C-TEC Integrated Part of Family, Workplace, and Economy

One day, we got a call.  “We have an opening in the preschool.”  As a dad of triplets, I said, “Call me when you have three!”

C-TEC called back.  The program leadership saw the value of giving two years’ worth of childcare students a chance to list triplets experience on their resumes.  My youngest kids got their first chance to get to know C-TEC at four years old.

It wasn’t the last.

My son would go on to graduate from the high school engineering program.  Proving the value of career technical training, he’s now employed in a laboratory and nearly ready to fly the proverbial nest.

C-TEC marks 50 years.  For many of those years, I can recite how C-TEC, and its variety of programming, has integrated into my family, workplace, and our local economy. 

Certifications and recertifications matter.  Over the years, the Port Authority has employed C-TEC grads.  Our operations coordinator, Bill Wright, got both a C-TEC high school diploma and, later on, a certification in networking through C-TEC.  Networking wasn’t even a thing when he graduated.  Now, it’s an essential credential. Our whole team has gotten office skills training.

Customized industry training matters.  One of our Port Authority Board members, Fred Paul, first came to work with C-TEC when he was in the local manufacturing industry.  Later, he switched teams to join the C-TEC customized training side as the training-industry connector.  That effort put C-TEC on the map locally, really nationally, in the all-important pre-employment training realm.  C-TEC’s approach has been a national model many have duplicated for decades.

That thing about being a national model can’t be overemphasized.  I tagged along a couple years ago when a national author, Joel Kotkin, was seeking to shine a spotlight on the people and places where career technical training was matching up with the growing manufacturing sector.  He specifically asked to go to C-TEC.   The school’s students and programs were the magnet for Kotkin’s City Journal article soon after.  Great story.

Career readiness matters. Air Force Colonel Vicki Reed, retired commander of AFMETCAL, one of our customers on the Port Authority campus, stayed in Licking County.  Now, she’s connecting the students with industry for work experiences that are rooted in keeping the talent right here after graduation.

Add unique experiences to the list of what matters.  Senator Sherrod Brown’s team lent his power to convene to encourage STEM and manufacturing camps reaching middle school kids. C-TEC stepped up years ago.  Last Summer, the middle schoolers got to tour a cleanroom and witness testing labs at work.  Most adults never get that sort of experience on their checklists.

Workforce impact matters. Workforce readiness translates to economic impact.   C-TEC has smoothed the path for our existing companies to upskill their existing workforce.  Every successful manufacturer in town can recite how C-TEC has helped fulfill their workforce needs.  Ariel Corporation, with a plant in Heath, has brought on a workforce from about every level of the working age with C-TEC at their side. Ariel’s location and expansion in Licking County is greatly owed to that workforce impact.

It matters to every company and every prospect.  In my role, I’m always pitching to potential job creators the capabilities of Licking County to deliver on a hard-to-deliver promise of providing a skilled workforce.  Companies need to find skills available now and into the future.  C-TEC is part of that pitch with all of these capabilities. 

I know my personal story is replicated in other families and workplaces too.

The C-TEC 50-year story is an all Licking County story.

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This column was submitted for publication in the Newark Advocate supplement celebrating 50 years of C-TEC.

Development News Predicts 2023 Opportunity

I’m a student of family history research.  I know that, in one branch of my family, my third great grandparents came to Ohio over 150 years ago from Germany.  Their granddaughter, my great grandmother, left the state but later came back.  In that same family branch, my grandfather left Ohio. He graduated high school and college on the West Coast but came back to Ohio 85 years ago.

Coming to Ohio, and coming back to Ohio, had a common reason among my ancestors.  The reason in every generation:  Opportunity.

I can’t help but think my personal family history trends could be a pattern for other families all over Ohio as the development announcement news of the last few years gets realized in job opportunities opening up. Ohio history has historical examples of windows of job opportunities that bring people to Ohio for the first time or homesick Ohioans back home for good. 

