August for the TCEDC has been productive. As I discussed with Commissioner Abbuhl and Co-director John Kelly on the very first episode of the Valley Podcast, we are inching our way closer and closer to a comprehensive plan to bring broadband internet to every resident in Tuscarawas County. I also had the pleasure of meeting a lot of new faces by attending my first Leadership Tuscarawas event. We participated in the opening of the Reagent Chemical facility in Newcomerstown. And, we have started the process of crafting our strategic objectives. Many leaders in the community have been asked to gather and give feedback on how the TCEDC can be a good partner that supports their objectives from within.
The ConnecTusc program is still running strong. We are running a FB ad campaign as we speak, and we are still encouraging the community to help us spread the word about the survey. We had a great opportunity to speak with Commissioner Abbuhl about the infancy of this program on the Valley Podcast. You can find this podcast on all major platforms, including audio, and video: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and Facebook.
Economic development is so far off the radar of your average citizen, that we have decided next month we are going to talk to our Executive Director Marla Akridge on the podcast. We want to outline our organization and its objectives for the community so they know why we are here and how we can help.
The Leadership Tuscarawas retreat was at the Mohican State Lodge in August, and I had the pleasure of participating in this event. I learned a lot about personalities, and how they impact the way we choose to lead others. I think my biggest takeaway was a lesson on humility. I thought of humility as being “humiliated” and I have struggled to apply it to my day to day to life because of this. It turns out, that it has nothing to do with being embarrassed, or ashamed. Humility is simply uplifting others, even if that means you must sacrifice a little to do so, “like the legs on a chair.”
I also had a great epiphany from the travel to and from the lodge, and because of my meeting so many people with diverse backgrounds. It occurred to me just how exceptional the State of Ohio is to live and work. We have agriculture all over the state. We have a diverse manufacturing base. We have world class medicine like the Cleveland Clinic. And we have incredibly beautiful places to visit like the Mohican State lodge. You know, the same could be said about Tuscarawas County as well.
Last week, we also had the pleasure of visiting Newcomerstown and being a part of their ribbon cutting for a new facility that is designed to transport and distribute HCL, from a railway to a semi-truck. This project has been a long time coming, and a pandemic surely did not help the process. However, Reagent Chemical finally got the job done, and we were honored to be a part of that celebration.
Upcoming and among things, the TCEDC is working on our strategic objectives, we are working on another episode of the Valley Podcast, we are talking with educators and local businesses on how we can help create a county-level workforce pipeline, and we are working towards bringing broadband to every home in Tuscarawas County. Amid all this work, we are even catching the Buckeyes games on TV on the weekend. We hope you’re enjoying the beginning of fall as much as we are, and #GoBucs!
Sincerely,
JC Shively
Marketing and Facilities Director