By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Millions in federal dollars to assist the region as it rebounds from the coronavirus pandemic are headed to Northwest Ohio.
Funded by last year’s CARES act, the grants are coming through the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration.
“The Economic Development Administration is committed to helping communities across the nation implement strategies to mitigate economic hardships brought on by the coronavirus pandemic,” said Dennis Alvord, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development in a Department of Commerce press release. “These EDA investments in Northwest Ohio will provide an immediate benefit by increasing roadway capacity for commerce, while also looking to the future with efforts to develop workforce training programs.”
Bowling Green State University’s Center for Regional Development will receive $555,000 to create a workforce development and recovery strategy for the four-county area of Wood, Lucas, Ottawa and Fulton counties.
The Wood County Port Authority is getting $2.6 million to help fund a $5 million project to upgrade Deimling Road and install water and sewer lines in Rossford’s Crossroads of America area.
Russell Mills, senior director for the Center for Regional Development, said the money will fund developing a strategy that builds on existing initiatives. The project is a partnership between BGSU Center for Regional Development, Regional Growth Partnership, and JobsOhio.
The center has been working with Joe Luzar, of the Regional Growth Partnership, for the past two years through Communities of Excellence, an effort spearheaded by Pro Medica with backing from other corporate and non-profit entities including higher education.
When the prospect of pandemic relief money came up, Mills suggested they tap the funds to address the issues of work force needs.
The Center for Regional Development will gather the data and map the resources available.
The initiative will determine what metrics best measure success of the work force development efforts, and then look at what regional and national programs are having success, Mills said.
It’s important, he said, “to develop a strategy based on what’s working well in the region. We’re looking for workforce programs that are really moving the needle.”
Luzar said they will use a Results Based Accountability model.
“We’re going to figure what we need to measure and then build a strategy to do those things,” Mills said. This will enhance and coordinate the work already being done by other entities, he said.
“There’s a lot of good work done in this space,” Luzar said. “We’re trying to bring people together.”
The region has been successful in attracting large projects such as the Amazon facility now being built in Rossford.
Those entities need to find employees at a time that the work force is contracting.
Some workers need to learn new skills or upgrade the skills they have to take these jobs, Mills said. Others need to be encouraged to move to the region to take those jobs.
Keeping graduates from BGSU and other colleges in the area would help, Luzar said, as would bringing alumni back, who have left the area.
The Wood County Port Authority will use its funds to improve Deimling Road that runs through the Crossroads development. The $5 million project is an outgrowth of a previous project to improve State Route 795.
Rex Huffman, general counsel for the port authority, said development officials recognized the 795 corridor as a focal point for growth.
Working with ODOT and $2 million in safety improvement funds, the project made improvements, mostly in the form of high tech traffic signals.
But with the ending arrival of the Amazon, the number of workers moving through that corridor will increase. Huffman said the number could be 6,000. And the companies located in the area including Home Depot distribution center and the new First Solar plant will also have truck traffic going in and out.
Improving Deimling Road, which Huffman said is “barely a road,” will give drivers an alternative. Improvements will be made to the mile and a half section of road running Simmons Road from to Lime City Road. Water.
“We want to start and improve these local roads and take pressure off 795 and Route 20,” Huffman said. “It’s huge improvement for safety.”
The project also will also install water and sewer lines on the eastern end.
These improvements will open the parcels to further development.
Matching funds come from a variety of sources including $600,00 from the city of Rossford.
Huffman noted the cooperation between the entities is a marked contrast to the acrimony that existed 20 years ago among some parties. “This is all culmination of team building.”
