Category: laurasteinbrink’s blog

ANEO got a 2-for-1 when I recently met with Tom Barratt, principal with Tom Barratt Companies.  This successful angel investor and entrepreneur is behind several growing Northeast Ohio companies and a notable resource to the angle investor community with his monthly Barratt Report.  The Tom Barratt Companies is one of many potential ANEO partners in the Northeast Ohio angel network and he brings a vital perspective to the growing ranks of ANEO Partners working together to improve Northeast Ohio’s economy.

This week the Fund for Our Economic Future voted in favor of creating a two-part program (grants + public awareness and engagement) to help the region’s governments collaborate and be more efficient.  Today many Advance Northeast Ohio partners took part in a webinar to learn about the new program and the presentation is attached to this blog.  (You have to register and log into the site to  access the document.)  In short, there will be (in 2009) up to $300,000 dollars available to fund 3 new (or vastly expanded) government collaborations that lead to cost savings and efficiency.  These funds are for implementation of new ideas that can be replicated across the region and that involve at least two governmental units (funds cannot be used for planning or studying).  More details of this program will be available in 2009 – no deadlines or applications exist today.  Please check back for more information.  In the meantime, practice telling your friends and your elected officials how important it is for governments to collaborate:  be engaged.

Earlier this year many of you read about the Cost of Government Study commissioned by the Fund for Our Economic Future and other partners in Advance Northeast Ohio that provides a comprehensive resource to the public to aid in analyzing the cost of government in Northeast Ohio (16 counties).  In doing this report we learned that government costs $17 billion annually, or 10% of our GRP (gross regional product).  Curious what your government spends on fire versus your neighbor, or want to see the trend in administrative costs over the 10 year period spanning 1992, 1997 and 2002?  If so, check it out.

The US Census may require individuals to declare their existence and other detailed information once every 10 years, but it requires governments to report their expenses and revenues every 5 years on the 02 and 07 of a decade.  Census reports were due from local government in July of last year, and the Census kept open the deadline until the end of October for late filers.  As of 10-31-08 there were many Northeast Ohio governments – 220 of 857 or 25% – whose information is not on file with the US Census.  Included in that list of 219 governments are 5 counties, 63  cities, 113  townships and 38 special districts.  Want to know if governments to which you pay taxes did their part and filed?  Check out the attachment (click on the tabs at the bottom to see the detail).  You need to be registered with this site to access the file. Register here.

I’m curious to know if this information makes you mad.  Please post your thoughts and responses here.

With over $8 million in deals already completed in its first year, the Minority Business Accelerator is growing Northeast Ohio businesses.  Focused on companies with $2.5million (or nearly) in sales, the accelerator is pairing majority corporations seeking to increase their supplier diversity spend with minority firms that fit their needs.  The presentation from the December ANEO Partner webinar is attached to this blog post (you need to register and log-in to the site to see the document).  Check out the Accelerator’s great success.

There are over 500 networks and organizations working on growing Northeast Ohio’s economy by growing our agriculture industry local food production and processing.  Joined together through an action-focused network, there are people changing the conversation about global food to local food and showing each other how it works.   The newest ANEO Partner is part of this coalition, and is also a leader in land use planning efforts:  Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy.

The region’s economic agenda is linking unlikely partners in the shared mission of growing our economy.  Local food, and an agriculture industry cluster that also supports bio-agriculture and advance energy, is what links rural economic development to urban economic development.  Not only is there shared purpose in growing businesses, there is shared purpose in becoming more sustainable and less dependent upon grid energy, implementing meaningful land use planning policies that preserve agricultural resources and reinvest in urbanized land.  Everyone eats.  The question you can ask yourself is this:  where does the food you eat come from, and what role can you play in growing our economy by eating locally grown, locally prepared, and locally processed foods?  Check out the attached file for more information.

The Northern Ohio Minority Business Council became an ANEO partner today after a unanimous vote of its board, which represents corporate and MBE (minority business enterprise) leaders from Northern Ohio (39 counties North of Columbus).  NOMBC has a strong 20-year history of engaging in economic development in the Northern Ohio region by supporting the growth of MBE firms of all sizes and the connection between MBEs and corporate procurement departments.  NOMBC is the local affiliate of the National Minority Supplier Diversity Council, the country’s premier organization for corporations and MBEs on supplier diversity.  Through its affiliation with NMSDC, NOMBC certifies our local MBEs with the preferred minority business certification that is recognized nation-wide by our leading companies (Ford, Home Depot, KeyBank, WalMart, etc).

NOMBC staff and a few board members are preparing to leave for Las Vegas to attend the NMSDC convention where they, in partnership with TeamNEO, will be promoting Cleveland Plus to MBEs across the country – recommending Northeast Ohio as a welcome place for business expansion.   NOMBC joins ANEO’s growing number of partners promoting regional economic competitiveness.