rather than leaving for suburban or out-of-state suppliers.

The Process Matters: Fluid, Clear, Supportive

Harry Hayman’s emphasis on process deserves attention: “That’s why this has to work. The process has to be fluid. The handoffs have to be clear. The experience has to feel supportive, not bureaucratic.”

This focus on user experience often gets dismissed as secondary to substantive program elements like capital access or technical assistance. But process determines whether programs reach intended beneficiaries or remain inaccessible despite good intentions and adequate funding.

SupplyPHL’s design reflects this understanding. Businesses register through straightforward online process, selecting whether they provide professional services or construction-related offerings. Registration opens access to multiple opportunities including the Invest One Philly Pitch Competition offering two $100,000 investments, one each for professional services and construction companies, plus advisory support for growth.

Registered businesses also gain access to workshops, training, and resources designed to build capacity. The platform provides assistance navigating RFP complexity before, during, and after bids are accepted, recognizing that winning contracts is only meaningful if businesses can actually execute them successfully. Guidance on securing bonding and insurance addresses specific hurdles that have historically prevented small firms from competing for larger institutional contracts.

This comprehensive approach distinguishes SupplyPHL from programs that simply post opportunities and assume businesses will figure out participation. The platform recognizes that leveling playing fields requires active intervention to address accumulated disadvantages, not just opening gates and calling it access.

The PAGE Hurdle Fund exemplifies this philosophy. The fund provides rapid grants eliminating small, low-cost barriers that Black and Brown-owned businesses face when pursuing institutional contracts. These barriers, individually modest, insurance premium, equipment purchase, professional certification, collectively prevent firms from competing. The Hurdle Fund addresses them directly, recognizing that removing obstacles matters as much as creating opportunities.

Sending the Signal: You Belong Here

Harry Hayman identifies SupplyPHL’s broader significance: “Because when one small business succeeds through this system, it sends a signal to the next one behind them: You belong here. This city has your back. Start that business!”

This psychological and cultural dimension of economic development rarely receives adequate attention in policy discussions focused on metrics, outcomes, and return on investment. Yet it matters profoundly for communities historically excluded from wealth-building pathways.

Entrepreneurship requires belief that success is possible, that systems will support rather than obstruct you, that your efforts can actually generate wealth rather than just generating exhaustion before inevitable failure. When communities observe consistent patterns where people who look like them, live where they live, face challenges they face, nevertheless fail to build sustainable businesses despite enormous effort, rational response is skepticism about entrepreneurship as viable path.

SupplyPHL aims to disrupt these patterns through visible successes. When local construction company wins institutional contract through the platform, successfully completes the work, gets paid promptly, uses that revenue to hire additional employees and pursue larger contracts, that success becomes evidence. Not rhetoric, not promise, actual demonstrated reality that the system can work for businesses previously excluded.

This evidence-building matters especially for Black and Brown entrepreneurs who face documented patterns of discrimination in lending, procurement, and business development support. Research consistently shows that diverse entrepreneurs receive less capital, pay higher interest rates when they do access financing, face greater skepticism from procurement professionals, and navigate additional barriers at every stage of business development.

SupplyPHL’s explicit focus on building The PAGE 100, a cohort of diverse local firms “job ready” to work in institutional supply chains, acknowledges these realities while creating structured pathway to overcome them. The initiative provides customized business advisory services, connects firms with aligned investor networks and capital resources, and builds community of practice among procurement professionals committed to diversifying and localizing supply chains.

The Future of Philadelphia’s Economy: Who Gets to Participate

Harry Hayman concludes with stakes clearly articulated: “This is bigger than one program. Bigger than one cohort. Bigger than one moment. This is about the future of Philadelphia’s economy — and who gets to participate in it.”

Philadelphia approaches 2026 carrying enormous opportunity and considerable risk. The city will host World Cup games, MLB All-Star Game, and America’s 250th birthday celebrations, projecting more than one million visitors and approximately $1 billion in economic impact. These events create short-term revenue opportunities for businesses across sectors.

But as economists and development professionals emphasize, real measure of 2026’s impact will be lasting, equitable growth that reaches beyond Center City and persists after visitors leave. Without intentional intervention, windfall benefits will accrue primarily to already-established businesses with capital to scale up, connections to access opportunities, and experience navigating major event logistics.

SupplyPHL and related initiatives aim to ensure 2026’s momentum extends to businesses historically excluded from such opportunities. By building capacity now, by establishing relationships between small businesses and anchor institutions, by demonstrating that inclusive procurement generates positive outcomes for all parties, these programs create infrastructure for equitable participation in Philadelphia’s economic future.

