Regional development officials to visit county

Economic development officials from East Central Ohio will visit Steubenville on July 27 for their quarterly meeting. The session will run from 1-3 p.m. at the Fort Steuben Visitor’s Center, 120 S. Third St.

Hugh Quill, director of the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, will share his perspective on issues which impact business and economic development with those attending.

The meeting is being coordinated by Lisa Duvall, the regional director for Gov. Ted Strickland in East Central Ohio.

“This is another great opportunity for us to showcase Jefferson County to development leaders in the region and folks from the state,” said Ed Looman, executive director of Progress Alliance. “Our organization is extremely proud to serve as the host for this meeting.”

Eastern Gateway wins Team NEO award

Eastern Gateway Community College, based in Jefferson County, earned the Workforce Development from Team Northeast Ohio at the fourth annual Economic Development Plus Awards Dinner in Akron.

The award, received by Dr. Laura Meeks, EGCC president, recognized the creation of the new community college.

By absorbing an existing community college and adopting programs already established at other colleges, EGCC cut through the red tape in order to train students immediately and reach students in the Mahoning Valley who had otherwise not had access nor the funds to obtain associate degrees, Team NEO noted during the presentation.

EGCC served 3,010 students during its inaugural academic year.

New Horizons joins list of golf outing sponsors

New Horizons has joined with several other organizations to help sponsor the fourth annual Bridge Invitational Golf Classic, set for Friday, Aug. 6 at the Steubenville Country Club.

Apex Environmental Services will serve as the main sponsor for the event. The Steubenville Electrical LMCC and Sodexo have agreed to be title sponsors while The Herald Star, Choice Brands, The Laurels of Steubenville, H&H Artworks and Wal-Mart Distribution Center 7017 will serve as event sponsors.

New Horizons consists of 4,000 acres of land located along Ohio 43 in Jefferson County.  The land is available for distribution, industrial, retail, office, residential and recreational purposes.

This year’s event is being billed as the Jefferson County Corporate Challenge.  The corporate team with the lowest score in the four-person scramble will win the opportunity to proudly display the brand new Bridge Invitational traveling trophy.  Members of the winning team will receive smaller replicas of the trophy along with other prizes.

The cost to enter a four-person team is $600. Several sponsorship opportunities also are available.  The event will begin with registration at 8:30 a.m. with a shotgun start to follow at 10 a.m.

For more information, contact Ed Looman at (740) 283-2476 or via e-mail at elooman@progressalliance.com.

Americana Night planned for the fort

Thursday is American Night at the Historic Fort Steuben in downtown Steubenville.

Ron Retzer, a resident of Brilliant, will be the featured performer.  He is well known in this area, performing for many functions, festivals, activities, concerts and clubs.

His performance is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

R&B Night, featuring No Bad Juju, is planned for Thursday, July 8.

State offering millions through energy program

Lisa Patt-McDaniel, director of Ohio Department of Development, and Mark Shanahan, energy advisor to Gov. Ted Strickland, recently announced that the Department’s Ohio Energy Resources Division is accepting applications for $10 million in funding available through the Deploying Renewable Energy: Transforming Waste to Value grant program. This opportunity is the fourth request for proposal involving the State Energy Program, funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The grant program is part of $96 million allocated to Ohio through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act State Energy Program. It fulfills the state’s goals to accelerate Ohio’s strategic investment in the advanced energy industries through greater deployment of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies in Ohio; an increase in job preservation and creation; and enhances energy efficiency for Ohioans impacted by current economic conditions.

Transforming Waste to Value seeks eligible applicants that will create jobs through projects that convert feedstocks - such as municipal solid wastes, food and farm wastes, or other biomass or waste materials - to electricity, heat, fuel, and/or other bio products. The state aims to build the market demand for Ohio manufacturers and distributors of bio digestor components, biomass or waste conversion equipment, and electric generation equipment.

For more information about the Transforming Waste to Value grant program and requirements, please visit http://www.development.ohio.gov/recovery/energy/FundingOpportunities.htm.

Progress Alliance office will close Monday

The Progress Alliance office will be closed Monday in observance of the Fourth of July holiday.

Regular business hours will resume on Tuesday.