Paulding County Economic Development Press Release
PAULDING– The Paulding County Economic Development (PCED) office hosted the fourth quarter Business Advisory Council (BAC) Committee meeting this week. The meeting was held in the newly remodeled OSU Extension building on the campus of the Paulding County Fairgrounds.
Twenty-one business leaders and educators introduced themselves so participants understood where and how each attendee fits into Paulding County’s growth. The event was moderated by PCED Director Tim Copsey. Copsey shared how the council is stronger with participation and how it can benefit school, student, and business relationships around the county, for the future.
Guests heard a summary of recent BAC Steering Committee activity. The committee meets quarterly for months just prior to full council meetings. This committee digs deeper into the details of how to develop collaboration between businesses and educators and helps guide future development within the BAC. For the 2024-25 school year BAC template submission to the Ohio Education Association, 28 programs were identified and reported that were taking place between businesses and educators in the county. This committee is now reviewing each of these programs individually to see if they remain viable, are relevant to business today, and if we can emulate them at other schools or businesses within the county. The review will continue throughout the year.
As they started out in the past, this group was mentored by other high-performing BAC groups around the state. The Ottawa County BAC has offered an invite for the Paulding County members to join in one of their upcoming meetings to see how they run their BAC and if anything could be learned for the future. The group will look at the date and see if there might be an opportunity to participate in a collaborative meeting soon.
Discussion also took place regarding connecting with last year’s high school graduates. It would be of interest to the BAC to be able to share open employment opportunities, from around the county, with graduates and with current college students. This would allow students to see employment opportunities, within their field of study, as they determine their employment future.
One highlighted area, for possible improvement from the committee, is with the OhioMeansJobs employment portal. It was noted that this seems cumbersome for students. A meeting has been scheduled to see if there may be an opportunity to walk through this portal with students and OMJ state leadership to see how training may help, or if there needs to be some tweaking to the portal itself. Results will be shared with the committee at a future meeting.
All three county high schools addressed the group sharing new and exciting things taking place with each of them. Superintendent Rick Turner shared updates from Vantage Career Center and Northwest State Community College Van Wert campus Dean of Students Jon Tomlinson shared information in regard to the college.
Copsey closed out the meeting sharing information about potential opportunities that have taken place in other nearby counties that the BAC should consider. This included a business breakfast at Patrick Henry High School and an elementary business expo at Holgate Elementary. Also shared were dates of April 2 for the Paulding County Business, College, and Career Showcase and June 2-5 & 9 for the 2025 Paulding County Teacher Bootcamp. The boot camp is provided by the State of Ohio to offer local high school administrators and educators the opportunity go out to tour and meet local business professionals while receiving continuing college credit.
The PC BAC will convene again in February with a Steering Committee meeting and a full membership meeting in March