This work connects to broader economic development trends recognizing anchor institutions’ potential as community development partners. Models pioneered in Philadelphia, particularly University of Pennsylvania’s West Philadelphia Initiatives beginning in the 1990s, demonstrated that anchors’ purchasing power, employment capacity, and real estate investments could drive neighborhood revitalization when deployed intentionally.

Evaluation found WPI largely successful, resulting in $134 million in university construction contracts to local women and minority-owned firms and $100,000 increase in area’s average home sale prices. These outcomes emerged not from charity but from strategic self-interest, anchors recognizing that healthy surrounding communities support institutional success while deteriorating neighborhoods threaten it.

SupplyPHL scales these principles across Philadelphia’s anchor ecosystem. Rather than individual institutions creating isolated programs, the collaborative approach enables data sharing, best practice development, and collective accountability that multiplies impact while reducing duplication and confusion for small businesses navigating multiple institutional systems.

Harry Hayman’s Role: Doing the Part That Needs Doing

Harry Hayman’s conclusion, “Happy and proud to be doing my part,” warrants attention not for false modesty but for recognition that systemic change requires many actors fulfilling different roles.

Harry Hayman’s work has consistently operated across domains that others treat as separate. Cultural production through INSOMNIA PRODUCTIONS. Educational programming through the Philadelphia Jazz Experience. Food security advocacy through the Feed Philly Coalition. Economic development support through involvement with initiatives like SupplyPHL.

This integration reflects understanding that sustainable community development requires simultaneous attention to multiple domains. Economic opportunity means little if people lack food security. Cultural vitality suffers when neighborhoods lack economic stability. Education creates value only when employment opportunities exist for trained workers.

Harry Hayman’s “part” involves multiple contributions. Direct participation in SupplyPHL and related economic development initiatives. Cultural documentation that raises awareness of Philadelphia’s small business ecosystem and creative economy. Advocacy emphasizing connections between economic justice, cultural vitality, and community wellbeing. Network building that connects entrepreneurs, institutions, and support organizations.

Most importantly, Harry Hayman models active citizenship that treats economic development as shared responsibility rather than someone else’s problem. Too often, business support programs operate in isolation from actual business communities, designed by experts who don’t run small businesses for entrepreneurs they rarely consult. SupplyPHL’s effectiveness depends on business owners and community advocates like Harry Hayman engaging, providing feedback, identifying barriers, celebrating successes, and demanding accountability when systems fail.

The Practical Reality: Current SupplyPHL Opportunities

For small businesses reading this, SupplyPHL offers concrete, time-sensitive opportunities right now:

The Invest One Philly Pitch Competition awards two $100,000 investments, one to professional services firm and one to construction company, plus advisory support for operations strengthening and long-term growth preparation. Application requires brief business overview, three-minute video pitch, and funding needs description. Deadline: January 31, 2026.

Businesses seeking larger growth capital can submit inquiry for the Invest One Philly Fund offering $25,000 to $750,000 in debt or equity financing for expansion, equipment, or working capital. This supports firms planning strategic growth and long-term development. Applications reviewed on rolling basis.

The Parker Administration’s expanded business support includes nearly $40 million in Fiscal Year 2026 budget: $11.2 million for business education and capacity building, $25.6 million for direct capital to businesses. The Philadelphia Free Business Tax Preparation Program offers free tax preparation assistance, local, state, and federal, to small businesses earning less than $250,000 in revenue.

Additional resources include the Philadelphia Business Lending Network Incentive Grant providing up to $35,000, up to 50 percent of approved loan amounts from Network lenders. The Quality Jobs Program invests in businesses creating new full-time employment opportunities paying living wage with health insurance benefits for Philadelphia residents.

These aren’t theoretical opportunities. They’re actual programs with real money, deadlines approaching, designed specifically to support small business growth. Harry Hayman’s advocacy emphasizes that accessing these resources isn’t just individual business strategy, it’s participation in collective project of building more equitable Philadelphia economy.

The Challenge: Making It Last

Harry Hayman concludes: “Let’s make it happen… Let’s build something that lasts.”

This aspiration acknowledges that programs launch regularly with fanfare and good intentions but fade as political priorities shift, funding dries up, or implementation challenges overwhelm initial enthusiasm. Making SupplyPHL last requires multiple commitments.