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine used his second inaugural remarks to call for legal immigrants and people interested in seizing opportunity to “come to Ohio.” The Governor is on to something. Use of his bully pulpit is spot on.

JobsOhio CEO J.P. Nauseef labels what we are experiencing in development announcements in Ohio as “generational opportunities.”  He’s right. 

2023 will be that year.  Licking County is at the heart of it.

New projects are getting more real.

Behr Paint will open a new building which will be the third largest on the Port Authority’s campus in Heath that boasts 80 years of manufacturing development.  The building will be ready this Summer.

Amgen’s building in Western Licking County is going up fast.  Little known fact:  Amgen is already hiring and quietly opened up in a new speculative-built industrial building in Heath last June.

Intel could start hiring in 2023, including internships with a promise of a permanent job when the facility is ready to open.  Follow Intel.com/Ohio. 

It’s a good bet that those of us in the development community are focused on helping ensure our existing industry has the chance to grow too.

Boeing is at its highest employment level in over 20 years.  They’re still hiring at jobs.Boeing.com.

Transcendia’s new building in Union Township looks great.  Jobs are there.

The list is long and wide in manufacturing in Licking County.

These now-emerging generational trends can continue as long as we continue to work, as a community and a state, to seize the opportunity before us. 

Let’s all make it our job.  Welcome homesick Ohioans back home. Welcome new Ohioans here. 

National author Joel Kotkin, who has been a frequent visitor to Ohio and Licking County, has his finger on the pulse of opportunity in manufacturing.  Kotkin recently wrote in a national column, “History is calling on North America, and the future depends on how we respond.” 

What a great time to be in Ohio.  What a great time to be in Licking County.

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This column is a regular development column also appearing The Advocate.

The Grass Isn't Always Greener. . .

 
. . .on the other side.

My youngest kids and I enjoyed Spring Break in a southern destination.

Southern Canada that is.

We visited Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada for a few days to take in the sights and sounds of the gorgeous Falls.

It's easy to think that things are just booming in a place like Niagara Falls when you see cranes up and new buildings being built.

I can't help but take a look at the other side though, literally.

The view from the 35th floor back side of our hotel shows one the "other side" of Niagara Falls.  It's rather a stark contrast to the glitz of the more visible side of the Falls.

Frankly, as a recent report from Joel Kotkin shows, the grass is greener right here in Licking County and Central Ohio, and it's because the basis for our economy is stronger.  We are fortunate that our economy is anchored solidly on a diverse array of "economic base" type industries like manufacturing, laboratory services, machining, food production, bank headquarters, multi-state logistics, and more.

The Next Smart City Is. . .A Suburb

Two pieces out there on autonomous vehicles and what they mean for suburbs--places like Newark, Ohio--are music to the ears for suburban economic development-minded folks.

Joel Kotkin writes in summation of both pieces: "By one estimate, as much as a trillion dollars of real estate value could swing to locations far from job centers that will become more attractive due to autonomous vehicles."

"Autonomous Cars Are About to Change the Suburbs" is in Forbes.  

Medium.com has a piece titled "~$1 Trillion of Real Estate is On The Move. . .Here's Why."

Must reads.

Welcoming Millennials To The 'Burbs

"But when they do leave the nest, albeit later than in previous generations, they are becoming adults whose collective decisions are not so different from those of their parents."

In his piece, "The Screwed Millennial Generation Gets Smart," Joel Kotkin puts the urban planners on his target list again with a deep-dive, demographic and fact-filled look at millennials' collective life choices.

He cites that millennials are not choosing the density of living that many have pined for in recent years.  Noting that the average age of a millennial is approaching 30 and the generation has had 16 million children of their own now, he's noting the trend to find single-family homes.  He notes the trend to more affordable housing areas and declines in urban population that coincide.

As always, this Kotkin piece is a must-read.

