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Self-guided tours offer a new, fun way to experience Downtown Springfield

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Looking for a new way to explore Downtown Springfield? Give one of the free new and relaunched self-guided Downtown tours a try. The Downtown Design Find is a scavenger hunt that can be fun for friends, families, or individuals to enjoy at their convenience. To get started, just pickup a Downtown Design Find booklet at Winan’s Coffee and Chocolates, COhatch – The Market, or any of many other Downtown locations, including the Clark County Public Library, the Courtyard by Marriott, United Senior Services and The Heritage Center. “We’re always looking for new ways to engage with Downtown Springfield,” says Kevin Rose, historia...

YouScience program helps students identify career paths, local opportunities

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

As the school districts across Springfield and Clark County work hard to provide strong, quality education to students, there’s a disconnect between the talent grown locally and the talent retained locally. “We know that currently, 56 percent of the working population in Clark County travels outside our community to work,” says Amy Donahue, director of workforce development for The Greater Springfield Partnership. “We know that a lot of people who live here don’t work here. And even though there are people coming from other places to work in Clark County, it’s not enough people to balance it out.” Donahue says for th...

Chef Troy Wheat's delicious mix of menu items keep customers coming back for more

Monday, September 27, 2021

Chef Troy Wheat, owner of All Seasons Catering, 1928 Mitchell Blvd., in Springfield says everyone has a hidden talent. His just happens to be a knack for mixing ingredients and providing a variety of delicious meal options. Wheat, originally from Toledo, has also cooked for restaurants in Columbus, and began his tenure in Springfield with a weekly food truck on South Limestone Street. Regular patrons encouraged him to open a store front – so he did, with the support of his wife, Nina, who is originally from Dayton. “Soul food and Caribbean food options were lacking in Springfield,” says Wheat. But Wheat’s talent...

Emily Stanton strives to help people age well

Friday, September 24, 2021

Physical therapist Emily Stanton understands the value of people of all ages, but when she noticed a few years ago that she wasn’t able to do some things “the way she used to,” she shifted her focus to the 60 and older population. In 2019, Stanton became a board-certified geriatric specialist, and she started her own business - Ally Wellness - on Aug. 3 of 2020. “Like everything else in life, we prepare for a career, prepare to have children, we prepare to buy a house,” she says. “Now that I’ve been doing (physical therapy) for 20 years, I see just ho...

The Bushnell Building combines a rich history with a thriving future

Thursday, September 23, 2021

In recent years, the continued revitalization of Downtown Springfield has been readily visual in the growth and development of small businesses like Winan’s Coffee & Chocolates, Le Torte Dolci, COhatch and more planting roots among what were once vacant storefronts and buildings. But the work to rebuild and revitalize Downtown as a great place to work, live and play has also involved the renovation and remodeling of some of the historic buildings. One of those historic spaces is The Bushnell Building – built in 1893 and named after its builder Asa Bushnell, who was a Springfield native. Read full article.

Copper Top Farm and Flowers offers fresh you-pick experience in Clark County

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

When Emily and Josh Berner decided to jump feet first into their new business venture, their goal was to have something fun for families to do that was nearby and wouldn’t break the bank. The Berners, owners of Copper Top Farm and Flowers at 5570 New Carlisle Pike, started off by purchasing the property across the street from their home in 2020. At the time, they didn’t know exactly what they wanted the quaint, quiet farm to become, but the COVID-19 pandemic gave them time to turn what started as a dream into a reality. While tossing around ideas, Emily Berner say...

Wittenberg University students encouraged to connect with Springfield community

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

A Wittenberg University students head back to campus to kick off the 2021-22 school year, they’ll also be encouraged to find ways to become engaged in the City of Springfield as a whole. With Wittenberg’s campus being just a short five minute walk from Downtown Springfield, the opportunities for students to enjoy the shopping, dining, fun and events are endless, says John Kelly, downtown events programmer for the Greater Springfield Partnership. “In the last couple years, we’ve really tried to strategize how we can bridge the gap between the Wittenberg community and Downtown,” he says. “It helps to let the students reall...

New home of Young’s Jersey Dairy opens doors to first customers

Monday, September 20, 2021

They’re moo’ved in! Aug. 26 was day one of what Young’s Jersey Dairy CEO Dan Young said will be the farm’s home base for decades to come. A steady stream of early customers began at 10 a.m. inside the new facility situated directly behind what has been the dairy barn just outside of Yellow Springs since 1968. Read full article.

