by Isabella Carwile | Jan 17, 2025 | Community, Jobs, Membership, PCED Office, Property Development, Workforce
Paulding County Economic Development Press Release January 17, 2025
PAULDING – The Paulding County Economic Development Board recently hosted their first meeting of 2025. The business part of the meeting was entirely devoted to the forward progression and strategic plan development for the group. The short agenda meeting was long but impactful.
Prior to the business discussion, a presentation was made by Premier Bank. Local Paulding branch CEO Nicole Robinson, Business Loan Officer Danielle Fowler and VP of Treasury Sales Doug Blackwood shared the full line of business banking options and accounts available with Premier Bank. They then answered questions about the upcoming purchase of Premier by the WesBanco Bank. Although WesBanco is already established in Ohio, this would be their northernmost branch. Board members and the banking team discussed opportunities for potential growth in the county.
Business then turned to strategic planning. The board last did an in-depth dive into the Paulding County economic development strategic plan in 2022. The two-year plan has guided the office in a positive direction over that time. Since then, many things have changed in economic development, within the board and around the county.
The January 2025 meeting was dedicated to reviewing the many goals of that previous plan. Director Tim Copsey shared the goals and results with the board. Based on the reported results, the board is now tasked with developing an immediate plan for 2025 and early 2026 and a 2-3 year plan for the future. This generated great conversation as it was discussed what might be more beneficial to now add to the plan, and what certainly needs to come off. An example that may be added to the list, that wasn’t even noted in 2022, was the great need for residential housing. The adhoc strategic plan committee will convene again before the next official board meeting in March to put together a final plan to present to the full board for approval.
by Isabella Carwile | Jan 14, 2025 | Community, Jobs, Membership, Paulding County Business Weekly Radio Broadcast, PCED Office, Shoutout, Workforce
Hear it here! What did you say? Listen this week to the Paulding County Business Weekly podcast as Kim Molitor, owner of Buckeye Hearing in Paulding, shares with is what an advantage it is to have an audiologist here in the county and what a blessing this is for anyone needing testing or hearing assistance. Huge thank you to program sponsor, OhioMeansJobs. You can tune in to PCBW on Tuesdays & Thursdays at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., or Click Here to Listen Online! Paulding County Business Weekly is also available in podcast form through Apple, Google & Spotify. #pauldingcountystrong
by Isabella Carwile | Dec 31, 2024 | Community, Jobs, Paulding County Business Weekly Radio Broadcast
Listen in this week as we hear from our new Paulding County Clerk of Courts elect Sarah Harpel. Sarah shares her experiences that led her to the position and what the clerk of court position does for Paulding County. We want to give a huge thank you to OhioMeansJobs for sponsoring this program. You can tune in to Paulding County Business Weekly on Tuesdays & Thursdays at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., or Click Here to Listen Online! PCBW is also available in podcast form through Apple, Google & Spotify. #pauldingcountystrong
by Isabella Carwile | Dec 11, 2024 | Business Expansion, Community, Events, Jobs, PCED Office, Property Development, Workforce
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
by Isabella Carwile | Nov 19, 2024 | Business Expansion, Community, Jobs, Paulding County Business Weekly Radio Broadcast, Property Development, Workforce
Listen this week to the Paulding County Business Weekly podcast, where we hear from Solid Ground owner Brian Shuherk, who shares about the Solid Ground business and all the exciting benefits that they can provide. Irrigation, landscaping, landscape drawings, and snow removal just to name a few. Brian shares how this business started in the trunk of a car and has developed into a regional service business. Thank you to program sponsor, OhioMeansJobs. You can tune in on Tuesdays & Thursdays at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., or Click Here to Listen Online! Paulding County Business Weekly is also available in podcast form through Apple, Google & Spotify. #pauldingcountystrong
by Isabella Carwile | Sep 11, 2024 | Community, Jobs, Workforce
Paulding County Economic Development Press Release September 11, 2024
PAULDING– The two-star awarded Paulding County Business Advisory Council (BAC) Committee participated in their third quarter meeting this week. The meeting was moved to the Junior Leadership Building on the county fairground campus as remediation continues at the OSU Extension building.
Nineteen business leaders and educators introduced themselves and met to discuss the continued growth of the council and how it can benefit school, student, and business relationships in the future.
The highlight of the meeting was the introduction of data from the county-wide YouScience results. Over the past two years county students, at all three county schools, have participated in the YouScience aptitude assessment modules. YouScience modules are developed to help students understand what employment sector they most commonly align with, versus what they think they want to do after school. The contrast is eye-opening for many students and their teachers. The data was shared for 16 different business sectors including education, manufacturing, agriculture finance, and more. YouScience is funded through Vantage Career Center for all of their 13 participating schools.
“We were continually told by educational services groups that are ahead of us in these assessments, that the number one interest by students will be in education. Every student is familiar and aware of teachers and most think that is what they want to be. When the data came out it was spot on. 319 of the 711 students who completed the modules noted their interest in education. Only 99 students actually had an aptitude for education. There was more than a 3-1 ratio of students who do not have an aptitude for teaching “think” they should be in education. It proves that students relate to what they are exposed to. We have to make a concerted effort with our Paulding County students to introduce and expose them to other business sectors before they make college major choices or choose a business industry path that may not suit them at all,” explained Paulding County Economic Director Tim Copsey. “Introducing students to a variety of employment sectors available right out of high school, or after college, will help guide to them choices that benefit them down the road earlier and with less expense. That is our goal.”
The county schools all shared updates of innovative opportunities they are providing in their respective schools. Vantage Career Center also shared exciting new and updated information about school student and adult programming. It was also reported that during the 2023-24 school year a whopping 1853 credentials were issued. That was up 34% from the previous year. It was also shared that career center enrollment was up another 56 students this school year.
The important item of the meeting was that the new state required 2024-25 school year BAC template is due to Columbus before September 30. Schools and businesses are asked to submit any business-student activities that promote collaboration. All of the collective results will be submitted for review and graded in the two-to-four-star categories at the state level. Paulding County went from no rating in 2022-23 to a two-star rating last year. The hope is to maintain the two-star or improve again this school year.
The group will convene for their fourth quarter meeting December 11.
