Grant Access Expanded: JobsOhio Opportunities for Local Businesses

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Chamber Amplified from the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, host Doug Jenkins welcomes Chase Eikenbary from the Regional Growth Partnership to explore funding access for local businesses, with a focus on the JobsOhio Small Business Grant program. Key changes to the program have shifted its accessibility, impacting a broader range of businesses. Throughout the discussion, Doug and Chase talk how these changes can benefit the local business community.

The conversation also breaks down critical eligibility criteria for businesses aiming to leverage the Jobs Ohio Small Business Grant. Chase highlights the importance of bolstering Ohio's economic landscape by supporting homegrown businesses across industries like IT, manufacturing, and food processing. 

Key Takeaways:

• The Jobs Ohio Small Business Grant program accommodates businesses with annual revenues between $100,000 and $25 million
• Recent changes have removed the requirement for businesses to be located within a distressed zip code, making the grant accessible to a wider geographic area across Ohio.
• The grants are particularly targeted towards businesses within Jobs Ohio's designated industries, such as IT, advanced manufacturing, and food processing.
• Ownership criteria changes mean the program is more inclusive, allowing all business owners to apply and possibly benefiting more entrepreneurs across Ohio.
• The Regional Growth Partnership remains dedicated to assisting local businesses by offering guidance and potential resources beyond just the Jobs Ohio grants.

Resources:

• Previous Episode with Nicole Scott: Episode 157, Small Business Resource Center at Road State

Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Transcript

0:00:02 - (Doug Jenkins): Hello and welcome to the show. I'm Doug Jenkins from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. On each episode of Chamber Amplified, we're examining issues that impact the local business community. All sorts of issues could be employee recruitment and retention, marketing, IT issues. Funding is what we're going to be.

0:00:18 - (A): Talking about today, but it's really anything.

0:00:20 - (Doug Jenkins): That can be impacting your business. Our goal is to give our members tips each week on at least one way they can improve operations and thrive in the current business environment. Today we're talking about funding access to capital. More specifically, recently there have been changes to the Jobs Ohio Small Business Grant program and that's changed eligibility requirements for many different businesses in our region.

0:00:42 - (Doug Jenkins): Chase Eikenberry with Regional Growth Partnership is here to tell us all about it. What you need to be looking for, what types of businesses are now eligible, the ownership structure of those businesses. We'll get into all of that today and more. Again, thanks for tuning in. Remember, if you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, you can rate and review the show. It really does help spread the word.

0:01:02 - (Doug Jenkins): Now let's get into it. Joining us once again here on the.

0:01:05 - (A): Podcast, Chase Eichenberry from the Regional Growth Partnership. And we're gonna talk all things about a grant program available to businesses in the state. Chase, thanks for joining us today.

0:01:15 - (Chase Eikenbary): Thanks, Doug. Appreciate it. I'm happy to talk again about the Jobs Ohio Small Business Grant.

0:01:21 - (A): I thought we had just talked about this on the podcast recently, but it's been a couple of years and because of that, a lot has really changed with the program over that time. So before we get into what's changed, let's just talk a little bit about what the program is.

0:01:36 - (Chase Eikenbary): Yeah, for sure. The Jobs Ohio Small Business Grant was a grant program that we launched during the pandemic as a way to assist companies that we would traditionally not get to work with from the Jobs Ohio incentive side of things. So maybe we traditionally wouldn't be able to work with a company based on the lack of competition for an investment or the size of the annual revenue that the company might have or just the overall scope of the project.

0:02:10 - (Chase Eikenbary): So the Jobs Ohio Small Business Grant really was meant to put quick grant dollars in the hands of companies that we traditionally would not be able to support just based on the overall scope of the project and the fact that there might not be any competition. And we've done a few, quite a few projects in the Findlay and Hancock county area over the last couple years. So much so they've Gone to a wide variety of industries in the amounts of $25,000 or $50,000.

0:02:47 - (Chase Eikenbary): And since then, just a couple weeks ago. And so this podcast is very timely. The great news. Yeah, yeah.

0:02:59 - (A): Breaking news right here on Chamber Amplified today.

0:03:02 - (Chase Eikenbary): I mean that's what they expect with when they have you. Right. Done.

0:03:06 - (A): Absolutely.

0:03:08 - (Chase Eikenbary): So yeah, the guidelines have recently changed. Just a couple weeks ago at the Jobs Ohio board meeting, some of the guidelines changed from the previous couple years. But still a lot of companies in the Finley and Hancock county market can take advantage of the grant.

0:03:25 - (A): Let's talk about those guidelines because it's really important to people who are applying to make sure you're kind of within the wheelhouse of what the grant support reports. What should business owners know now about the program?