We Are Number 11

The latest from Joel Kotkin for Forbes ranks U.S. cities on manufacturing growth.  The "Where Manufacturing is Thriving in the U.S." piece has news close to home. We're Number 11.

By we, I mean Columbus, a region of which our Port Authority is a part.

With the Port Authority at the heart of the largest manufacturing corridor in this region, it's easy to take hand and pat on back for this improving ranking.

In fact, we recently won an international project against the #1 city on the list that could help our region's rankings in the future.

The piece points out that the northern part of the New American Heartland pulled more than its weight in the latest rankings too, saying, "Nine of this year's top 10 regions for manufacturing job growth are in red states."  They could have said 10 of the top 11 for that matter.

New American Heartland Signals End of "R" Word

"The New American Heartland" report made it's debut at the City Club of Cleveland yesterday.  It's now officially out in print.

I'd like to hope that the gong at the City Club was the signal going forward that the "Rust Belt" term has come to an end.  Indeed, that was my personal contribution to the discussion at the panel.

More than that, though, I hope that the narrative that the report supports goes forward in development circles.

The New American Heartland's combination of manufacturing prowess, logistics, energy, and human capital are the formula for revival of Middle America and renewing of the middle class.

Joel Kotkin said it best.  "The future of the Heartland rests with the Heartland."


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News Clips on "The New American Heartland" report:

America's Heartland is Critical to Our Future

LeBron James and Revenge of Fly Over Country

No Rust Here: The New American Heartland

With tweets over the past few days, the Center for Opportunity Urbanism released its latest report by co-authors Joel Kotkin and Michael Lind.  "The New American Heartland: Revitalizing The Middle Class by Revitalizing Middle America" piece is now available for download.

Before the 2016 Presidential election made manufacturing and the Midwest populist topics, the report was being put together. The report sends the message that the "New American Heartland" is the key to revitalizing the entire country and the middle class.  The opportunities for U.S. manufacturing's future are fueled by logistics, energy, and a growing middle class from the Midwest and the entire middle of the country.

I have a bias, but I say it's a must-read.

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A sidebar in the report has a familiar name on it.  Here's an excerpt from yours truly.

Uniting Behind Pragmatic, Local Policymaking

Richard Florida (left) and Joel Kotkin at a recent joint appearance.

When Joel Kotkin and Richard Florida can pen an article together.  It's time to notice.

Today, The Daily Beast ran the column "To Reunite America, Liberate Cities to Govern Themselves." 

It's a must-read.

The message is summed up in the piece:

The issue isn't just the dysfunction of our national government, but how we can best and most efficiently address our economic needs and challenges.  The United States is a geographically varied place.  No top-down, one-size-fits-all set of politics can address the very different conditions that prevail among communities.

They cite the need for pragmatic local policy making as the key to getting America reunited.

Right on.

A Place Debate Around The Term Rust Belt

I don't like that when one Googles "Rust Belt Ohio" and looks at the images the search term pulls up that my hometown shows up first.  That's St. Joseph's church and the South Side of Massillon, Ohio right there.

I want to change that.  I detest the term Rust Belt.

Though I can agree to wanting a change, change to what is the question. I'm not in the camp with those who are advocating for singular focus on classes of people and attempting to make Ohio "hip and cool" as a magical recipe for economic development.

The concept implies steering us away from the manufacturing sector that fueled, and still fuels, our economy.  Opportunity for a cross-generational, working age population is how to grow our economy. Upper mobility is our aim and from where my thinking comes.

Ohio Governor Kasich is quoted as taking on the cause of burying the term Rust Belt.  A few national stories over the weekend ran the story.

It was the contrarian to the change in name and who is also quoted in the articles, Richey Piiparinen of Cleveland State University, who caught my attention though.  He has embraced the "R" word, but I nonetheless often find myself agreeing with him because he often takes the view that what we need to change to is a better version of ourselves, not something we aren't or something we used to be.

