Secretary of State Jon A. Husted met with Ohio Christian University (OCU), Circleville, and Pickaway County officials at the Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center to discuss Attorney General Mike DeWine’s and his “Ohio Prosperity Plan” that they will implement if elected Ohio Governor and Lt. Governor.
The Plan provides for training to give Ohioans 21st-century technology job skills through funding completion of 10,000 training certificates for skills such as basic computer software coding and data analytics. Short courses will cost around $600 each, offered by the likes of the Plaster Center’s Micro-Credentialing Lab who provide local access to earning credentials. Ohio will assist students who complete courses with job placement services.
“Today we need to innovate and find ways to turn innovation into jobs. We need to use knowledge resources to benefit the economy. This plan aims to train Ohioans with new tech skills to match the opportunities innovation creates,” Husted explained. “This Center is a first-class facility for creating a culture of entrepreneurship. In the end, it takes innovation, investment, and talent to create the prosperity we seek.”
A key initiative is to enable inventors in Ohio’s research universities to own intellectual property they create which will attract the ‘best and brightest’ to an environment where they can thrive. Another initiative to facilitate tech-friendly advancement would expand Ohio’s broadband infrastructure to increase access around the state to the high-speed digital network. The plan calls for establishing Opportunity Zones for economically-distressed communities and for conforming Ohio tax law to the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and it will streamline or end burdensome regulations to help businesses flourish.
Husted concluded his visit with a Q&A session in an OCU School of Business & Government class.
