Franklin County Board of Commissioners
2024 State of the County Report

Job Creation, Strategic Economic Development, & Fiscal Security

Ensuring that the Franklin County economy continues to thrive is one of the commissioners’ top priorities, but they also recognize that we’ll only be successful as a community when every Franklin County resident has the opportunity to benefit from that prosperity. Much of the work that the commissioners’ team focuses on is aimed at ensuring plentiful opportunities for employment, high quality education, workforce development, affordable housing, and the other things families need to get ahead.

Community Partner: Rev1 Ventures

One of the ways that the commissioners support equitable economic development is through support of community partner organizations like Rev1 Ventures, which is a venture development organization with a mission to help entrepreneurs build great companies in Central Ohio.

Rev1 Ventures

They provide coaching and mentoring services to technology start-ups to help them identify markets, attract investment, and create jobs. Last year, we funded Rev1 to match state grant dollars and provide product development, financial modeling, and concept and commercialization exploration for Franklin County start-ups.

2023 Rev 1 Ventures Stats:

$5 million

invested in 14 Franklin County start-ups.

90

other start-up opportunities facilitated.

$430,000

in reduced-fee services to 63 Franklin County start-ups delivered.

Greater economic development is the best opportunity we have to build the strength our communities need to achieve a better quality of life and overall wellbeing. We must never forget that what we do or choose not to do with this opportunity will directly impact the families we serve.

~ Economic Development and Planning Interim Director Ruchelle Pride

Community Partners: One Columbus & Experience Columbus

Another way that the commissioners support economic development in Central Ohio is through support of One Columbus, which is the economic development organization for our 11-county region, and Experience Columbus, which is the convention and visitors bureau for Central Ohio. One Columbus works with local and state partners to support and recruit businesses in our community as they grow, innovate, and compete in the global economy.

One Columbus

2023 One Columbus Stats:

33

projects, 20 located in Franklin County.

1,310

new job opportunities.

$253.4 Million

in fixed capital investment.

Job Creation, Strategic Economic Development, & Fiscal Security
Job Creation, Strategic Economic Development, & Fiscal Security
Job Creation, Strategic Economic Development, & Fiscal Security

Community Partners: One Columbus & Experience Columbus

Experience Columbus markets and promotes Columbus as a destination for meetings, conferences, sporting events and other tourism. The commissioners provide more than $3 million in annual support for Experience Columbus, and the return on that investment helps grow our entire local economy, including by supporting nearly 75,000 local jobs.

Experience Columbus

2023 Experience Columbus Stats:

50 Million

visitors make annual trips to Central Ohio.

$6.6 Billion

spent by visitors to Columbus.

342

group meetings hosted in Columbus in 2023.

$13.60

is returned for every $1 invested by Experience Columbus.

$1,400

saved by each household in Franklin County in tax payments each year due to the taxes paid by visitors.

Program Highlight: Magnet Fund

SA lack of affordable housing remains one of the greatest challenges facing our community today and one of the greatest barriers to families trying to climb the economic ladder. The commissioners’ Magnet Fund grant program helps to ease that strain by investing in new affordable housing projects

The commissioners created their affordable housing Magnet Fund in 2019, increasing the conveyance fee that is paid whenever somebody sells a property in Franklin County in order to raise an additional $6.5 million per year that is divided between the Magnet Fund and the Franklin County Land Bank. Their initial goal was to use these funds to help create more than 2,000 new affordable housing units over ten years. They surpassed that goal in less than four years, however, and are reaching for new heights in the funding of quality, affordable places for families to live that are near jobs, schools, shopping, and transportation. Ensuring that there are sufficient affordable places to live is one of the 120 goals and action steps in the commissioners’ Rise Together Blueprint to address poverty.

  • $4.6 million invested to support…
  • 572 new housing units that are affordable to families…
  • Between 30% and 80% of the area median income.
  • 280 new affordable housing units begun in previous years were completed in 2023.

Recent events attracted by the Greater Columbus Sports Commission, which is part of Experience Columbus include:

Greater Columbus Sports Commission

In addition, the commissioners also sponsor events like the HBCU Classic for Columbus College Basketball All-Star Game & Celebrity Extravaganza. This annual event lasts five days and has an estimated $10 million economic impact on Central Ohio, with popular attractions including a game that features top seniors from Historically Black Colleges & Universities vs. top players from Ohio’s traditional universities. Franklin County is also the only county in America that owns a baseball team and the stadium it plays in. The Columbus Clippers are a triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians baseball team.

Columbus Clippers

Agency Partner: Economic Development and Planning

The commissioners’ Economic Development and Planning department also serves as the zoning, land use, and building permit agency for Franklin County, working tirelessly to improve plan review and permitting services for residents and businesses, including streamlined processes in which plan reviews are turned around in less than five days and inspections are conducted within 24 hours.

2023 Experience Columbus Stats:

5,507

building inspections.

3,350

building permits.

151

new home Permits.

626

zoning applications.

$786,650

in building and zoning receipts.

Job Creation, Strategic Economic Development, & Fiscal Security
Job Creation, Strategic Economic Development, & Fiscal Security

Program Highlight: Local Food Action Plan

Since 2014, the commissioners have partnered with the City of Columbus on a planning effort to create a stronger, more sustainable local food system, with unified efforts to support growing, processing, transporting, selling, consuming, and disposing of food.

The Local Food Action Plan aims to address inequalities in access to healthy, affordable, local food, and last year’s annual report highlighted four community goal areas and the progress that is being made toward them:

Local Food Action Plan
  • Enhance Coordination and Communication
    A number of nutrition-focused community organizations were able to strengthen their local networks to build broader community and economic development in historically underserved neighborhoods.
  • Improve access to and education about healthy food, affordable food, and local food
    The Mid-Ohio Food Collaborative provided more than 38 million pounds of emergency groceries, while Lutheran Social Services and LifeCare Alliance provided more than two million meals, and Produce Perks served more than 1,000 Franklin County households with reduced-cost fruits and vegetables.
  • Increase the role of food in economic development
    Franklin Park Conservatory, What Chefs Want, and other local partners facilitated millions of dollars in new sales for local farms and vendors.
  • Prevent food-related waste
    The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio launched new food waste drop-off programs around the county, Food Rescue-Columbus completed more than 180 “food rescues”, and the OSU Zero Waste Initiative launched an expanded composting program for more than 120 campus buildings.
Local Food Action Plan

NEXT CORE PRINCIPLE

Supportive Health & Human Services