County B R & E process gets underway

VW Economic Development news

Van Wert County Economic Development held its 2013 Business Retention & Expansion (BR & E) Kick-off Breakfast at Vantage Career Center on Tuesday.  Attendees at the event were representatives of county manufacturers that will be participating in an annual survey of businesses’ current and future conditions and needs.

The BR & E process is a statewide initiative, but managed at the county level in an effort to assist in building local relationships, collecting accurate and current company data, and assisting the region and the state’s JobsOhio initiative in setting local and state business incentives, as well as monitoring trends and needs.

In addition, the BR & E surveys are directly in line with Governor John Kasich’s focus on expansion of companies already located in Ohio. According to Cincinnati.com, a Gannett company, most of the 21,000 new jobs created by JobsOhio projects in 2012 were tied to the expansion of home-grown companies already here. The data underscores a major shift in state and local economic development strategy: less emphasis on attracting out-of-town companies and more emphasis on retaining and expanding businesses that have been in the state for years.

The BR & E event and a tour of the Vantage Career Center’s Trade and Industrial programs were attended by 17 manufacturing representatives, as well as the local BR & E Committee made up of 13 local individuals from public and private entities. Of the 13 committee members, a core survey team that includes the county economic development director, city and/or village mayors, a workforce education partner, a county commissioner and an industry expert, when necessary has been selected to make company visits.

The BR & E visits will be scheduled during the months of May, June and July in order to accumulate results for review at the annual economic development dinner this fall.  For more information regarding the BR & E program, contact the Van Wert County Economic Development office at 419.238.2999.