Insight & Influence: The Podcast

In late 2024, we launched our Insight & Influence e-newsletter to share information and updates on Harrisburg happenings and those with across the state. Now we've moved to the next level with a companion podcast, also called Insight & Influence.

Presented by C & G Strategies, Insight & Influence brings insightful conversations from influential people including government officials, industry leaders, and advocates from across the state.

Episode 9 of 2026 of the C & G Strategies podcast, Insight and Influence, is now available wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode of the Insight and Influence podcast features Saleem Ghubril, Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Promise, and Leroy Ball, CEO & Chairman of Koppers, discussing the evolution of educational funding and workforce retention in Pennsylvania. Ghubril outlines the success of the Pittsburgh Promise, a privately funded scholarship program that has awarded $192 million to over 13,000 local public school students since 2007, raising high school graduation rates from 68% to 84%.

As the program prepares to sunset its current model with the high school class of 2028, Ghubril emphasizes that the focus is shifting toward transforming the initiative into a statewide, publicly funded program called the Pennsylvania Promise.

The conversation highlights a critical economic urgency: Pennsylvania currently faces a massive demographic challenge, with 1.2 million skilled workers reaching retirement age, threatening a shortfall of 700,000 workers by 2035. To combat this "enrollment cliff" and keep the state competitive, the proposed Pennsylvania Promise would offer free tuition, fees, and potentially room and board at state universities to students from low- and middle-income families, provided they stay to work in the Commonwealth after graduation.

Ghubril and Ball emphasized that this initiative is not just about traditional four-year degrees, but also heavily focuses on funding short-term trade certifications and credentials. Backed by a poll showing 69% public support across diverse demographics, both Ghubril and Ball concluded with a call to action for listeners to advocate for the pending legislation to secure Pennsylvania’s future workforce pipeline.