Song for The Boston Marathon

This is a tad different than most of my posts … Jim Ballard is a friend of mine.  He’s a singer/songwriter and marathoner.  He has been playing and recording in the Cleveland/Akron area since the 1970′s and is an icon here in Northeast Ohio. And he’s been running marathons for quite a while too.  While Jim was not in the 2013 Boston Marathon, he has run it in the past, so it holds a special place in his heart.   He is offering this song as a free download https://soundcloud.com/jimballard/im-gonna-run-mp3

I hope you enjoy it.

Peace.

Oil & Gas Employment in Ohio

According to representatives, the oil and gas industry in Ohio is on track to create just over 200,000 jobs by 2015 (1).  2015 is when the “ramp up‘ should be complete in terms of job creation.  Yep, 200,000 jobs mostly in eastern Ohio.  There are presently 32 counties in the Ohio Utica and Marcellus Shale Region – add at least Cuyahoga, Lorain, Summit and Franklin counties in the job creation area.

From this point on, assumptions are going to be made.  There are estimates for the job creation multiplier effect, about family size and percentages of school age children.  None of these number are set in stone, though there is probably an argument that there is some degree of accuracy.  In other states (Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas(2) and North Dakota), for each job created in this industry there is a multiplier impact of about 3 jobs created in the economy for each one of the oil and gas jobs created(3). In other words, the overall employment impact in Ohio could reach about 350,000 jobs as a result of the oil and gas industry.  That is a pretty wild number (I’ve seen numbers ranging from a multiplier effect of 2.5 to 3.2 jobs created for each new oil and gas extraction job created).

To be conservative, let’s drop that multiplier to 1.5 – meaning 175,000 new jobs.  In the March 8, 2013 press release, the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family services reported that the “… number of workers unemployed in Ohio in January was “399,000…”(4)    It is  doubtful that we will see zero unemployment in Ohio.  Employers are reporting that up to 1/3 of job applicants can’t pass a drug/alcohol test.  This also implies that a good portion of job creation will come from individuals from outside of Ohio.

According to industry estimates, the peak job numbers, as aforementioned, will occur in roughly 2 years.  If they cannot find qualified workers in Ohio, they will “import” these employees from other states.  From here the equation gets muddled.  Certainly, not all of these jobs will come from inside Ohio’s borders.  Drive through southeastern Ohio and check out the license plates from the south and west.

To be fair, some of the jobs created will not necessarily be permanent, but rather temporary.  In this case, temporary means a few weeks to a few years – so, it makes these numbers far more subjective.

If we make an assumption that maybe 1/2 of the revised multiplier effect created jobs will come from outside of Ohio, (83,000), we can make an assumption about the potential population impact. The average family population in this area ranges from 2.6 to 2.9 people per family.  So let’s round down just to be ultra conservative.  Let’s make it 2.3 people per family.  This makes 190,000 people into Ohio, most of the population locating in about 42 counties.  Let’s take it one step further and assume that maybe 17% of these family members moving to Ohio will be school aged children (5); that’s 32,000 new school aged children, or an estimated 1,o00 per county.

Maybe these numbers are far-fetched.  Maybe they aren’t.  But, considering that the numbers are  “toned” down from the numbers experienced in other states, public officials in the Utica/Marcellus Shale counties need to take stock of their present facilities, capacities and ability to deliver services.

¹ Kleinhenz & Associates, Ohio Natural Gas and Crude Exploration and Production Industry and the Emerging Utica Gas Formation: Economic Impact Study, September 2011

² http://www.cedbr.org/content/2012/OilGasMultipliers.pdf

³ forbes.com/sites/robertbradley/2011/12/12/oil-gas-the-gifts-that-keep-on-giving/

⁴ http://jfs.ohio.gov/RELEASES/unemp/201301/index.stm

⁵ http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/39000.html    http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk

 

 

© 2013 Economic Development Data Services, Inc.

Breakthrough?

An interesting development in the world of oil & gas exploration: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-fracking-breakthrough-for-environmentalists-and-drillers/2013/03/23/9dc5336e-9270-11e2-9abd-e4c5c9dc5e90_story.html

Oil & Gas Exploration Jobs in Ohio

This has been a fascinating week.  I’ve had the opportunity to talk with people involved in and around the Utica and Marcellus shale area of Ohio about the oil and gas exploration and the impact on job creation. The information was/is staggering.  According to the Ohio Oil & Gas Energy Education Program, the jobs that are going to be needed in Ohio include 74 different job descriptions. Positions range from “roust-abouts” to CFO’s and everything in between. www.oogeep.org.  I saw a tweet yesterday that read: “Welding is a STEM career – who would’ve thought?”  Very true.

