economic development

Helping find employee/employer ‘fit’ via OhioMeansJobs

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Whether you are looking for gainful employment and career advancement or you are seeking highly qualified and motivated associates for your business, finding the right fit is key. The new OhioMeansJobs website is designed to assist employers in broadening their choices and gaining access to the large pool of data of potential employees from the State of Ohio.

OSU Extension, in partnership with the Fayette County Economic Development Department, recently held a training session focused on the features of the new OhioMeansJobs website designed to assist them in attracting, hiring, retaining and advancing their workforce needs. The site also enables employers to post jobs, search resumés and take advantage of federal, state and local employment programs. The training was open to all businesses including the county’s eight major employers. Participating companies included:

  • TFO Tech, Inc.OhioMeansJobs Website Employer Training - Post
  • Stage Stores Distribution Center
  • Domtar
  • Sugar Creek Packing
  • Mars Pet Care
  • Wal-Mart Super Stores
  • YUSA Corporation
  • McKesson Drug Company

The Fayette County Chamber of Commerce, Fayette County Jobs and Family Services, Southern State Community College and the OhioMeansJobs local office provided support for the training.

(Submitted by Godwin Apaliyah, Extension Educator, Fayette County & Miami Valley EERA)

Economic impact analysis for informed decision-making

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So let’s say you are in charge of investing tax dollars in ways that will ultimately generate the highest return. How do you know where to allocate those funds? In fact, why invest public dollars in ways that will benefit private investment at all?

To better understand how jobs and public or private investment contribute to community and regional wellbeing we can turn to a tool known as economic impact analysis. Such analyses help us understand the economic impact of jobs (existing, new, and/or lost) and other business activities. In fact, such analysis was done on Extension by Battelle Institute in 2004 to learn that investment in OSU Extension yielded a return of nearly 2.5 times the annual Extension operating budget. Knowing such information can better inform policy decisions, including how to allocate limited resources and/or which industries or businesses to target for future growth and development (which employ people, create goods and services and ultimately generate increased wealth).

Data Analysis 2014-07-31Economic impact analysis, or EIA, benefits communities, chambers, economic development organizations, associations and others who are seeking to understand and quantify economic changes. EIA programs are offered through Extension Community Development (CD) using IMPLAN, an input-output (I-O) modeling software. The model captures indirect and induced impacts that occur from an initial direct investment or series of investments using the most recent data available.

Extension CD offers four basic types of EIA reports which can be customized to meet specific needs:

  • Industry Profile Report – A profile of the top industries in your community by sector. The profile will describe employment, tax contribution and wages for the top five sectors and potential implications for the community.
  • Project Effect Report – An analysis that shows the impact of a past or recent project, highly effective for displaying the value of projects to local community leaders and stakeholders; as well as the value that a local economic development organization offers its service area.
  •  Industry Contribution Report – A detailed report of the contribution of an industry sector to the community and region. How extensive is the impact of the agriculture, tourism or manufacturing sectors to the local, regional and state economy?
  • Economic Impact Analysis – This report provides an in-depth analysis of the economic impact an event has on the local economy when taking place in a variety of selected industry sectors. The EIA can assist in identifying what type of industry is best to target for the local economy.

For more information on the program, including recently completed EIA reports, click here.

(Submitted by Nancy Bowen-Ellzey, Associate Professor and Extension Field Specialist, Community Economics. Additional contacts: David Civittolo, Associate Professor and Extension Field Specialist, Community Economics, and Greg Moon, Extension Educator, Wyandot County & Erie Basin EERA.)

Growing the economy with entrepreneurial talent

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Entrepreneur

What community doesn’t want to learn about identifying and growing its entrepreneurs? Communities of all sizes, large and small, are looking for ways to bolster economic growth. While research shows about 60 to 80 percent of new jobs created annually are the result of existing business expansion, new business start-ups create about 40 percent of new jobs annually (about 6.5 jobs per new business on average) (Badal, 2010).

How can we partner with the chambers of commerce, economic development offices and youth leadership programs to cultivate interest in growing new businesses in these communities?

We recently had the opportunity to tour the world headquarters of Gallup (the longtime ‘polling’ organization that has more recently gotten into the business of ‘StrengthsFinder’ among other things). In addition to hearing an interesting overview of the company’s history, we also learned of the newly unveiled ‘Entrepreneurship StrengthsFinder’ from Gallup representatives. We left there convinced that this tool provides us opportunities to stimulate interest in exercising entrepreneurial talents and abilities with audiences of all ages and walks of life.

To learn more about this new tool for identifying entrepreneurial talent, click here.

(Submitted by Greg Davis, Professor and Assistant Director, OSU Extension – Community Development, and Rose Fisher Merkowitz, Associate Professor and Extension Educator, Miami Valley EERA)

Technology Means New Growth

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Avert Bust after Shale Boom 2104-07-17

These days in many eastern Ohio communities, new extraction technologies – hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” as it is frequently called – are opening underground resources that were not available previously. This growth and development is creating new jobs and opportunities for business development. It is also raising concerns involving traffic, housing, health care, education and social services, for example.

