Business Connection is a collaborative program of Team Lorain County, Lorain County Community College, Lorain County Joint Vocational School, Lorain County Chamber of Commerce, and the Lorain County Commissioners through the Lorain County Growth Partnership.  Business Connection is a formal coordinated business calling program which will allow us to better assess the needs of local companies, develop new programs for businesses, gather information to assist in business attraction, and better coordinate the efforts of all county economic development groups.  This project was designed to complete interviews with 100 companies by June of 2009, create a current contact list of the majority of businesses in Lorain County, and provide detailed information on business facilities in Lorain County.

As of this writing, the Business Connection team has completed 103 interviews and has made significant progress in updating the database of businesses, business contacts, and infrastructure.  The team is currently analyzing the reports generated by the interviews and a summary report will be available this quarter.  Business Connection is utilizing students from the Lorain County Summer Youth Program to reach out to businesses for updated contact information.  Over 4,000 companies have been contacted to date.

Preliminary reports show more than 150 key issues have been identified including workforce attraction, workforce training, facility expansion support, infrastructure and a variety of services.  Companies appreciate the proactive, one-stop approach to our retention and expansion efforts and the collaboration of the partners involved in this program has been integral to its success.  Even in the current environment it is not all doom and gloom in the marketplace, several companies are performing well through the turmoil.