0:03:38 - (Chase Eikenbary): Yeah, so this has gone, this one factor has gone unchanged. So companies who would have an annual revenue of $100,000 a year or up to 25 million.

0:03:52 - (A): So that's a huge range, pretty big span.

0:03:55 - (Chase Eikenbary): Yeah, it's a big, it's a big range. We like to think if your annual revenue is more than 25 million, we can potentially look at supporting your growth. If you're looking to invest or put capital somewhere in Ohio. If you're looking to do that, we can potentially do that with a traditional, more traditional Jobs Ohio program along with our other local economic development incentives from your, from your guys side.

0:04:27 - (Chase Eikenbary): But if you have a grant or if you have a revenue of 100,000 or 25, up to 25 million, then you could be a fit for this program. We also have to look at the industries that your company falls into. So one significant change is that we did take away the business to business and service side of things when it comes to the actual industry. So we're having a tighter alignment with our jobs Ohio targeted industries.

0:05:05 - (Chase Eikenbary): So we want to focus on the smaller size manufacturing companies, distribution and logistics. Maybe there's a smaller size food processing company. So we really want to take. We took out the service based criteria. So more of the business to business and business to consumer side of things, but more aligned with our jobs Ohio targeted industries. So those include IT automotive, advanced manufacturing, a lot of what Finley and Hancock county companies already have.

0:05:41 - (Chase Eikenbary): So there's a great deal that it's opened up to I believe in the Findlay market. One really good change with this guideline change in late May was we removed the requirement that the company had to be in a distressed zip code.

0:06:02 - (A): Okay.

0:06:04 - (Chase Eikenbary): So it used to be, we used to have these distress zip code designations. Now we opened it up to any zip code, any community in the state. So that's a huge thing. So whether you're in maybe the Arlington area, Macomb, other areas in the Finley and Hancock county region, you could qualify. So that's a huge one. With the distress zip code being taken away. The other criteria that was kind of changed a little bit was the, the ownership criteria.

0:06:41 - (Chase Eikenbary): When we first created this program, we took, we, we thought what underrepresented populations own businesses that might need a little support. So we took out the ownership criteria that with this guideline change. So if you're a woman, a minority, someone with a disability or a veteran, we still want to know that because we potentially could find additional funding for you. But that doesn't, that's no longer a requirement for the program. So it's, it opens it up to any business owner.

0:07:21 - (A): Most definitely. That certainly one helps narrow the scope with the types of industries that can be helped but also opens it up quite a bit with the different ownership guidelines there. So that's, that's really good to hear. You talked about this has been used a few times in Hancock county with, with some Finley and Hancock county businesses. I don't know if you could talk about the specific businesses, but can you talk a little bit about the cases and how they have been used by businesses in our area?

0:07:49 - (Chase Eikenbary): Yeah. One specifically manufactures clothing, apparel, signage and, and various other different types of, I would say marketing materials. So they, they do have a very robust manufacturing side to their business and the majority of their sales was all business to business. So we were able to. Manufacturing. We were able to categorize it as manufacturing, not so much business to consumer.

0:08:26 - (Doug Jenkins): Right.

0:08:27 - (Chase Eikenbary): We were able to provide them. They're actually going through their second round right now, so they were able to get another grant as well. So hopefully we can talk about that one more specifically. Another one we've done about two years ago was within the IT sector. So there's a great IT focused company that is out throughout the world. But they're, they're based here in Finley and Hancock county doing some amazing things, made some significant investments to their infrastructure here at their Finley and Hancock county sites.

0:09:07 - (Chase Eikenbary): And so that one fell right into the IT side of things so that one qualified. So I would say anything that, you know, maybe there's like I said, a small food processing company. You know, we have a lot of those within Ohio. So you know, a lot of folks who are maybe trying to scale up the. Something they started in their kitchen, now they're in maybe a smaller commercial Kitchen and they're looking to grow even more.

0:09:36 - (Doug Jenkins): Why is it important for Regional Growth.

0:09:38 - (A): Partnership and through that avenue, the state of Ohio to invest in businesses through programs like this?

0:09:45 - (Chase Eikenbary): It's exactly what I think your office stands for too, Doug. It's the lifeblood of Ohio's economy is all of our small businesses. And you know, a small business can have 50 employees or five employees or one. And at the end of the day it's one job means one family. And it just keeps growing and growing. So, so it's significant to Jobs Ohio and the region and I know every other region in the state because if we don't grow our own, why would other folks look at us? Why would we keep wanting to develop our sites and develop our infrastructure for our traction projects?

