In 2015, the Crawford County Partnership for Education and Economic Development completed several Community Development initiatives from the community's strategic plan, Crawford: 20/20 Vision.
Community Development: a Year in Review
BUSINESS SUCCESS & JOB AVAILABILITY
- Supervisor Boot Camp trained another 33 Crawford County supervisors in Communication, Conflict Resolution, Employment Law, Time Management and more! New in 2015: Making Training Pay Off (or, as we called it, Boot Camp for Bosses)-- a 1/2 day session to reinforce supervisors' training with their bosses.
- SPARK trained an additional 20 business professionals in a one-day Effective Communications course.
- WAGE expanded this year to include three more schools, 85 more educators, 210 more 8th-graders and six more manufacturers in the Galion-Crestline area-- Carter Machine, Covert, Tramec Sloan, Schilling Graphics, Elliott Machine and Galion LLC.
- Crawford County Hiring Fairs in October and April connected over 300 people to more than 100 job opportunities in the area. New in 2015 was a training session for recruiters called Attract, Hire and Retain.
EDUCATION & WORKFORCE PREPARATION
- The Crawford Success Center opened the Fall-- 5 years ahead of schedule! (The plan called for it to be accomplished by the year 2020). The Crawford Success Center not only represents a partnership between Crawford County and North Central State College, it represents the future of our workforce, and Crawford County's willingness to increase educational attainment rates.
- Crawford Works-- in 2015, a team of Crawford County business professionals and community leaders brought a new solution to the table to address entry-level job turnover: Crawford Works. After extensive research and the completion of a needs assessment, we believe this program will make a significant impact on the quality of our workforce! More to come on this exciting new initiative in 2016!
- Senior Projects were a hit again this year! Students who participated gave impressive presentations about their career goals and experiences with local business mentors.
- Leader in Me: we are so excited about bringing this program to Crawford County! Thanks to local match funds from Ohio Mutual, Advanced Fiber Technology and American Electric Power, Crawford: 20/20 Vision was able to secure the Community Connectors Grant. In addition to helping fund the Leader in Me programs for Crawford County schools, the grant and match dollars will also go toward other education and workforce initiatives such as WAGE, mentoring, internships and more-- stay tuned in 2016 as we begin to implement these exciting new opportunities!
QUALITY OF LIFE
"Create more activities for families and jobs for Crawford workers by developing an all-year sports complex near Route 30 to host sporting activities, classes and other events to draw in regional revenue and tourism spending and promote county fitness" (pg. 32, Crawford: 20/20 Vision plan)
If you build it, they will come! That's the idea behind the Quality of Life Action Team's efforts to bring a multi-million dollar Sports Entertainment Tourism (SET) complex to Crawford County. With help from the Crawford County Commissioners, we've contracted with the National Association of Sports Commission (NASC), hosted local focus groups, and conducted both market and financial feasibility studies in 2015. Already, the news of this potential "game-changer" for our area has led to growth-- the Sleep Inn/Main Stay Suites increased its investment to build 70 beds (from 50) facility in Galion, and restaurants are thinking of locating around the potential site in anticipation of the impact this project will have in the area! More exciting news to come in 2016!
PUBLIC SAFETY & DRUG ABUSE
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
- Crawford Unlimited Leadership (CU Lead): Our fourth cohort of CU Leaders graduated and Dr. Paul Johnson welcomed in the fifth this September-- nearly 80 leaders have completed this innovative training to date.
- Crawford Conversations in 2015 featured business topics like job-readiness and the characteristics of an emerging workforce.
- Leadership Day (May 8th) and our 5th Leadercast encouraged local leaders to be brave and innovative as we push our community and our organizations into new territories.
- State of the Vision this year celebrated bravery and innovation by honoring emerging leaders for their contributions to countywide successes such as The Crawford Success Center. Guest speaker Sean Swarner (a two-time cancer survivor, mountain climber and nationally-renowned inspirational speaker) encouraged us all to be brave, and summit our own Everest.
2015 was also a year of transition for The Partnership.
Our founder and mentor Dave Williamson retired and we welcomed new leaders, Gary Frankhouse (Executive Director and Economic Development Director), and Steve Crall (Community Development Director). Several other founding members of Crawford: 20/20 Vision also recently retired (but only from their day jobs thank goodness!). They will still be serving as board and Vision Committee members and volunteers as their experience and wisdom is invaluable to our continued growth. Thank you to Dave and: Steve Mohr, Superintendent of Wynford Schools; Jim Kennedy, Ohio Mutual's CEO; Janet Pry, Community Foundation for Crawford County; and Robin Hildebrand, Crawford County Auditor. We hope to make you proud in 2016!
The Partnership - 419.563.1809 - info@crawford2020.com
Credits:
Arkphotodesign, Michelle Failor, Sarah Carman, Matt Crall and Todd Boyer.