Sustained Funding: Programs built on one-time grants or temporary budget allocations inevitably disappear. SupplyPHL needs dedicated, recurring funding adequate to support comprehensive services as business participation scales. Philadelphia’s budget challenges make this difficult but not impossible, particularly if the program demonstrates measurable outcomes including jobs created, contracts awarded, and wealth built in previously excluded communities.

Institutional Accountability: Anchor institutions must commit to actually diversifying and localizing supply chains, not just providing rhetorical support while maintaining existing supplier relationships. PAGE’s accountability framework requires participating anchors to track and report procurement data, set goals for local and diverse spending, and work collectively to address barriers their purchasing practices create.

Continuous Improvement: Initial program design will inevitably miss elements, create unintended barriers, or fail to anticipate challenges. Sustained success requires listening to business owners, adjusting processes based on feedback, and treating implementation as iterative rather than fixed. The Economy League’s emphasis on PAGE as “nimble and iterative” reflects this philosophy.

Scalability: Early success with limited cohorts provides proof of concept but doesn’t transform economic landscape. SupplyPHL must evolve mechanisms to serve growing numbers of businesses while maintaining service quality. The PAGE 100 initiative represents one scaling approach, creating procurement-ready business index that anchors can access when seeking suppliers.

Political Will: Perhaps most fundamentally, sustaining SupplyPHL requires ongoing political commitment from City leadership, anchor institution executives, philanthropic funders, and community advocates. When programs face budget cuts or competing priorities, political will determines whether they survive. Building and maintaining this will requires demonstrating value, mobilizing business owner constituencies, and framing economic inclusion as essential rather than optional.

Conclusion: The Stress Test Philadelphia Must Pass

Harry Hayman frames SupplyPHL as Philadelphia’s stress test, evaluation determining whether city’s stated commitment to economic equity represents authentic policy priority or convenient rhetoric abandoned when challenging.

Stress tests reveal underlying strength or weakness. They determine whether systems function under pressure, whether structures hold when loaded, whether institutions deliver on promises when easy alternatives exist. Philadelphia has failed many such tests, allowing good intentions about economic inclusion to dissipate without accountability, launching programs that serve symbolic functions while leaving fundamental inequities untouched.

SupplyPHL offers opportunity to pass this test. The infrastructure exists. Anchor institutions collectively spending billions annually represent enormous opportunity. Local businesses possess capacity to serve institutional needs currently met by out-of-region suppliers. Support systems providing technical assistance, capital access, and procurement navigation have been designed and deployed.

What remains is execution. Can businesses successfully access opportunities and grow sustainably? Will anchor institutions follow through on diversification commitments or retreat to comfortable existing relationships? Will City government maintain program support through inevitable budget pressures and political transitions? Will entrepreneurs like Harry Hayman continue providing advocacy, feedback, and community organizing necessary to hold all parties accountable?

These questions will be answered through accumulation of individual outcomes over coming months and years. Each business that wins contract, completes work successfully, hires additional employees, builds wealth, and inspires others represents evidence that system works. Each failure to address barriers, each program promise unfulfilled, each bureaucratic obstacle left unaddressed, represents evidence of continued exclusion.

Harry Hayman’s advocacy stakes clear position: Philadelphia must pass this test. Small businesses aren’t nice-to-have amenities. They’re essential infrastructure of neighborhood stability, wealth building, and what makes Philadelphia fundamentally Philadelphia. Programs like SupplyPHL must work, not as one-off successes but as sustained system change enabling equitable participation in regional economy.

The alternative isn’t neutral. It’s continued concentration of wealth and opportunity in already-privileged communities. It’s small businesses failing not because they lack capacity but because systems exclude them. It’s Philadelphia becoming increasingly unequal place where economic participation depends on pre-existing advantage rather than effort, innovation, and value creation.

This matters. A lot. Because as Harry Hayman recognizes, this is about Philadelphia’s future and who gets to participate in it. Will that future reflect genuine economic democracy where opportunity is real, accessible, and scalable? Or will it perpetuate familiar patterns where rhetoric about inclusion masks ongoing exclusion?

SupplyPHL represents one crucial test. Harry Hayman is doing his part. The question facing every Philadelphian, particularly those with resources, relationships, and decision-making authority, is whether they’ll do theirs.

Let’s make it happen. Let’s build something that lasts.

This article explores Harry Hayman’s advocacy for SupplyPHL and Philadelphia’s anchor economy initiatives as crucial tests of the city’s commitment to economic justice and equitable opportunity. For more on his work supporting Philadelphia’s small business ecosystem and creative economy, follow his initiatives with INSOMNIA PRODUCTIONS, the Philadelphia Jazz Experience, and the Feed Philly Coalition.