In the ever-evolving economic landscape of 2024, Ohio stood out as a beacon of resilience, innovation, and strategic growth, ranking #3 for projects, #3 for investment, and #5 for new jobs in the country while also surpassing its prior total project completions record by achieving 574 total project completions for the year. This year, JobsOhio, the state’s private economic development corporation, met the challenges head-on and achieved remarkable economic and community development milestones.
JobsOhio’s 2024 journey has created sustainable job opportunities and fostered prosperity in Ohio’s cities and towns. JobsOhio has done this by acting as a trusted partner who keeps promises on the business expansion journey and beyond.
This year’s achievements highlight the power of partnerships and the impact of working together. With a focus on innovation, integrity, and value for all Ohioans, and alongside the JobsOhio Network, JobsOhio has completed approximately 574 program completions statewide, leveraging over $20.3 billion in fixed assets, each a story of collaboration and shared vision. These projects will create over 19,300 new jobs and generate more than $1.6 billion in new payroll, reflecting the quality and dignity of work in Ohio.
As the regional JobsOhio network partner, Ohio Southeast Economic Development (OhioSE) also experienced another year of growth, supporting 42 business expansion and attraction projects across the region.
“The businesses we helped pledged to create 607 new jobs and invest over $294 million in fixed assets,” said Katy Farber, OhioSE vice president. “To support those projects, our organization helped secure over $5.3 million in support from JobsOhio and over $1.4 million from the State of Ohio in assistance programs.”
“Further, the OhioSE project team and local economic development professionals partnered to increase business retention and expansion (BRE) visits. Together, we completed 333 company meetings,” said Farber. “These visits are critical to finding opportunities to help our companies grow.”
OhioSE is a non-profit regional economic development organization and the JobsOhio regional network partner covering the 25 counties of southern and eastern Ohio. JobsOhio is the private nonprofit corporation designed to drive job creation and new capital investment in Ohio through business attraction, retention and expansion efforts. OhioSE helps companies access JobsOhio programs to spark new investment and job creation.
Since its inception in 2011, OhioSE has built a strong team of 13 dedicated professionals, developed a regional brand, supported over 400 projects that have or will create over 12,600 jobs, invested over $50 million of JobsOhio funds in speculative site and build development and redevelopment projects, and helped to lay a foundation for future business growth in the region. The continued partnerships that we have with key stakeholders throughout the region are working well and yielding results. We not only had attraction projects in 2024, but various expansions as well. All of these bring new investment and jobs to the region. The new speculative building in Yorkville and continued efforts to develop ready sites is making the OhioSE region more attractive for new investment and highly competitive with other areas.
The JobsOhio model under the leadership of the DeWine-Husted Administration and President J.P Nauseef is not only capitalizing and winning corporate project opportunities in the top ten sectors that drive Ohio’s economy, the model is also building for an even better and stronger future economy. JobsOhio’s strategic investments in innovation districts, fast-growth company funding through a growth capital fund, talent development programs, support for transformational downtown mixed-use property redevelopment, targeted assistance to small business in distressed areas or with disadvantaged ownership and investments to leverage speculative site and building development will pay big dividends for Ohio.
Here in southern and eastern Ohio, OhioSE has partnered with JobsOhio and others to lay a foundation for sustained growth. Below is a summary of activities beyond the corporate expansion and new location projects mentioned above. In 2024, OhioSE:
- Assisted 22 small businesses in distressed areas or with disadvantaged owners with expansions through the JobsOhio Inclusion Grant program. These grants accelerate the growth of small businesses, and the businesses have outperformed expectations. (These are included in the 43 projects.)
- Assisted Shawnee with a JobsOhio Vibrant Communities grant for a transformational downtown redevelopment project, with additional projects in the pipeline.
- Worked with JobsOhio and three developers to obtain Ohio Site Inventory Program (OSIP) support of three spec buildings ranging in size of 30,000-200,000 square feet.
- Partnered with our local economic development offices to identify and evaluate potential new sites through the SitOhio program and large sites initiative.
- Supported due diligence studies and preliminary site concept plans and engineering plans for sites throughout the region through the OhioSE Site Readiness and Special Purpose grants.
- Submitted properties, data, and hosted company visits for the most active corporate site selection year in our history.
- Conducted free trainings for local elected officials and board members on economic development tools and strategies
- Held free worker recruitment webinars and advised companies on strategies to find and retain workers.
“Our collaborative work with local economic development professionals is critical. The OhioSE team is ready to support local communities by bringing relevant incentives and other assistance, but local leadership, focus, and determination are the keys to successful economic development. We look forward to 2025 and the continued growth in our region.”
While the region continues to face challenges, the team at OhioSE has been hard at work equipping regional businesses and local economic development organizations with the resources and tools they need to thrive.
Ohio Southeast Economic Development (OhioSE) is the JobsOhio Network Partner for southern, eastern, and southeastern Ohio, providing economic development work and resources in 25 rural counties. Geographically the largest of the seven regions across the state, OhioSE partners closely with regional development districts, local economic development offices, state agencies, and other entities to expand, retain, and attract businesses in the counties they serve.
