2008

Innovation to Drive Economic Growth: Can Cincinnati Become Ohio's First Innovation Hub?

Ohio recently unveiled a new economic development initiative – Ohio Hubs of Innovation and Opportunity (OHIO). This strategy, which targets the advanced manufacturing and information technology industries, is one of the top economic development priorities of the state. The 12 different geographical regions of Ohio including its three largest MSAs, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland, are all potential hubs of innovation for the state.

For College Grads, Debt Significantly Delays First Home

In 2008, home sales in Cincinnati fell over 15 percent behind last year's numbers,
and the average home price in our region is down more than 5 percent compared to
2007 values. An expanded menu of mortgage options, relatively low interest rates
and relaxed down payment conditions by lenders have allowed for home purchases
by various previously underserved groups, including young people. However, it is
evident that many individuals who purchased homes during this period, have
struggled to pay their mortgages and are facing foreclosure.

Minority Businesses Enhance the Local Economy

Minority-owned businesses are experiencing unprecedented growth in our economy. In the last decade, the number of minority-owned businesses in the U.S. increased by 168 percent - to an estimated 3.25 million businesses. Revenues for these businesses grew at an even faster pace during that time – an impressive 343 percent increase – to $495 billion business ventures. Despite this growth, the share of minority-owned businesses is still not proportional to percentage of minority population.

Economic Strides: The Port Authority

Since 2001, the Port of Greater Cincinnati Authority (Port Authority) has contributed immensely to Greater Cincinnati's economic development through property redevelopment and brownfield remediation. The remediation and development of vacant, abandoned and underutilized properties into good, useable land for private and commercial use is one of the most important contributions of the Port Authority to the Greater Cincinnati community.

Fortune 500 Companies Boost Quality of Life

Each year, Fortune magazine compiles and publishes a listing of the top 500 American public corporations. The Cincinnati region is host to 10 Fortune 500 firms — more than Boston, St. Louis, and Seattle. Even more impressive, Cincinnati, which has almost 5 companies per million residents, ranks, on a per capita basis, third in the nation with respect to the number of Fortune 500 companies. This is higher than Chicago at 3.04 per million, New York at 4.48 per million and Los Angeles at 1.68 per million. The Fortune 500 Companies are measured by their gross revenue.