How to Plug into the Ohio Startup Scene

Friday, September 17, 2021

Thousands of companies, dozens of bustling cities, millions of dollars in investment — the Ohio startup scene is thriving. So how can you be part of it? Fortunately, the Buckeye State’s entrepreneurial community is welcoming, exciting and full of resources to help take your great idea from a cocktail napkin to the state’s next unicorn. All you have to do is know where to look. At TechOhio, we’re well versed in the many exciting organizations, events and companies. For a daily look at what’s going on in your community and beyond, be sure to keep an eye on our Innovation New...

Ohio Receives Positive Rating Outlook from Fitch

Thursday, September 16, 2021

This report is a summary of third-party economic research and perspectives to foster communication with business and economic development stakeholders. Key Economic Insights Global: IMF member nations approved the largest resource injection in the fund’s history, allocating $650B to assist countries dealing with debt from the global pandemic. U.S.: U.S. Job Openings reached a new record in June, with available positions rising to 10.1M. New weekly jobless claims fell for a third straight period to 375,000. Ohio: Ohio’s bond rating and outlook was elevated to the highest level in 42 years, citing the state’s sustained trend of balanced finances and growth in reserves. Read ful...

Columbus Only Midwest City That Grew More Than 100,000 People Since 2010

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

This report is a summary of third-party economic research and perspectives to foster communication with business and economic development stakeholders. Key Economic Insights Global: Economists project the U.S. to outpace China in economic growth over the few next quarters. U.S.: Goldman Sachs lowered their forecast for U.S. economic growth for 2021 from 6.4% to 6%. Ohio: Four Ohio Counties were ranked Top 10 Nationally for Economic Development Among Rural U.S. Counties by Site Selection Magazine. Read full article.

Ohio Expands Eligibility Footprint for Rural Industrial Park Loan Program

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

The state of Ohio, through adoption of the biennial budget, approved new language to expand the eligibility criteria, along with renewed funding, for one of Ohio Development Services Agency’s highly subscribed industrial development programs. The Rural Industrial Park Loan Program (RIPL) promotes economic development across rural areas in the state. The program provides low-interest loans to assist with financing the development and improvement of industrial parks and related off-site public infrastructure improvements and has been an extremely attractive tool in encouraging industrial development in rural communities. The current state operating budget enacted recently expands eligibility for loans from the RIP...

Ohio Launches Substantial Broadband Program to Serve Rural Markets

Monday, September 13, 2021

Even before the Work from Home movement was launched by COVID 19, the availability of broadband telecommunications network was an essential economic development tool. Access to digital services is reliant on a high-speed data services infrastructure. As the map below illustrates, rural communities throughout Ohio remain behind in the availability of broadband services. Governor Mike DeWine and the Ohio General Assembly took a big step forward to develop the broadband network through the Ohio operating budget recently enacted. The bill provides $230.0 M in FY 2022 and $20.0 M in FY 2023 for the program, creating the Ohio Residential Broadband Expansio...

Grant Programs Available to Help Ohio Businesses

Friday, September 10, 2021

Millions of dollars remain available in four new grant programs that target businesses that have suffered significant losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ohio Department of Development is administering the grants. To apply, businesses can visit the For Businesses section at InvestingInOhiosFuture.Ohio.Gov. The site includes documents for each grant program’s terms and conditions, fact sheet, and frequently asked questions. The programs are: Food and Beverage Establishment Grant: This program provides grants of $10,000, $20,000, or $30,000 to restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and other food and drink businesses. The amount of individual grants to eligible businesses will be determined by the business’ loss o...

The JobsOhio Inclusion Grant Supports Distressed Communities and Underserved Populations

Thursday, September 09, 2021

CARING FOR ALL OHIOANS JobsOhio is prioritizing efforts to empower Ohio businesses with the resources they need to reach their potential. Since the start of 2020, we have worked on an inclusion strategy focused on investing in and driving job creation in distressed areas across Ohio – defined as those that have not recovered from the 2008 recession. JobsOhio also provides the capital needed to grow businesses in these communities and those owned by underserved populations. A component of this strategy is the JobsOhio Inclusion Grant (JOIG), which was created in July 2020 as part of JobsOhio’s COVID relief programming. The progra...

7 Ways to Successfully Manage Managers

Wednesday, September 08, 2021

Managing managers can be similar, in some ways, to managing a team — you need to align priorities, communicate goals, provide feedback and serve as a mentor. But the difference in managing managers is that you have to not only oversee their work, but make sure they’re effectively supporting their teams too. In addition to ensuring that managers are producing quality work, you’re setting clear expectations for what a successful manager looks like, observing their leadership within a team and offering direct feedback on their management skills. A successful manager is one who guides their team to perform well and develops the...

