Doug Houser:
From Rea & Associates Studio, this unsuitable, a management and financial services podcast for entrepreneurs, tenured business leaders, and others, who are ready to look beyond the suit-and-tie culture for meaningful, measurable results. I'm Doug Houser, on this weekly podcast, thought leaders and business professionals break down complicated and mundane topics, and give you the tips and insight you actually need to grow as a leader, by helping your organization to grow and thrive. If you haven't already, hit the subscribe button so you don't miss future episodes. And if you want access to even more information, show notes, and exclusive content, please visit our website at www.reacpa.com/podcast, and sign up for updates.
Remember that old saying, "It takes a community to protect a child"? Well, since COVID hit, it's become obvious that it also takes a community to protect local business. Fortunately, for businesses everywhere, there are incredible community resources to pull from. Today, Jennifer McDonald, president and CEO of the Licking County Chamber of Commerce, is here to share what the chamber has done to help Licking County area businesses over the past year. We will also discuss the many reasons business owners should reach out to their local chambers if they haven't done so already. Welcome to unsuitable, Jennifer.
Jennifer McDonald:
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Doug:
I'm so excited to have you on, because obviously, in full disclosure, I'm a Licking County resident, and I have to say that having spent 30 years in the business community throughout central Ohio, and other parts of Ohio for that matter as well, the Licking County Chamber is just the best in... what you do and-
Jennifer:
You say that to all the chambers.
Doug:
No, I do not. Believe me. I just don't have them on. I just don't... Yeah. But you guys just do a tremendous job with outreach and education, and all of the things that are so important. So thank you.
Jennifer:
Absolutely.
Doug:
As we get started here, I know every community, every area's got its challenges. So for Licking County, as part of the Central Ohio MSA, what are some of the advantages and disadvantages that you see in the area right now?
Jennifer:
You mean as far as growth?
Doug:
Yeah.
Jennifer:
So yeah-
Doug:
Yeah, just what's going on.
Jennifer:
We butt up next to Franklin County, and so western Licking County is growing, whether we like it or not, or plan for it or not, and so it's coming our way. And I think most communities are in the same boat. We just don't have enough housing, our schools are getting overfilled, and there's always the demands on school districts to grow and expand and raise more funds so that they can continue to educate our children. But in saying that, we are also the go-to place as far as locating new businesses. Because we have the land, we have existing businesses, we have great community leaders and elected officials that can get things done, and have proven that they can get things done.
So while growth can be a little scary, I think we have done a really good job of helping to plan some growth to really try to market our area. We've become the hotbed for industrial-growth manufacturer logistics, things of that nature. And so it seems like like businesses pull in like businesses. You would think because unemployment got a little scary during COVID that we would not have the problem of finding employees, but our businesses are still really having a hard time finding a qualified workforce. So I would say next to our housing issues, I would say finding a qualified workforce is probably second.
Doug:
Yeah, I would wholeheartedly agree. That's certainly what we're seeing as well. As you said, I think some of the advantages that the area's had, are that industrial and logistics and all of those things, as it continues to move eastward from the Franklin County area. And I think one of the things that you've done well, and that the area's done well, is to try to embrace that rather than fighting it.
There's a way to participate in it and help manage it and try to make it as successful as you can, whereas, I see some other areas where it's completely the opposite. They're going to fight it and do the whole NIMBY thing, not in my backyard. Talk about that approach a little bit in terms of how you try to be business-friendly and bridge that gap between, obviously, the needs of the folks that already live in the area versus the businesses.
Jennifer:
Yeah, absolutely. So we have a community improvement corporation called Grow Licking County, which is a public-private partnership. And almost all of the cities and communities are a part of that. They're investors in the organization and most of them serve on the board of directors. So through that organization, that started in 2013, we've become experts in saying, "Okay, this is the trends we're seeing. How can we become more prepared?" And so we've had consultants come in and help us with our planning, help us to figure out what is our workforce like, and how can we upskill the people that we have here?
And so we have great educational facilities, like C-TEC and COTC, and Ohio State University at Newark, so that they just don't all live in these little, outside in their own entity, we all partner together so that we put the pieces together. And when a company comes in, we have all the answers for them. It's not just about incentives or tax abatements or anything like that. This is the educational piece, this is the community life that you're going to have, this is what we have going for us.
And so we're all on the same page, and there's not... I can't say that there isn't a competition, where everybody's looking for... They want great things to land in their own community, but it's the saying that "Rising tides lifts all ships," and that's really our philosophy of if the task lifting growth that's also great for Heath because those people will come in and go to those restaurants and maybe shop in their stores. So we really have a mentality that we work together and it becomes a win-win for everybody.
Doug:
Yeah. And I agree. I think that's that sense of community. And even though the county is certainly growing, its population now may be 170,000-plus. And I see all the projections, it's supposed to add another 50,000 in the next 15 years or so, a lot of growth. There's still that sense of community and still helping everybody out. It's big but small at the same time.
Jennifer:
Absolutely.
Doug:
Yeah.
Jennifer:
Absolutely.