Piiparinen points out that later generations don't share the same dim view of how things are based on a rosier view of how things used to be.  The distance between where they are and where they want to be isn't as great as those who are cursed by remembering some better time.

He's quoted in the article as saying of the emerging working age generation, "They don't have the psychic baggage, they were not born in the heyday. And so this idea of resiliency, of struggle, of fighting for your land, of being proud of your land, but at the same time not having any illusions about what we were, that's been a whole new generation owning that term."

This is a place debate really.  What sort of place does Ohio want to be?  What sort of place does the entire American Heartland of the country want to be?  What opportunity is there to be what we can  be?

Necessary Immigration

Andrew Alfred Baker, circa 1909

My great grandfather was born in Germany in 1876.  He came with his mother and sisters to America in 1884, finding his way to Cleveland.

He would go on to join the infantry in the Spanish-American War, become a draftsman working for manufacturers, and raise a family in Northeast Ohio.

Then, the country needed immigrants like Andrew Baker.  It's hard to imagine the industrial revolution happening in the U.S. and in Ohio in particular without a major influx of immigrants.

We need immigration now too. Pragmatism needs to win out if we are to experience the 21st Century version of industrial revolution.

Thus, President Trump faces what Joel Kotkin calls "The Immigration Dilemma."  Kotkin writes:

"Like most high-income countries, the United States’ fertility rate is below that needed to replace the current generation. If the U.S. cuts off its flow of immigrants too dramatically, we will soon face the labor shortages, collapse of consumer demand and drops in innovation already seen in the European Union and much of East Asia."

Without immigration in the mix of our population growth, we could struggle to grow our economy at a time when the shrinking working age populations of Germany, Japan, China, and the EU are giving our country a chance to grow.

See the whole Kotkin piece at JoelKotkin.com.

Millenial Watch: Move to Suburbs Beginning?

Joel Kotkin's latest look at demographics is focused on the Generation Xers, but it's a tidbit about millenials that stands out.

He writes, "Like the Xers, millenials are beginning to move into the suburbs, contradicting all claims to the contrary."  As is always the case, Kotkin backs it with data.

See JoelKotkin.com for the full piece.

Governor Listening to Urban Developers Instead of Manufacturers?

The transcript from Ohio Governor John Kasich's State of the State address verified my own count.

As is my thing, I found four uses of the "m" word in his 2015 State of the State address.  He was forty minutes in before the use of the word manufacturing.

I'm not sure anyone in manufacturing is coming away feeling good about those four uses either.

One was a reference to how good manufacturers have had it for the last ten years in Ohio with a broad, low tax rate that the Ohio CAT tax provides.  The proposed budget has increases to that rate.

Frankly, the other references seemed like a rebuff of manufacturing.  In fact, the implication was that we needed to move our economy to a "cool cities" approach embraced by self-proclaimed smart growth advocates and urban developers.

It reads:

"We've got to do the heavy lifting and make these bold new choices. . . But here's what I'm going to suggest to you: if we look back on Ohio and we are only big heavy manufacturing and we forget the cloud computing—where we now have a billion dollar investment, the data and logistics that IBM brought to our state, the medical device companies, the medical imaging companies, the new IT services, the new financial services—that’s where the jobs are, folks. That's where the world is going.

"You want to keep young people in this state? When they graduate, if they can get an exciting new job, they're not going anywhere. We've got cool cities. We've got low cost of living. We've just got to give them the jobs so they don't have to go somewhere else to get excited about their life. This is what this is really all about.

"So I want you to think about this, carefully, please; I ask you to think about it carefully, because I believe the future of our state is at risk. This isn't about John Kasich. This is about this precious state and how I think it will look in 20 years; because decisions we make now, Jim Buchy, are decisions that will affect us a little bit further down the road."

Then the Governor revealed from where he is getting this language that seems to be a knock on manufacturing and a dream about "cool" cities when he said:

"As our population ages and more and more baby boomers retire, you know what happens? These kinds of cutting-edge jobs help us keep our young people and help us attract new ones. And when combined with the cool factor we're seeing in our cities, as well as our state's low cost of living, as Al Ratner points out, we can truly take our state to the next level with better, more exciting opportunities for everyone."