5 Tips for Attracting the Best Job Candidates in Today's Labor Market

Tuesday, September 07, 2021

The landscape has changed dramatically for businesses accessing the labor market pool. Employers have to rethink how to approach prospective employees if they plan on meeting their hiring demands. Job shortages have created a frenzy where companies are scrambling to adopt a new approach to hiring new team members in pursuit of a different type of job engagement. Every day I coach companies that are desperate to find workers who can support their growing business. Many of these businesses have unfortunately had to turn business away, because they don’t have enough staff to support the influx of work. According to th...

The Visionary List: Meet The Women Over 50 Shaping The Future Of Science, Technology And Art

Monday, September 06, 2021

In 2011, billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, then 56, told an audience in Bangalore that “people under 35 are the people who make change happen. People over 45 basically die in terms of new ideas.” Khosla defied his own stereotype when, six years later, he became a seed investor in Metawave, a radar company founded by then-54-year-old Maha Achour. The longtime entrepreneur and MIT-trained physicist is using advanced aerial imaging and technology to help self-driving cars operate smoothly through every weather condition. “Experience is everything,” she says of how her age has helped her start and grow her company. “I had t...

Auto Industry Is Betting on Sustainability

Friday, September 03, 2021

Within the plethora of buzzwords that grew in popularity over the COVID-19 pandemic, there is one that will live on stronger throughout the foreseeable future. Beyond terms like lockdowns, mandates, bottlenecks, shortages, SPACs, and inflation, it’s the word sustainability that will have a lasting effect on companies, their employees, and their customers for the next 100 years. This term is the same one that has been nagging on the ear of executives throughout industries for decades. A small annoyance perhaps at the bottom of the barrel, but now it is, or should be, cemented on to-do lists across the globe. ...

Shifting Dynamics in a Post-Pandemic World

Thursday, September 02, 2021

Many individuals and small businesses have faced enormous hardships over the last 18 months — illness, layoffs, furloughs, shortages, remote schooling — due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. During this same period, governments too, at both the state and local levels, faced unprecedented challenges as they worked to address the pandemic’s impact on their citizens. Charged with protecting public health and safety, governments have responded to the pandemic by supporting critical infrastructure, especially in healthcare. They’ve established new sources of funding, improved coordination between agencies, and supported vulnerable populations, rapidly deploying stimulus funding while trying to monitor its use and effectiveness...

U.S. Space Race Propels the Nation to New Heights

Wednesday, September 01, 2021

In 1961, President Kennedy proclaimed that the United States should “commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” Thus began the space race that has over the years spawned numerous innovative companies and exceptional research. One only must consider in awe the launch of private citizens and entrepreneurs Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos into space 60 years later. On July 11, Branson entered the edge of outer space in his space craft, the Virgin Galactic — the result of nearly 17 years of developmen...

Building a Sustainable Global Semiconductor Supply Chain

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Hemlock Semiconductor in Saginaw, Michigan, is the nation’s largest manufacturer of ultra-pure polysilicon that is sliced by other manufacturers into wafers to be used in solar cells and semiconductors. Area Development’s editor recently asked the company’s senior vice president of Advocacy and Engagement about the recent shortage in the global production of semiconductors that has been causing delays in the manufacture of products utilizing these chips. Area Development: How does Hemlock think the U.S. should respond to China’s efforts to dominate the market for both polysilicon and semiconductors? Brooke Beebe: Policy actions such as the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) an...

Connecting Skills To Opportunities

Monday, August 30, 2021

The State of Nevada is on top of things. For close to 10 years, they’ve been focused on where industry is going and what it means for the future of work in the state. State leaders like Bob Potts, deputy director at the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) have recognized its legacy industries (gaming, entertainment, and tourism) have been on a maturing path for decades. They’ve thus been working to identify the state’s comparative advantages in various industries to better diversify. “We looked at advanced manufacturing, technology, healthcare, logistics and operations, and energy,” Potts said. “We were doing reverse staffin...

Ohio Ranks #10 in CNBC’s America’s Top States for Business Report

Monday, August 09, 2021

The State of Ohio is emerging stronger from the economic challenges of the pandemic, holding firm to its Top-10 ranking in CNBC’s “Top States for Business 2021” study of state competitiveness in the battle for business and jobs. Ohio ranked #10 overall in the business news network’s study of all 50 states on 85 metrics across 10 broad categories of competitiveness. Ohio also ranked #10 overall in 2019. CNBC did not conduct the annual study in 2020, due to the unprecedented impacts of COVID-19. In the all-important “Cost of Doing Business” category, Ohio scored an A+ with the #2 ranking among al...