Doug:
Obviously, COVID hit us a little over a year ago now, and none of us, obviously, saw that coming. Talk about the response to that within the community, some of the businesses that helped out in terms of outreach, and some of the things that you learned through that.
Jennifer:
Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, I have to give major kudos to our Licking County Health Department. They had been meeting prior to this when they heard about it, I think, in December to have some sort of response team that this possibly could become a pandemic. And the way that they have reached out and really helped our community learn and understand what it means for our businesses and residents. They actually helped us with a business checklist for reopening, and so I want to definitely give them kudos.
Our Licking Memorial Health Systems and the hospital has constantly been giving updates on information. Because when stuff like this happens, there becomes all of these little, "Hey, did you hear this? And this is what's happening." Really, they've done such a phenomenal job of getting the message out. And so we felt we really needed to be the voice for businesses that were hurting. And so we had legislative updates with our state-elected officials, our federal. I tell you, our congressman, Troy Balderson, I mean, I called him and he called me weekly. And we met with businesses and he said, "How can we help you? How can we make legislation that would really be helpful to you?"
And we listened to all your podcasts, too. You know that. We were all on. And I think I got kicked off of one because it was too full at the time. So we learned all we could, we utilized our resources with the U.S. Chamber and the ACCE, which is American Chamber Executives, to really get best practices and stay up on legislation. We always thought we were good with advocacy, but man, we had to really, really learn what we could do to help our businesses. And so we told them about all the relief efforts.
And then last fall, we were contacted by the county to say, "Hey, we have...," they received millions in COVID relief in the CARES Act, "Can you help facilitate some small business grants?" And so we said, "Absolutely. Let's figure this out." I mean, and I want to say each and every one of my team here at the chamber talk about community. They all grew up here, they all graduated from local schools, and they are just phenomenal. I can't say nicer things, but they work really hard. And so we put out a grant application. We actually received $1.1 million and we're able to give that out to 113 businesses.
Doug:
That's phenomenal. I think the fact that they reached out to you, the chamber, to help because it shows the depth of your knowledge and the team, and just the ability to reach those businesses that were impacted. I know they appreciate it. And we had some corporate partners in the area. Speaking of all that industrial growth, we see all the facilities that are being built, some corporate partners chipped in funds as well, didn't they?
Jennifer:
Absolutely. Absolutely. We received a hundred thousand dollars early on from the New Albany Facebook Data Center. And again, it was for small businesses. We gave grants up to $5,000. But some of these, then, from the county were, we gave up upwards of $40,000. So not the $5,000 I would turn away, but when you're talking 30, $40,000 that could really help a small business.
Doug:
Yeah, absolutely, for sure. Let's walk back and talk a little bit about the history of the area. I haven't lived in the county my entire life, but I've been there long enough to see, certainly a shift in the economic progression. I would say going back 25 years ago, it almost felt like a completely different area of the state versus, say, Columbus itself. But now, the region, particularly, feels much more hitched to the activity that's going on in the Columbus market. Would you agree with that?
Jennifer:
Yeah, I definitely would agree. I definitely agree. I hate to say it's gotten closer, because that doesn't make sense, but State Route 161 used to be just two-way. And so when that opened up to the four-lane highway, you can get to the airport, at least I can, in about 35 minutes. That is a huge game-changer for us. And so when businesses are looking to locate here, they can easily get into an international airport in that quick a time, that's really important.
And there are some people I talked to that live in the south part of Columbus, they can't get to the airport that quick. So we're really lucky with the infrastructure and the roads that we have, and State Route 70 is in this area. And I also give kudos... We have a lot more entertainment venues than we used to, with the Midland Theatre and Thirty One West, and some of the new hotels and breweries. We've become a hotspot of our own for people wanting to get around and see what's going on, and it really has helped keep our young talent local, too, because there's plenty to do.
Doug:
I think that's important, that tourism aspect. I've... seen that grow as well over time. It's an outgrowth of the region, overall, and its growth. And the best thing you can do is try to take advantage of that. And where the area has its specific advantages, try to make sure you capture those things that can help the community and participate in that. So to that end, let's talk about what are some of your favorite restaurants or day trips? I know we've got a couple of new ones that are on my list, so I'm interested to hear your thoughts.
Jennifer:
Okay, so tomorrow I have the day off, and my husband and I are going to get our bikes out and we're going to go to Buckeye Lake. With all the dam restoration, they have newly-paved paths out there. I guess it's, I don't know, eight or nine miles. I'm not sure I could do that much, but we'll see because I haven't been on a bike in a while. But we're going to go for a bike ride. I love that area. We have kayaked. Of course, I patron our chamber members, but I love all of our locally-owned restaurants. I love that you are able to go and sit outside at some of them. So you have that feeling of you're in a city in Europe, or you're in a bigger city where you can sit outside. And it's good for COVID. You have more space and open-air and makes you feel a little more like you're on vacation.