0:10:28 - (Chase Eikenbary): So this side of things with the expansion side is exactly what we want to lean into and help support. So I think by opening up the, the companies, taking away that distress zip code, taking away the ownership criteria and really honing in on the Jobs Ohio targeted industries, I think it really will help because it's been proven that those industries, those are the ones that really move Ohio's economy forward.

0:10:57 - (Chase Eikenbary): So that's why I think Jobs Ohio is leaning in on it. And hopefully anybody listening can get with, with Doug or with Chris and Matt from the economic development side locally, get with me. Happy to, to support if we can.

0:11:13 - (A): Yeah. And to that end, I think it really spells out why Jobs Ohio and then the regional partnerships like in Northwest Ohio, it's the regional growth partnership, it's called different things in other parts of the state. But it's not so monolithic the way that it's executed because as you stated, the changes to the program already, I don't think that was a top down thing. To me that feels more like collaboration and feedback from business communities all around the state.

0:11:40 - (Chase Eikenbary): I agree. I think so now that a couple years have passed and we've seen, you know, we've had some, some good success with the program, how can we open it up a little bit more to, like I said earlier, just have a, maybe an expanded reach of the program that can include all areas of the state. We really have, the board has seen faith in this program so they've renewed it and we have money to spend in this program.

0:12:11 - (Chase Eikenbary): So we do keep, you know, a focus on job creation. But it's a, it's a minimal requirement. It's really helps, it's really meant to put a shot in the arm for some of those businesses that might need that piece of Equipment need to knock down a wall, maybe they need to improve their IT or their software updates or anything. So something to help really grow that business is, I think there was success and now I think there's just going to be even more, especially since we've opened it up to more businesses within that manufacturing and Jobs Ohio industry side of things.

0:12:55 - (A): And if you're a business that thinks maybe you're close on some of these things, it's just I think important to have that conversation with, with Chase and you can help figure out if it fits in this grant program, maybe if there's another program available. That's one of the things that I really like about the RGP is that very rarely do I think you just give somebody a no and that's it. You always usually try and find something that, that might be beneficial or at the very least keep them posted should things change like they just recently did.

0:13:28 - (Chase Eikenbary): Yeah, yeah. And I know Doug, we've shared some, some back and forth like, okay, does this company qualify? Maybe we could do this and that. And the goal would be hopefully they, they do qualify for something through Jobs Ohio and maybe they qualify for something that you have in the forefront of your mind. And then we can stack those incentives and give the company the biggest bang for their buck to hopefully get them just, you know, grow in the Hancock county area.

0:13:57 - (Chase Eikenbary): So, yeah, I mean, we don't. We love everybody within our culture right now. We love a good quick no. So we can move on. But if we can identify other resources, if it's not a fit, we will. That's our mission and our commitment to the businesses through Jobs Ohio.

0:14:18 - (A): So outside of this program, obviously the rgp quite busy. I was unable to make it to the last meeting. But as we head into the second half of the year here, what are the things that really stand out to you that have been going well? What are the things you're keeping an eye on from an RGP standpoint?

0:14:36 - (Chase Eikenbary): Yeah. And I love that you're attending those. Our last one that we had, we focused on our Vibrant Communities program, our Vibrant Communities that is really a bridge between traditional economic development and community development. And that Vibrant Communities program is something we wanted to highlight because there's a lot of different communities throughout Ohio that have taken advantage of that.

0:15:01 - (Chase Eikenbary): And I know I'm working with your team on a couple potential opportunities with that program in Hancock county. We also have a pre planning grant that goes along with that for community development. So those are stuff. Those programs are really, I don't see them going away. I think it's just they're adding to the economic development landscape when it comes to, to companies want to have a great quality of place to, you know, if they're going to site a new facility, they want to make sure those communities are robust and have what their team members need.

0:15:41 - (Chase Eikenbary): Another thing I would say we want to see more of from there's, there's a lot in flux when it comes to companies. The tariff side of things is impacting and we see, see things both positive for Ohio and for the manufacturers. But we also, you know, hear a little bit back and forth, especially with companies maybe exporting, maybe they're exporting to China or exporting somewhere else and maybe having to press pause or find out how to do it some other place and not in America. So we're kind of working through that, seeing what happens with that big beautiful bill.

0:16:23 - (Chase Eikenbary): Some other things in the, in the national side of things, but from the Ohio and the regional side of things, we're really hoping for actual traditional expansion projects. So if you're a company here in Findlay and Hancock county or within Ohio, we want to see you, if you have an opportunity to put capital in one of your facilities, we want you to do it here and not in your other facility in Georgia or Michigan.

0:16:52 - (A): Or Tennessee or wherever actually Michigan especially now Michigan. Disrespect to our neighbors to the north.

