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The St. Louis area picked a good time to get its economic act together.

Regions with clear priorities will have an edge in competing for the trillions of dollars President Joe Biden proposes to invest in infrastructure. Having a business community committed to inclusive growth can also help heal the racial divide that’s become a top-of-agenda issue everywhere.

With this week’s release of the n, St. Louis can check those two boxes: It has the clear set of goals that have been missing for a decade, and racial equity ranks high among those goals.

The planning effort wasn’t easy. It was launched early last year by Civic Progress, the big-business club that later put itself out of business by combining with four other civic groups. The merged organization, Greater St. Louis Inc., encountered criticism when it released a draft jobs plan in December.

St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann and others complained that the plan lacked input from leaders outside St. Louis and St. Louis County, while some Black leaders said it ignored the business community’s racist past.

The plan’s authors listened and responded. They got feedback from more than 1,000 people at various forums.

The final document responds to Ehlmann’s criticism by emphasizing that it is a 15-county regional plan, and that parts of the area shouldn’t compete against one another for jobs. It also admits that business groups’ actions contributed to racial division. One example: Civic Progress campaigned for a 1955 bond issue that led to the demolition of Mill Creek Valley, a mostly Black neighborhood.

Acknowledging the past was important. “This is the first time in a very long time that some of the community had an opportunity to be engaged in something the business community is doing,� said Valerie Patton, Greater St. Louis’ chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer. “This is a great opportunity for us to create a city and a region where everyone thrives.�

The plan makes a commitment to inclusive growth, which it defines as producing “more prosperity alongside greater equity in opportunities and outcomes.� It encourages investment and job creation in the urban core.

The plan also proposes initiatives to train skilled workers, aid entrepreneurs and support five key industry clusters: business services, biomedical and health services, transportation and logistics, automotive and defense, and other advanced manufacturing.

Ehlmann, an early critic, is ready to support those initiatives. “They addressed my concerns about regionalism, and I appreciate that,� he said. He wishes the document said more about crime and education, issues that Greater St. Louis says are beyond the scope of a jobs plan, but says it’s a good starting point for a fragmented region.

“Hopefully, we’ll have people who disagree on other things working together now on economic development,� Ehlmann added.

Getting the area’s business and civic leaders to row in the same direction, at least on the issue of job growth, is a major accomplishment. With the nation undergoing a racial reckoning while recovering from a pandemic, and with Congress considering big-ticket spending plans, the plan is timely. Several items on the region’s wish list, including an advanced manufacturing innovation center, would benefit from an infusion of federal funds.

“You come out of this with a very engaged community, a broad group of stakeholders and a plan,� said Bruce Katz, the New Localism Associates consultant who wrote the plan. “You couldn’t have predicted this a year ago, but you have a remarkable opportunity to propel growth in a very inclusive way over the next decade.