Dean Plouck Letter - April 2025
The Voinovich School: Offering Resources to Build Economic Prosperity
When I applied to serve as the Dean of the Voinovich School of Leadership & Public Service about two years ago, I was attracted by the diversity of ways in which its faculty, staff and students exemplified public service through projects and partnerships. The Voinovich School stewards a very broad host of initiatives designed to address challenges and improve lives, and many of these initiatives are focused on building economic prosperitywithin the State of Ohio.
Each of the programs described below are funded via various federal awards matched with resources from the Appalachian New Economy Partnership (ANEP)line item in the state budget. Our servant leadership approach echoes loud and clear through each of these programs, and has resulted in meaningful results for businesses and community planning leaders.
- Our Small Business Development Centerprovides no-cost assistance to small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs in 13 southeast Ohio counties. Specific areas of focus include guidance on access to capital, export assistance, financial modeling, and training on topics such as QuickBooks and marketing strategies. The team is consistently recognized by the Ohio Department of Development for its exemplary customer service based on client feedback surveys. To give you a sense of our client base, a few recent success stories may be found here: https://sbdc.ohio.edu/videos/
- Our APEX Accelerator at Ohio Universityassists businesses in pursuit of government contracts at the federal, state and local levels. Examples of technical assistance include market research, proposal planning and review, and invoicing support. These services are confidential, no-cost, and provided through one-on-one counseling. Our APEX Accelerator works with more than 1,300 businesses in 62 Ohio counties. Client organizations reflect all types of business, including topics as diverse as prosthetics & orthotics, transportation & logistics, and cyber security education. Collectively, our APEX Accelerator clients garnered $1.6 billion in contracts during 2024. You can read some of our client stories here: https://apex.ohio.edu/our-clients/
- Our Social Enterprise Ecosystemteam provides coaching and mentoring to both for-profit and non-profit organizations that offer some type of social enterprise. Expertise in governance structure, financial planning, feasibility assessments and grants management are offered free of charge to organizations seeking to improve the collective quality of life in the region while administering their business or non-profit. Since 2017, the team has served 180 client organizations, including 45 start-ups. Information regarding this team’s work and recent clients may be found here: https://www.ohio.edu/voinovich-school/economic-development/social-enterprise-ecosystem
- Our Center for Economic Development and Community Resiliencepartners with community leaders, agencies and companies to conduct analyses related to economic impact, fiscal impact, and workforce needs to support economic diversification and growth. With a service area covering Ohio’s 32 Appalachian counties, projects range from Broadband expansion to community-specific strategic planning to the future of remote work in the region. Examples of recent projects may be found here: https://economicdevelopment.ohio.edu/library/
These (and other!) Voinovich School initiatives are making a positive, measurable difference within our region and state. These activities would not be possible without the support of the State of Ohioand the Appalachian New Economy Workforce Partnership (ANEP)resources that are appropriated through the Ohio Department of Higher Education. The Voinovich School uses these resources to match federal funding opportunities and through this amalgamation grow the region’s economic prosperity strategies. We also use the resources to fund staff involvement in community-articulated projects, such as an economic impact analysis of the Circleville Pumpkin Show and a new strategic plan for the Village of Wellsville.
We at the Voinovich School sincerely appreciate the state’s long-term investment, which continues to build capacity and economic prosperity throughout our Appalachian counties. We take seriously our stewardship of these resources and will continue to focus our projects and partnerships in ways that lead to positive, meaningful change.