To help community leaders make informed decisions and develop long-range plans that will address and balance economic, social and environmental impacts of this new wave of development, OSU Extension CD has put together a broad team of researchers and community development professionals to provide needed data, information and guidance. Read more here.

(Submitted by: Myra Moss, Associate Professor and Extension Educator, Heart of Ohio EERA. Additional sources: Cindy Bond, Assistant Professor and County Extension Educator, Guernsey County; Nancy Bowen-Ellzey, Associate Professor and Extension Field Specialist, Community Economics and Eric Romich, Assistant Professor and Extension Field Specialist, Energy Development.)

Working together to promote Community, Local & Regional Food Systems

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Fresh Lettuce!

(Photo credit: eXtension.org post 7/2/2014)

What could be better than eating fresh fruits and vegetables out of your garden this time of year?  Well, not much other than having access to such garden fresh foods year round. If you are interested in such things, there is a new resource available at eXtension called the Community, Local & Regional Food Systems Community of Practice or ‘CoP’.  This CoP is designed to provide information and networking opportunities for educators, community-based practitioners, policy makers, farmers/growers, families, and really anyone involved in building equitable, health-promoting, resilient, and economically balanced food systems.

Anyone can share, learn, and contribute in any number of ways. For more information, click here.

(Submitted by: Brian Raison, Assistant Professor and County Extension Educator, Miami County and Top of Ohio EERA / Co-leader, eXtension Community, Local & Regional Food Systems Community of Practice.)

Ohio Clean Marinas Program: Growing Businesses and Improving the Environment

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Clean Marinas Strip

Is boating in your summer plans? Whether you captain your own vessel or are simply along for the ride, it is important to remember how each of us can help maintain environmental quality. Through the Ohio Clean Marinas Program, marinas and boaters can learn to use simple, innovative solutions to keep Ohio’s coastal and inland waterway resources clean. After meeting a set of required and recommended best management practices, interested marinas can become certified as an Ohio Clean Marina and benefit from the public recognition and compliance assistance that helps grow their business.

Since 2006, the Ohio Clean Marinas Program has been spearheading the Ohio Shrink-Wrap Recycling Program to collect the low-density polyethylene used to cover boats and protect them from the harsh winter weather. Instead of going into landfills, to date more than 2.2 million pounds of that plastic has been collected and recycled by nearly 150 marinas and greenhouses – an excellent example of the potential for boaters and marinas to reduce their environmental impact. That 2.2 million pounds is a lot of plastic!

You can learn more about clean marinas and clean boating at the Ohio Clean Marinas Program website, and don’t forget to Follow us on Facebook!

The Ohio Clean Marinas Program is a proactive partnership among the Ohio Sea Grant College Program and OSU Extension, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Lake Erie Marine Trades Association, and other public and private sector partners that are connected to Ohio’s recreational boating industry.

(Submitted by Sarah Orlando, Ohio Clean Marinas Program Coordinator, Ohio Sea Grant College Program)

Let us help you build a Community Plan for Growth and Sustainability

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Who wouldn’t want to come into a large sum of money? Assuming you won the lottery or inherited your long lost late aunt’s estate, wouldn’t you take some time to figure out how to best invest to make the most of those resources for the future? It’s called planning. Businesses, organizations and communities who are interested in longevity and growth engage in it frequently. Oftentimes, the process yields a plan. OSU Extension Community Development professionals provide the skills and experience needed to bring individuals together to develop a community plan with long-lasting positive outcomes.

Mount Victory Business Community PlanMost recently, two OSU Extension Community Development colleagues partnered with local leaders in the Village of Mount Victory (Ohio) to facilitate a plan for the business community. Nancy Bowen and Greg Moon took the community’s business owners and public officials through a research and data analysis process to identify the strengths in the local economy as well as the concerns and obstacles business owners faced. The outcome of the process was a report and recommendations with specific action items to help overcome community challenges. Village leadership has already put those recommendations into motion and brought what were many different ideas and efforts into a concerted effort. To see the report, click here. If you are interested in learning more, contact Nancy Bowen (bowen-ellzey.1@osu.edu) or Greg Moon (moon.123@osu.edu).

(Submitted by Greg Moon, Extension Educator, Wyandot County & Erie Basin EERA, and Nancy Bowen-Ellzey, Extension Field Specialist, Community Economics)

High School Seniors explore another Path to their Futures

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Van Wert HS Starting Right for the Student Workshop 2014 - #2Where have nearly two of every three new jobs come from since 1995? That would be small businesses, according to the SBA and U.S. Census. How can we stimulate entrepreneurial interest? How about a special workshop for getting high school seniors interested in and thinking about their futures as entrepreneurs and business owners? Such an effort was recently conducted with Van Wert High School seniors, 53 percent of which indicated, at the program’s conclusion, an interest in owning their own business sometime in the future.

For more information about the program and to read about the pilot project at Van Wert City Schools, click here.

(Submitted by Cindy Leis, County Extension Educator and Van Wert Economic Development Director)