I love Dawes Arboretum, all the nature trails. Ye Olde Mill ice cream is my husband's go-to, so we like to go up there when they open up at the mill and get some ice cream. I do like to do a little bit of the beverage trail. So I like wine, and some of our breweries are really phenomenal around here, so that's great. And I love the feel of Granville, too. We go there and walk around and go to the inns. We're really lucky here. We don't have just flat land, we have the rolling hills, we have great parks, lots to do. Trampoline Park is really cool. There's just so much that you can get into, and when the theater opens back up, I will be there watching a show, for sure.
Doug:
Yeah, the Midland Theatre is certainly a hidden gem. I think one of the things that the region did, too, is adapt these, the so-called DORA, these outdoor beverage districts, if you want. And I think that's continuing as well this year, right?
Jennifer:
Yes.
Doug:
That certainly helps the entertainment perspective. The Canal Market downtown as well, all those things.
Jennifer:
Absolutely, absolutely. I don't know exactly how many blocks, I think it's four streets west, east, and north, south, in downtown Newark. On specific nights, they've put in a designated outdoor recreation area. You can take your beer and wine outside in a cup and walk around, and go down to Canal Market it's going on. I know Granville has put in a different stipulation where they will allow beverages now out on the patios.
Doug:
Yeah, fun stuff. For businesses out there that don't take... wherever they're located, that don't take advantage of their local chamber, talk about some of the things, the services that you provide, different councils, or different resources that are available through the chamber.
Jennifer:
Yeah. We have a lot of affiliate programming. So we have a special group for our HR, people that are in human resources, and they meet monthly, and we have special programming for them to stay accredited. We also have a manufacturer's council, where we meet with manufacturers to really talk about best practices and gather them together, talk about education, as far as how we can upskill the workforce and help them with that. We also have a safety council that works through the BWC to help our members learn more about safety and best practices for that.
One of our newer affiliates is the Young Leaders of Licking County. That focus is for the ages of 21 to 40. Unfortunately, I fall just a smidge over that. But they provide so much mentorship and growth opportunities, and professional development, and fun activities. I didn't have that when I was in that age range, and I see the friendships that are being made. And it's funny because it's between different age ranges. The mentorship program has brought people together of different ages that would never probably be together.
But we also have a lot to do with our advocacy efforts, in that we provide our members the opportunity to meet with their local officials, state, national, and provide them a platform to hear from, and then meet with them and talk about what's going on in their business and how they can help. And we also have an online presence, and we really try to push out whatever's going on in our different businesses and however we can help them.
Doug:
Yeah. I think that those are great resources. I know our firm's had a couple of folks go through the young leaders' program and the mentorship. It's really fun, because they get paired with somebody who's not in their business per se, and get to learn from them. I think that's the thing we're missing somewhat in this virtual world, is just dragging some of our young people along, being in on those conversations. And so the more we can do with that, the better.
Jennifer:
Absolutely. And we provide a platform for them to meet. They do Pancakes for the President. We provide a platform for them to meet other people that are leaders in their businesses within the community to learn and grow from them, too.
Doug:
Yeah, that's awesome. It's tremendous, and you guys just do such a tremendous job. And you forgot to mention that the best event of the year, the Groundhog Breakfast, right? If you-
Jennifer:
Yeah, we had to cancel it this year. So we-
Doug:
I know.
Jennifer:
... did it virtually. We called it an economic forecast, because that, we felt, was really the most important part this year, to gauge what's going on in different industries within the community. But typically, we do hold that. It follows on a Friday. And so it's either the last Friday in January or one of the first days in February. We do understand that February 2nd is Groundhog Day, but it doesn't always fall on that. And we bring about 700 people together and have a keynote speaker, and try to feed that many people within half an hour's time. Have a great sponsor, entertainment and do an economic forecast. It's kind of become... can't kind of, it's [inaudible 00:20:26] 65th year, so it's a big tradition. If you try to mess with it, people get mad.
Doug:
Well, right. I mean, where else can you get together with 700 of your closest friends at 6:00 a.m. in the-
Jennifer:
Yeah, not too many people do that, and so it's a little bit crazy, but yeah-
Doug:
It's phenomenal.
Jennifer:
... we really like that.
Doug:
Yeah, it's a lot of fun. Well, thank you, Jennifer. This is very insightful. And again, great to hear about all the wonderful things going on and how folks should get involved and take advantage of wherever they're located, take advantage of the resources that their chamber can provide. They're there to help and be your advocate and provide resources.
Jennifer:
Absolutely.
Doug:
Yeah.
Jennifer:
Thank you for having me on.
Doug:
Thank you very much. We'll look forward to having you on again soon, and get an update on all the cool things going on.
If you want more business tips and insight, or to hear previous episodes of unsuitable, please visit our podcast page at www.reacpa.com/podcast. And while you're there, sign up for exclusive content and show notes. Thanks for listening to this week's show. Be sure to subscribe to unsuitable on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to us right now, including YouTube. I'm Doug Houser, join us next week for another unsuitable interview with an industry professional.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed on unsuitable on Rea Radio, are our own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Rea & Associates. The podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the professional advice you would receive elsewhere. Consult with a trusted advisor about your unique situation so they can expertly guide you to the best solution for your specific circumstance.