The reference appears to be a part of the smart growth movement.  Joel Kotkin has already written a rebuttle to "Creative Class" and smart growth policy advocates.  While the "cool cities" people are backpedaling on their own theories, there are, apparently, still some lingering belief in this stuff.

Later in his speech, the Governor uses his bully pulpit to encourage parents to consider vocational and career schools as options.  That's a stance that favors manufacturing. 

I guess he's listening to someone else there.

I try not to dissect this too much.  Next time, I think the Governor's speech writers just need to broaden their reach beyond a big city for a broader perspective on economic development material.

I guess I need to give him another copy of Kotkin's book, The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050.

And, this is key, manufacturers need to invite the Governor by for a chat.  The key to Ohio's economy has been, is, and will be manufacturing.

Channeling Every Cities' Inner Cleveland

The latest column at newgeography.com is a must-read for people who are willing to let their perceptions be challenged, with facts.

Guest writer John Sanphillippo's column, "The 'Inner Cleveland' of Trendy Cities" and puts urbanists on their ear.

Guess most people couldn't guess from where his Cleveland-like photos came.

His final paragraph is almost like fatherly advice. It's an invitation to Millennials to embrace the Midwest.

Here’s my advice to both young people who are just starting out as well as older people who are struggling to manage in a tough economic environment. Stop fighting expensive housing markets. Stop trying to wedge yourself into an overpriced shoe box apartment in a mediocre neighborhood in a top tier city. Stop driving an hour and a half out to an isolated subdivision just to hold on to your status in a big metroplex. It’s not worth it. The interior of the country is absolutely full of amazing places at a price you can comfortably afford. Give yourself and your family a big raise and leave the coast behind.

Check it out.  He's right.

An Upbeat Pairing, But With A Bit Too Much Rust

Joel Kotkin's latest piece in Forbes is jointly authored with Richie Piiparinen and titled, "The Rustbelt Roars Back From The Dead."  It's an upbeat look at the Industrial Midwest, but peppered a bit too much with the "R" word for my taste.

The gist of the piece is focused on the revival of manufacturing which is sparking a revival in the Midwest.  That's contrasted with urbanists, Richard Florida thinkers, and the stereotypes associated with the term "Rust Belt."

You'll note that the "R" term is used as an adjective and one word--rustbelt--and only once used as a proper noun and capitalized outside of a title or subtitle.  That's not just a process observation on my part, it's clearly intended by the authors.

The comparison of the Midwest to the nation was compelling.  The pair wrote, "For much of the past half century, the rustbelt states suffered high levels of unemployment. But today Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin have considerably lower rates of unemployment than the national average."  If they hadn't preceded that paragraph with a couple doses of the "R" word, I would have been proudly smiling.

They take on the "hip and cool" sect too.  "Sure, Cleveland has got a microbrew scene as well, just like Portland. But a pricey pint requires a solid paycheck, which means Cleveland has microbreweries whose products are consumed by people who know microbes, and how to fashion steel, or develop new energy resources. Those tasty brews are consumed by producers."  Again, the best parts exclude any rust references.

Those heck-bent on using "rustbelt" as a pejorative wouldn't like this factoid from Kotkin and Piiparinen:  "In terms of engineers per capita, both Dayton and Detroit rank among the top 12 regions in the country; they have many more, per capita, than Boston, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago."

Overall, I'll still label it a must-read, but while I still encourage Kotkin and Piiparinen to shake the rust.

My Daughters in the 'Burbs

I have two daughters who are growing up in one of the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio.  (My boys too.)

I predict they will continue to want to live in the suburbs.  They talk about where they want to live when the grow up, occasionally even saying they want to live near Dad. 

Apparently, my daughters are the norm, at least the living in the 'burbs part.