As Economy Recovers, Loan Approval Rates Increase For Small Businesses

Wednesday, August 04, 2021

Small business loan approval percentages at big banks ($10 billion+ in assets) climbed slightly from 13.5% in May to 13.6% and small banks’ approvals rose from 18.7% in May to 18.9%, in June 2021, according to the latest Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index. The pandemic opened up opportunities for many banks. Many smaller banks that had not fully automated their small business loan application procedure are now heading in that direction. Banks that participated in the government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) lending to help small businesses survive the pandemic often gained these small businesses as customers, and now that the PPP is over, they may again be abl...

Which Way for Rural America?

Friday, July 30, 2021

The challenges facing rural America are well-known and exhaustively documented. Chronically shrinking populations beget shrinking tax bases and shriveling public services. Town squares board up. Hospitals close. The most promising youth light out for elsewhere, just as lack of reliable internet now helps to quash most any notion of winning back folks from the city, post-pandemic. It’s also been noted that many rural communities have fallen victim to a vicious cycle. “Some communities are dominated by people that really don’t want any change,” says Ron Tillery, executive director of the Phelps County Development Corporation in Phelps County, Nebraska, a top performer i...

These jobs will have the most openings in Ohio this decade

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

The state of Ohio updated its list of projected job openings earlier this year. The projections are through 2028 and also include median hourly wages for those occupations. Read full article.

Site Selection’s Prosperity Cup Ranks Ohio Fourth Most Competitive State in U.S.

Thursday, June 10, 2021

This report is a summary of third-party economic research and perspectives to foster communication with business and economic development stakeholders during the COVID-19 crisis. Key Economic Insights Global: WHO gives Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine Emergency Use Listing; BioNTech to open mRNA manufacturing site in Singapore. U.S.: The April Manufacturing PMI registered 60.7%. Births fell for the sixth consecutive year to the lowest levels since 1979. Ohio: Site Selection magazine ranked Ohio #4 on its Prosperity Cup for the most competitive states in economic development. Read full article.

CEOs Find Ohio a Top 10 Best State for Business For Fourth Consecutive Year

Tuesday, June 08, 2021

This report is a summary of third-party economic research and perspectives to foster communication with business and economic development stakeholders during the COVID-19 crisis. Key Economic Insights Global: Global COVID-19 caseload tops 150M, including over 400,000 new cases in India. U.S.: 2021Q1 GDP grew at an annualized 6.4%. Disposable income, consumer spending, consumer confidence, and durable goods orders all increased. Jobless claims are at a pandemic low. Ohio: Ohio ranked #7 in Chief Executive’s Best & Worst States for Business 2021 Read full article.

8 Strategies For Lowering Your Startup Costs

Thursday, June 03, 2021

Starting a business can cost tens of thousands of dollars, even if you’re working with something small and lean. If you’re trying to launch a business that requires heavy equipment, or if you’re looking to expand quickly, you might need millions. It’s likely that you will face a financial burden upon entering the world of entrepreneurship. Fortunately, there are many strategies you can use to get the funding necessary to cover the expenses, such as working with a VC, an angel investor, or crowdfunding. But you may still need to call upon some creative tactics to reduce the expenses your business i...

Move Over LinkedIn: Chipotle, Shopify And Other Employers Are Flocking To TikTok For Young Talent

Tuesday, June 01, 2021

Chipotle can TikTok with the best of them, by corporate standards anyway. It’s amassed 1.8 million followers—almost as many as rivals McDonald’s (1.1 million) and Taco Bell (861,700) combined—by embracing the kind of snappy, freewheeling content the platform’s young users crave. But between posting videos of teens dancing to songs about guacamole and predicting customers’ orders based on their zodiac signs, company executives spotted a trend. “We've seen a big uptick in Gen-Z looking for their next job on TikTok,” says Tressie Lieberman, Chipotle’s VP of digital and off-premise marketing. The fast-casual chain has, like so many restaurants bouncing back fro...

First Person: Engaging the Workforce with Empathetic Leadership

Friday, May 28, 2021

Area Development’s staff editor Mark Crawford recently asked Ericsson’s Dan Kerber, vice president of digital services business operations for North America — who helps companies improve their financial and operational metrics through improved resource management processes — about his thoughts on leadership, especially the need for “soft skills” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Area Development: What are the most important soft skills needed for leadership today? Kerber: There are many important soft skills, but the three I have found most important are communication, giving effective feedback, and empathy. Good communication skills are essential for conveying information, decisions, and your thought processes to your team. Givin...

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