From January-June 2024, Medina County has seen over $122 million in new capital investments and a commitment by companies to create 316 new jobs with nearly $16 million in new annual payroll, and MCEDC has been involved in the vast majority of those amounts.

MCEDC has also been hard at work at addressing housing issues in the county. We recently helped the Medina County Commissioners form the Medina County Land Bank, which will help us identify properties ripe for development and get them into the hands of Medina County developers who can construct affordable housing.

We also applied for $2 million in brownfield redevelopment and blighted property demolition grants to continue growing the amount of land ready for development here in the county.

• We continued administering multiple workforce development programs to help our employers address the need for local talent:
  • Our pre-apprenticeship program recently wrapped up for the class of 2024, allowing 138 students to graduate who otherwise would not have received a high school diploma.
  • Former ESC Superintendent Will Koran picked up the mantle of this program at the beginning of 2024, and this year’s program saw the highest number of graduates in the past three school years.

MCEDC created the County Forward Fund in 2018 as a charitable non-profit organization to foster interest by Medina County’s youth in local, in-demand careers, and to aid them along the path to meaningful and gainful employment.

The County Forward Fund’s goals are to build future workforce in Medina County, establish relationships between education partners and local employers, and encourage students to explore career opportunities that do not necessarily require a college education.

With funding from the County Forward Fund, MCEDC hired Mitchel Boehmke as our Career Coach in 2022, and he has worked with hundreds of students over the past several school years on career guidance and connections with businesses.

• In 2022, the County Forward Fund began investing in the Work Scholarship program. The program helps grant students who have committed to local jobs before graduation $1,000 scholarships to help cover expenses that a new job often requires.
  • Whether it’s for work appropriate clothing, reliable transportation, or tools required to take on their new careers, these scholarships help bridge the gap between potential employees and local businesses on a financial level.
  • Furthermore, these scholarships allow local students and their families to take pride in joining the workforce in the same way college-bound students are traditionally celebrated.
  • In the first three school years of this program, 40 students have entered the workforce with a County Forward Fund scholarship.