Joel Kotkin puts some stats to that phenomenon with his latest piece in the Washington Post titled "America's Newest Hipster Hotspot:  The Suburbs?"

He debunks conventional wisdom and popular entertainment portrayals to the contrary.  Most of our Millennials want to live in the suburbs.

He must have upset some urban elite when he wrote, "Only 17 percent of Millennials identify the urban core as where they want to settle permanently."

Joel will really make some of the Smart Growthers cry as he hits home a central point he's hit home before:  "Rather than vilify suburbs as fundamentally inefficient, deadening and wasteful, its time to focus on how to improve the preferred environment for work, interaction and raising the next generation for most Americans."

A Few of My Favorite Things, One Not So Favorite Thing

 

The latest from Joel Kotkin hits on a few of my favorite themes, less one.  His "Shaking Off The Rust: Cleveland Workforce Gets Younger And Smarter" hits close to home for me, a Northeast Ohio native.

Kotkin and his writings are among my favorites to start with and his latest column added manufacturing, Ohio, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, workforce, and anti-smart growth themes to the mix.  If he had only left out the "Rust Belt" term, it would be completely a favorite.

The piece is a must-read nonetheless.

Kotkin picks up on the research by Cleveland State University on the rising educational attainment and influx of working age population in Cleveland.  He, rightly, robs the credit for it from the various movements to make the City "hip and cool" and firmly plants it with pragmatic reasons--costs of living and a presence of advanced manufacturing.

Attacking Our American Dream?

 

 

It's as if there is a script circulating among big city media designed to attack the American Dream.  Have you noticed it?

 



It seems inconceivable, on the surface, that anyone would have a hidden agenda to attack the American Dream.  So, it appears as if the reasoning behind it is some objectively-pursued, journalistic pursuit of wanting to know if the American Dream is alive.

 

I'm not so sure. 

 

The American Dream is more associated with kids in the suburbs and is a threat to the narrative that dense, urban living needs to be forced to happen instead.  Attacking the American Dream can have the result of swaying the Millennials away from the track their parents took to the suburbs.  Thus, there could be a negative purpose behind this attack.

 

Thankfully, some are fighting back.  "The American Dream is EMINENTLY Attainable" takes the issue head on.  So does a recent Joel Kotkin piece.

 

I'm living the American Dream, and I want my kids to live it too some day. 

 

 

Smarter Growth

Joel Kotkin's latest piece takes on the smart growth folks, again.  He's noticed the contrived trend to advocate for abandoning the American Dream of home ownership.  It's an anti-suburb, anti-development narrative that Kotkin is taking on with facts.

Kotkin's piece had an additional find. He linked to a 2007 piece titled "Do As We Say, Not As We Do" with a pointed look at the actual lifestyle choices of smart growth advocates in Southern California.  Interesting.

My Economists: Bottom Line First

I listened to a Vistage pocast with ITR Economic's Alan and Brian Beaulieu recently, and I'm going to share what "my economists" have to say in bite-size chunks.

The bottom line first.  The Vistage economists at ITR had been predicting a second half 2014 slow down that they even labeled a recession, albeit a mini one.  There was no reference to that in this late December presentation. 

They did predict some sector downturns in the latter half, but no use of the "R" word was ever detected with regard to 2014.

I took away a ton of material on China, Europe (particularly Germany), the Fed, demographics, and reshoring.  All are useful things to watch out for in 2014.

Here's the quick takes on their forecasts and analysis:

• China growth is not coming at the expense of the U.S.

• Natural gas costs in the U.S. are 1/4 of what they are in Germany, but Germany is starting to do some things about it.

• The Fed may be more inclined to allow some inflation in the future.  We could learn more on that soon.

• Joel Kotkin's demographics and his book The Next Hundred Million got a mention too.  I was glad to link my demographer with my economists.

• Near-sourcing and reshoring are real.  That's almost a verbatim quote.

Stay tuned.