More importantly, Ohioans looking for jobs in the oil  and gas exploration field need to be aware of the education and certification that is going to be required for many of the labor oriented jobs and field positions.  The industry is presently working with a number of county joint vocational schools, community colleges, public and not-for-profit universities and colleges to design and certify new training programs and new degree programs to specifically align with the needs of the oil and gas industry and the Ohio ramp-up.

Those interested in jobs in the oil and gas exploration field should contact educational institutions in their area to see if they offer programs and courses that have been certified by the oil and gas industry or the American Petroleum Institute.

Next blog: jobs and population growth estimates.

 

 

 ©2013 Economic Development Data Services, Inc.

It’s Almost Cycling Season

Spring is in the air and that means one key thing for me: bicycling! Last year included cycling through a number of small towns in Northern and West-Central Ohio.  I am planning on more trips this year. I enjoy solo trips of 75 – 100 miles a day.  Last year included the towns of Salem, Lisbon, Calcutta, East Liverpool, Piqua, Greenville, New Bremen, Minster, Versailles, Louisville, Minerva, and Alliance.

I’ve got a few ideas for this year and training has started.  I’m thinking that Ashtabula County, some of the counties in the Utica Shale area and maybe another one starting in Piqua again. Of course, I will be participating in one of my favorite group rides this year: the Medina Ice Cream Odyssey.  There’s nothing like a ride that features ice cream from Hartzler’s Dairy.  There is ice cream at mile 24 and at the end at mile 62.  It’s a very well organized ride.  This might even be the year to jump back into the Eddy’s Bike Shop Sweetcorn Challenge, in Richfield, Ohio.

If you know of any good 50 – 100 mile rides that you can recommend, or small towns that make for a good bicycle ride (preferably with good ice cream shops), please contact me (cbowman@econdevdataservices.com) and I’ll work to include your town in my summer riding schedule and feature it here.

©2013 Economic Development Data Services

EDDS … evolving

A funny thing happened while talking with a mayor and council member – a potential new client community, with a new associate, Ken Harsch, in tow. We were having a terrific discussion about zoning ordinances and economic development over a table with a wellhead area map laminated onto the top of the table. As the conversation was heading toward its conclusion, Ken began to ask about the map on the table. I knew that Ken has a background in environmental studies but did not realize all that he knew about wellhead protection plans.

The next thing I knew, they wanted a proposal on creating a wellhead protection plan. So, not only is EDDS involved in community planning issues, we are now able to offer environmental services: Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies, Wellhead protections plans and wetlands delineations. To take things a step further, we will be announcing the addition of another associate who will be providing Community Emergency Response Plan assistance for communities. The EDDS approach goes beyond fire/EMS and police emergency planning. We integrate emergency planning with all departments in the community.

Another exciting development is the recently formed, soon to be named consortium with John Barkan & Associates and Emerald Environmental. John Barkan offers personnel services including labor-management negotiating. Emerald Environmental offers specialized environmental services including site remediation, VAP and brownfield redevelopment strategies RCRA, CAA, SARA, CWA, SDWA and TSCA evaluation and compliance, waste minimization and reuse programs, wastewater / groundwater / soil sampling and assessments www.emerald-environmental.com .

This consortium creates a “one stop” community administration/management shop.  The integration of our respective companies allows you to make one phone call and have a variety of service solutions for administrative and management problems and/or challenges. Give me a call at 330-541-3128 or email at cbowman@econdevdataservices.com and we can talk about whatever your agency is facing.

See our website at www.econdevdataservices.com

Community Development as Organization Umbrella?

A few days ago, there was a conversation going back and forth on Twitter, as well as one can with 140 characters, about Community Development and Economic Development: “Is community development a segment of #econdev? Or reverse? Separate?”

It got me thinking about the development of community. What was it that brought indigenous peoples together (on any continent)? I think of Maslow. Not being an anthropologist or psychologist, I find parallels between personal development and a community’s development. For some this might be a tad simplistic…

People came together for their physiological needs and then for their safety needs. There was procreation, safety, strength in numbers, regulating the cycle of gathering flora and the hunting of fauna. As these communities developed, people became more sedentary, establishing year round residences. Even as they followed migrating herds, communities developed, great hunts were held and bringing food back to the village.

