Port Authority Delivers Small Business Toolkits

Staff at the Clinton Swim and Tennis Club received a Small Business Safety Toolkit as part of the countywide distribution last week.

(Wilmington, Ohio) Partnering with JobsOhio and the Dayton Development Coalition (DDC), the Clinton County Port Authority received 125 Small Business Safety Toolkits to distribute throughout the community.

“Each Toolkit contains 100 3-ply face masks, 10 KN95 masks, and a 24-ounce bottle of hand sanitizer,” said Clinton County Port Authority Economic Development Director Jennifer Ekey. “These are the items small businesses – those with 100 employees or fewer – said would help them in their efforts to reopen safely. JobsOhio and the DDC worked to make these available to us so we could distribute them locally, with a focus on locally owned service industry businesses like restaurants and salons, and specialty retail shops.”

Port Authority staff delivered over 50 kits to businesses countywide and shared additional Toolkits with both the Wilmington-Clinton County Chamber of Commerce and Main Street Wilmington for distribution.

In discussing the distribution of the Toolkits, J.P. Nauseef, CEO of Jobs Ohio, said, “Small and medium sized businesses make up the backbone of Ohio’s economy and with grit and determination, they and their employees have persevered through unprecedented economic and health challenges during this pandemic.”

“We work with the DDC on many projects, including business leads and incentive packages, and this is just one more way our partnership with the DDC helps to bring resources to our community. It reinforces our focus on local business retention” said Dan Evers, Clinton County Port Authority Executive Director.

While the distribution continued for about a week, Port Authority staff, along with Small Business Development Center (SBDC) representative Sangmi Kim, focused deliveries on two different afternoons.

“We had the opportunity to stop in and visit several businesses around the county,” said Ekey. “This gave us the chance to really talk to them; to understand how they were doing and to hopefully offer some support and let them know there are resources available. It also gave us the chance to introduce Sangmi to many of the small business owners and introduce SBDC resources to them.”

Ekey continued, saying, “The number of Toolkits available to each region of the state was limited. If a local business would benefit from a Toolkit, or if it has other questions on concerns on resources or programs to assist them in the current business climate, we would be happy to field those questions or concerns.”

Contact Jennifer Ekey at 937-655-7019 or at Jekey@ccportauthority.com. Contact Sangmi Kim at KimSj4@miamioh.edu, or visit the SBDC website at  www.miamioh.edu/regionals/sbdc/index.html

About the Clinton County Port Authority

The Clinton County Port Authority is a special purpose government formed to operate transportation infrastructure and lead economic development efforts. Designated by the County, City and the CIC as the lead Economic Development agency for the County, it coordinates with the Dayton Development Coalition and JobsOhio to attract jobs to the area.  It owns and operates the Wilmington Air Park, an integrated aviation and logistics business park located on 1,900 acres with nearly three million square feet of industrial, office and hangar space. Learn more at www.wilmingtonairpark.com.

About JobsOhio

JobsOhio is a private nonprofit economic development corporation designed to drive job creation and new capital investment in Ohio through business attraction, retention and expansion. The organization also works to seed talent production in its targeted industries and to attract talent to Ohio.

About the Dayton Development Coalition

The Dayton Development Coalition (DDC) is the leading economic development organization for the 14-county Dayton Region. Working closely with public and private regional partners, its mission is to recruit, expand and retain jobs. The DDC and the Dayton Region ranked as the nation’s top metro for its size for economic development in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2019 and runner-up in 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015.

About SBDC

The U.S Small Business Administration (SBA) administers the Small Business Development Centers Program to provide management assistance to current and prospective small business owners. SBDCs offer one-stop assistance to individuals and small businesses by providing a wide variety of information and guidance in central and easily accessible branch locations.

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