Our HITS Program (Hiring, Investing, Training, Space) has made significant
progress with retention and expansion projects. HITS is the initiative in Clark
County to reach out to businesses and help them identify and obtain resources
that help them grow. The program is a collaborative team effort that leverages
existing business relationships to increase the resources that businesses use. A
HITS representative will ask you four questions to determine if you can save
money through public assistance and incentives. If you answer yes to the
question, "Are you planning to hire, invest, train or need more space?" in the
next year, call us. Contact
Amy Donahoe,
Director of Hiring & Employer Services at 937-521-1946.
The Team
The core team consists of non-profit resource partners who meet monthly to
discuss resources and new projects. The associate team consists of volunteers
who assist in making HITS calls or entering data into the system. Both are
critical for our success. The core team is listed below. The associate team
consists of over 20 professionals + volunteers working with the organization to
make the contacts.
Grow—from hiring to financial assistance
Our HITS team will assist you with these free services
HITS (Hiring, Investing, Training, Space)
Hiring
- job posting
- job fairs
- screening
- offsite interviewing
- wage information
- recruitment
- tax credits
Important Questions:
Do you think you may be hiring in the next 12 months? Will you need to lay some
people off in the next 12 months?
The most important determining factor for getting incentives is job creation. If
you aren’t hiring, then you won’t qualify for most (but not all) incentive
programs. Tax credits, loans, grants all usually depend on the number of new
hires.
Investing
- low interest
- fixed rate
- public financing
- loan guarantees
- tax credits + exemptions
- grants
Important Questions:
Do you think that you may be investing more money into the business within the
next 12 months over and above general operating expenses? Examples would include
any fixed capital assets (land, building, construction, renovation, machinery
and equipment), research and development costs, training costs, working capital.
The second most important determining factor for getting incentives is fixed
capital asset investment. Working capital and other soft costs are next in
importance. If there is no hiring and no investing being done, then there is no
“traditional” economic development project.
Training
- customized training solutions
- personnel developments
- tax credits
- grants
Important Question: Do you think you will be spending any money on training for
new and/or existing employees over the next 12 months?
There are training programs which do not require additional hires or investment
(other than what was spent on the training itself). There are also people on our
team who are training experts who can help determine how the training needs
might best be met and if there are any programs to assist in paying for it.
Space
- incubators
- real estate search
- public land
- build to suit
- zoning
- permits
Important Question: Are you thinking about changing space or adding on to your
current space within the next 12 months?
Finding companies the space to do business in is real estate brokerage, and this
is a key function of economic developers. Not that they replace brokers
themselves, but they add value to the equation by knowing their areas better
than anyone when it comes to sites, industrial, distribution, and often office,
tech, and commercial space as well. This is a key economic development service
that can be provided for a business even if they do not need any assistance.