Eventually, trails were developed, using animal trails. Some civilizations began to discover metals, creating the seeds of future industries and local and regional economies of city-states. We know that some civilizations disappeared, some because of deforestation, and the erosion of soils and their related nutrients, followed by the animals that needed the forests and fields. Their use of resources became unsustainable.

Communities moved from being places of security, to places of belonging. Systems of governance were created, establishing a hierarchy of the place, often times with influence of family and community elders.

Flash forward to today….and back to the Twitter conversation: There needs to be a re-discussion or a re-definition of the term Community Development. In the circles of city hall departments, there continues to be a bifurcation of Community Development and Economic Development – at first for organizational and budgetary purposes. And moreso today for political purposes. Economic development officials find themselves under as much if not more fire than that of a police chief or mayor. Community development is defined within the organization to housing programs, building inspection and zoning inspection. Let’s take a closer look at the organization and put Economic Development aside for a moment.

If we follow the above argument, communities are a Place. A Place in which we live, travel, exchange money for services, go to school, worship and play. A community’s development goes through the stages of becoming a place and it’s fair governance – we measure the esteem of where we live, how we feel and think about our Place of residence. It becomes defined by the housing, the schools, the streets, the parks, open space, the stores, and the churches: in other words, the Economy, the Environment and the Social Fabric.

So what is Community Development? Yes, it includes the traditional topic of housing, but it is so much more so: people, infrastructure, parks, schools, churches, businesses, safety…. What would happen to our municipal organizations if community development received the community funding priorities of police and fire? What if the engineers and infrastructure departments were placed within the Community Development Departments, led by degreed urban planners? And for good measure, if police and fire departments were led by urban planners? (sometimes, we call them city managers). Thoughts???

ED & Crowdfunding

I’ve been doing a bit of reading in this area as of late, partially because I’ve been seeking alternative funding for the further development of our BARC service.  Like every “modern” ED technique, school of thought, approach, etc, each idea seems to spread into other possibilities.  It appears that the crowdfunding idea is so very closely related to that of economic gardening as designed in Littleton, Colorado.  It is taking the old concept of community incubators to a newer, less organized, more grass root approach.

http://communitymatters.posterous.com/

This website seems to embrace all of the above…

Once Again, Ed Burghard Gets It Right – Strengthening Brand America

If you haven’t read any of Ed Burghard’s posts and blogs, you really should.  Ed’s Strengthening Brand America is always thoughtful, reflective and based on experience.  I have commented quite a bit about community websites and what should be on them – especially as they relate to economic development.  In this particular post, Ed reinforces my previous posts and thoughts on the topic posted below.

http://strengtheningbrandamerica.com/blog/2009/04/key-to-stimulating-action-by-your-target-audiences-visual-value/?goback=%2Egde_3588654_member_199929530

2012 to 2013…Here’s to This Year and Next Year

It’s that time of year that brings reflection and projection…how was last year?  What is in store for this year?  This past year, we went through some redirection and focus in our consulting business.  We changed our name from CDJ Consulting to Economic Development Data Services.  Our focus changed from general local government consulting services to focusing on economic development services and our flagship product: the Business Assistance Recruitment Calculator (BARC).

We now have the only comprehensive database of tax and utility information on communities in the state of Ohio.  One of our goals this year is to develop a system for accessing this information via one website and also finding investment to help construct the software and distribution system.  From there we will concentrate the same for other states.

We also entered the website market via the City of Newton Falls, Ohio.  They are also one of our BARC customers.   I even had the opportunity to visit the City of Piqua, ride my bicycle through western Ohio and make a presentation to their downtown association to talk about downtowns, cycling and economic development.

We have provided economic development plans/scenarios for cities in Ohio (Newton Falls and Louisville) – primarily for towns in the Utica Shale area.  We have also teamed up with Geneva Analytics and the Wise Economy Workshop in doing the same.  It is proving to be providing some fortuitous partnerships.

We’ve worked at publishing a newsletter through Rapid E Marketing.  You may be getting this.  If you would like to be added to it, please let us know.

So, here’s to 2013 and may great things be in store for us all!

Peace to you all!

©2012 Economic Development Data Services, Inc.