A Letter to the Region from APEG President, Mike Jacoby
As President of APEG, I realize the economy and standard of living in southern, eastern and southeastern Ohio needs to be better. The economic disparity between our region and the rest of the state happened over decades, and the path to parity is not simple or quick. It will take a lot of work, resources and people working together.
All of the APEG staff are from the region. We are all committed to making it a better place to live, work and play. We also understand how tough the jobs of our local partners are. We value each of these partnerships, and work with them each day to address challenges and add value to this place we call home.
With that said, the region has made tremendous strides in recent years to catch up. JobsOhio has made some special programmatic accommodations to match our unique challenges and APEG continues to request additional changes specific to the region to continue to move forward.
Our 25-county region’s economic development strategic plan, the Prosperity Plan, was generated at a grass-roots level and will allow the region of southern, eastern and southeastern Ohio to speak with one voice and hopefully garner additional resources. Throughout the process, it became abundantly clear that there are a number of passionate, committed individuals, businesses, educators, non-profits and more, ready and willing to do their part to move the region forward. We are thrilled and encouraged that we received as much support as we did throughout the process and are looking forward to continued success as we work together.
We are committed to fighting for southern, eastern and southeastern Ohio, and with that said, I’d like to share with you some encouraging facts about the work we’ve accomplished thus far:
- The APEG region of southern, eastern and southeastern Ohio led the state of Ohio in the award of Site Redevelopment Pilot Initiative funds from JobsOhio: over $18 million was awarded to redevelop underutilized and sometimes contaminated properties.
- The APEG region of southern, eastern and southeastern Ohio is the only part of Ohio where JobsOhio is making an over seven-figure investment to pay for extensive site due diligence studies and preliminary engineering on 14 different development sites.
- Since 2018, we have had 30 project wins, each with unique companies, spread throughout the region, with a total capital investment of nearly $1.4 billion and 1,406 expected total jobs. Some of these wins include names you know and recognize, like JSW Steel, Kenworth Trucks, Bellisio Foods, Dollar General Distribution Centers, Global Cooling and Rocky Brands. In all, projects were well-distributed among our target industries.
- Since our inception in 2011, APEG and JobsOhio have awarded over $70 million in economic development grants, tax credits, and loans for over 150 company expansions and new locations. Those companies have committed to create over 7,100 jobs in the region.
- Earlier this year, APEG and JobsOhio worked with the Washington County Career Center, Adult Technical Training to identify training opportunities that support the regional industrial maintenance workforce. JobsOhio awarded $300,000 to WCCC to implement the program.
- APEG has awarded more than $235,000 in grants through its site readiness funds program to local development organizations.
- In July 2019, JobsOhio contributed $30 million to PTTGCA-Daelim for site development on an $8-billion ethane cracker plant project in Belmont County. This grant is JobsOhio’s largest ever grant. The project could be the largest single corporate investment in Ohio’s history.
APEG is tirelessly advocating and working to help this region catch up to the rest of the state. We are making progress, but there is obviously a lot more work to do. The APEG Team and I are committed to keep trying to improve our offerings and performance. Progress is much more easily achieved when we are working together.
