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LEETONIA -- Leadership Columbiana County will hold a coffee and donut networking mixer at the Global Investment Hub, showcasing the newly-opened Leetonia complex and its first tenant, Humtown Products, from 8-10 a.m. April 17.
"They've been a great partner in the past," Leadership Columbiana County Director Amanda Frost said of the Columbiana County Port Authority, a partner in the hub that owns the Leetonia Cherry Fork Industrial Facility where it is housed. "We thought it'd be a great opportunity for us all to bring awareness of what our organizations do."
Leetonia's Humtown Products will talk about "how technology and human relationships drive innovation and growth" and will perform a demonstration of its 3-D box printer, a flier for the event says.
Humtown Products does business internationally and has been an "innovator in the manufacturing world," Frost said.
Humtown has been serving the foundry industry for more than 60 years, and is now "a global leader in conventional and 3-D printed sand cores and molds," according to the company's website.
Leadership Columbiana County is a "non-profit organization that provides intensive classroom and hands-on experience to build leadership capabilities," according to its website. The mission is to "develop leaders to act as positive forces, and agents of change, for the benefit of Columbiana County and its various communities."
The organization was founded in 1999 "out of the assumption that we were losing many of our individuals who were moving out of the area," Frost said, and was modeled after similar groups like Leadership Akron and Leadership Mahoning Valley.
"What the group wanted to do was showcase areas of our county and show people what great resources we have here, that you don't have to leave and go to a large city in order to raise a family, have a good job," Frost said. "We do have so many wonderful assets to our community."
The leadership class starts in September, with graduation in May, where participants receive a certificate of completion. There are typically between nine and 15 participants, with nine in the program this year, Frost said.
Participants in the program are usually sponsored by their employer, including businesses, government agencies, and government offices. The program allows for networking, projects that impact the community, and leadership skills training.
The Global Investment Hub, which was finished last fall, is a collaborative effort between the port authority and the Ohio Small Business Development Center Export Assistance Network at Youngstown State University, and is intended to attract international companies to the area-- with an ultimate goal of having them relocate operations here.
The center was created to "provide value to foreign companies with space in an industrial facility in Leetonia, Ohio, including access to the region's skilled workforce and supply chain," its website states.
The hub features six fully-furnished private offices, three large conference rooms with televisions for video conferencing or Zoom meetings, co-working recreational space known as the great room-- with comfortable furniture and a ping pong table-- a kitchen area, and restrooms.
The Columbiana County Port Authority "has broad powers to own, lease, sell and construct improvements to real estate property; receive state and federal grants and loans; establish bond funds; exercise powers on behalf of another subdivision; receive Federal and State tax exemption, issue revenue bonds; and maintain confidentiality of private businesses," according to its website.
The Ohio River, on which the authority's shipping ports are housed, " accounts for over one-third of the maritime cargo moving inland in the United States each year (approximately 275 million tons) and by comparison handles more cargo per year than the Panama Canal," the website reads. "When combined with the adjacent 10-county Port of Pittsburgh's system, Columbiana County would constitute the 17th largest Port in the United States and the largest inland port in the United States."
During the course of the Leadership Columbiana County Training, participants visit and learn about different areas of Columbiana County and its government, economic, and healthcare fields.
"Every month, we focus on a different area of the community," Frost said.
They traveled to Baker's Golden Dairy, talked to farm bureaus --learning how agriculture impacts Columbiana County. The group has also been involved with economic and industrial development in the county and this month will be focusing on health and wellness, set to tour Salem Regional Medical Center; talk to people from the Mental Health Recovery and Services Board; and visit Kent State- Salem's nursing and radiology department.
"We've talked with the city of Columbiana about all the economic development things they have done over the last couple of years to move the city forward," Frost said.
Leadership Columbiana County also has a junior program for high school sophomores and juniors, led by Assistant Director Katy Mumaw.
To register for the coffee and donut mixer at the Global Investment Hub in Leetonia on April 17, go to HTTPS://FORM.JOTFORM.COM/240584562078159.
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