0:17:00 - (Chase Eikenbary): Well, we love, I love, we love stealing from them too. So I was, I was just talking to your economic development team and anything we can do to help grow the companies that we have here and I know there's a couple leads kind of bubbling up, so we're here to support, I think, I know Ohio is trying to be creative and very business friendly. So if there's a barrier or an issue, let us know and we'll see if we can help you solve it.

0:17:33 - (Chase Eikenbary): So whether that's through site development, whether that's through incentives or partnering with various stakeholders, lot to come, but I think we need to focus on our expansion efforts here and that will, that will just the rest of the dominoes will continue to fall.

0:17:51 - (A): I think that's a really, really good point because the headlines always are dominated, what's new, coming to town, things like that. And certainly we've had successes in that regard. But the vast majority of economic development growth, as we've seen through economic development here in the site selection magazine, top micro designations and everything, most of that investment comes from businesses that are already here investing in either facilities or employees or whatever the case may be.

0:18:18 - (A): Investing dollars back in. So the fact that RGP is making it possible and making, possibly making it easier for businesses to do that and eliminate roadblocks, that's, that's great to hear.

0:18:29 - (Chase Eikenbary): Yeah, we, we hope companies take advantage of everything. So we always say if, if you, if we don't know the answer, someone we know probably does. So we'll, we'll go out hunting for that. So with your team and Chris and Matt, from the economic development standpoint, if, if there's a company listening that's not talking to you guys, please talk to them. Because if you need assistance or even are thinking of doing something and you might think it's maybe it's a pain in your, your behind, it's, it's really not like we try to streamline it as quick, quick as possible and to make it very much worth your time. Because every business owner and company or company leader, entrepreneur is probably very, very busy right now. And the last thing they want to do is spend their time on strategizing. They just kind of need to get through the days.

0:19:26 - (Chase Eikenbary): But it's important and we'll try to make it worthwhile.

0:19:29 - (A): Well, with that said, if people want to have a conversation with you about the grant program or anything else that you're doing at the Regional growth part partnership, what's the best way to get in touch with you?

0:19:38 - (Chase Eikenbary): Chase, always feel free to give me a call or a text. My phone number is 419-722-4427. If not, and I know I rambled that off. Doug, Chris and Matt are the best when it comes to economic development in, in this area for Finley and Hancock County. So between you three locally and you're everybody that's on your team, I will just be that supporting actress that comes along with you. So, yeah, get a hold of you guys, too.

0:20:13 - (A): That's a great way to get started with it.

0:20:14 - (Doug Jenkins): Chase, thanks for joining us once again.

0:20:16 - (Chase Eikenbary): Thank you. Have a good one.

0:20:19 - (A): We get a lot of questions about.

0:20:20 - (Doug Jenkins): Funding sources for businesses here at the Chamber. And truthfully, while there's no such thing.

0:20:25 - (A): As free money, there are programs like.

0:20:27 - (Doug Jenkins): We just talked about that are available. It's good to know some of the.

0:20:30 - (A): Avenues that are available to keep our.

0:20:32 - (Doug Jenkins): Local businesses investing in themselves and in turn investing in the community. Now, if you missed episode 157 with Nicole Scott of the Small Business Resource center at Road State, that's actually a really good companion piece to this. We drill down on some other funding sources as well, so you can take.

0:20:48 - (A): A look at that I'll link to.

0:20:49 - (Doug Jenkins): It in the show notes for better access. But as far as just hey, there are grants. I apply for grants, I get money.

0:20:55 - (A): It doesn't really work like that.

0:20:56 - (Doug Jenkins): You need to have a conversation with people like Chase or people like Nicole and and you'll be all set. But the whole Matthew Lasko get your free money. That was my Matthew Lasko impression. It was horrible. I promise not to spring it on you again. Anyway, those late night commercials doesn't really work like that.

0:21:11 - (A): But if you have a conversation with.

0:21:13 - (Doug Jenkins): Us here at the Chamber or Economic development with Nicole or with Chase, we can get you pointed in the right direction. That'll do it for this week's episode. Chamber Amplified is a free podcast for the community thanks to the investment of members in the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.

0:21:29 - (A): Because of our robust membership, we're able.

0:21:30 - (Doug Jenkins): To focus on providing timely information to the Findlay and Hancock county business community, run leadership programs for adults and teenagers, and be an advocate for the area, all while providing tools to help local businesses succeed. And if that sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, just let me know and we can talk about how an investment in the Chamber helps strengthen the community.

0:21:49 - (Doug Jenkins): If you have any ideas for topics you'd like to hear covered on future episodes, send me an email d. Jenkins@findlayhancockchamber.com thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time on Chamber Amplified. From the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.