Amy, with Future Plans, who has been an instructor in The Adams County Youth Program over the summer, shares insights and the future of the GRIT Project.
Chandler, the co-chair for the Adams County branch of the GRIT Project, shared how GRIT was implemented into the county.
By Ashley McCarty
People’s Defender
On Monday, Aug. 2, GRIT (Growing Rural Independence Together) held a meeting to celebrate its progress in the county and culminate ideas for going forward.
The meeting was held at the W3CU in Winchester, Ohio.
“In March of 2018 this started kicking off. I met Dennis Reading, who is the president and CEO of Future Plans at a conference in Cincinnati. I saw their program, and thought it would be something beneficial for our area. We got six or eight people together for a meeting in Adams County to see if they saw the same potential, and they did. In the Fall of 2018, we had a larger group and got started from there. In January of 2019, it officially became the GRIT Project,” said Co-chairman Randy Chandler.
In January 2019, GRIT Phase One launched in collaboration with Adams County Court of Appeals, Adams County Drug Coalition, Future Plans, Leadership Adams, OhioMeansJobs, Adams County Ohio Valley School District, Community Action Adams/Brown and Adams County Economic and Community Development.
GRIT is designed to maximize federal, state and county resources in rural Ohio to build a high-demand workforce and stimulate economic growth through public and private partnerships in southern Ohio, which includes Adams, Brown, Highland, Pike and Scioto Counties, and has targeted 5-6,000 residents of these counties from Jan. 2019 to Jan. 2021.
“Every county has to put their own plan together on how best to utilize this opportunity. That’s what we wanted to get started again and why we’re here. What do we need to do for Adams County to enhance our community and the job opportunities?” said Chandler.
Chandler presented a slide that highlighted the liabilities of the area, which included low wages, opioid or other drug addiction impact, 17 to 25 percent living in poverty, 22.7 percent post-secondary education obtainment, high-speed internet challenges, access to reliable daycare/after school care and access to reliable transportation.
The assets of the county, as indicated in the next slide, were an affordable cost of living, affordable land for development, an unemployed labor force that could be deployed, access to major market cities in Ohio and Kentucky, local leadership commitment and a small enough region to test alterations to the system.
“We could pull jobs into Adams County if we just had the right opportunities. A lot of them wouldn’t come here for the remote work opportunities, we could bring some of the industries in. The Winchester Industrial Park is settling in Winchester, that’s an opportunity for people to come to this region,” said Chandler.
According to data from the Ohio Development Services Agency, large industry establishments are concentrated outside of the Appalachian territory, and according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, nine of the top ten occupations in Ohio pay less than $33,000 a year.
“Over the past few years we’ve had brainstorming sessions and we’ve identified a lot of areas where we have barriers in the county. That’s one thing we need to work on,” said Chandler.
Two years ago, GRIT began implementing the Future Plans Assessment in Adams County, which gauges the interest, personality and aptitudes of the individual for strategic career placement.
“The data from that assessment could help with identifying what the Adams County workforce would be good at, and economic development could look at what industries to bring into the area that would be applicable,” said Chandler.
Targeted impact measures are:
— Education
– High School graduates work ready
– Increase participation in trade schools
– Increase participation in post-secondary education
– Increase in completion of post-secondary education
— Jobs
– Increase in job placement
– Increase in 90-day job retention
— Economics
– Increased wages
– Reduction of those living in or near poverty
– Increase in small business development
– Increase in sales tax revenue
— Social
– Reduced recidivism rates
– Greater economic inclusion
Investment Impact:
— Workforce Development (Supply)
– Staffing
– GWF Toolkit
– Daycare
– Transportation
– Marketing
— Virtual Job Centers
– Staffing – Renovation
– Equipment
– Operating cost
— Financial Impact (Wage Increases Only)
– From $135 million to $200 million
– Increased sales tax
– Reduction in state/county subsidies
– ROI of 100-300 percent
Chandler introduced Wylie Shipley, 18, to share her student story of how GRIT has impacted her life.
“I’m a recent graduate of North Adams High School. My sophomore class was the first to take the Future Plans Assessment. That experience has been crazy for me — it makes me emotional thinking about it. Just thinking back, it’s crazy where I’m at now versus where I was as a sophomore. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, or what I was good at. After I took the assessment, it matched me with my top 25 careers, and from that, I picked my top three, which were all business-oriented. From there, I decided to get on the educational path early and do College Credit Plus courses at Southern State Community College. Now, I have an Associates in Applied Business and I’m on the path at Shawnee State University to obtain a dual Bachelors in Business Science and Business Marketing. In between there, I had the opportunity to be a work experience student for Future Plans and get involved with this great stuff. It’s really meant a lot to me. When I went to Shawnee and met with my advisor, I got to shave off seven or eight classes because of my internship,” said Shiply.
The GRIT Project has really changed my life, she said.
“My hope for other students in Adams County is that they really see the opportunities that we have. I would say the biggest thing we have is people, and students aren’t aware of it. We have the assessment, that’s where it starts, but we have coaches and adults in the community that care about you,” said Shipley.
ACOVSD Superintendent Richard Seas shared his perspective in education.
“What I look for as a superintendent is opportunity; educational opportunities and experiences. It didn’t take long to figure out — because I do come from another part of the state — we have some barriers and challenges. I’m excited to see the growth in a program like this. There are too many kids that graduate with no direction or preparation. It’s nice to be able to have kids understand why they go to school and have an idea of what they’re going to do when they graduate, and that’s exactly what this program provides. There have been barriers along the way, but we’ve never lost sight of what is important,” said Seas.
Over the summer, Elyse O’Brien, 17, and Taylor Newman, 17, attended The Adams County Youth Program at the Career and Technical Center. The program began June 14, and for six weeks, students were led along a preparatory journey in either technology, healthcare or customer service.
“I believe that this program is life-changing for many people in Adams County. A couple of days after this program ended, I actually got a job working at the Indian Hill Country Club,” said O’Brien.
O’Brien contributes the skills learned in the program for helping her secure the job.
“This fall I’ll be attending Morehead State University. This program has helped me think differently about my job options. I grew up on a farm my entire life, and I’ve developed an immense passion for agriculture. In the future, I would love to be an agronomist. I originally thought that I would have to leave Adams County, but GRIT helped me reframe my thinking. I now think I may not have to leave the county to have great opportunities,” said Newman.
After student stories, Shipley returned to share how the attendees and community could get involved. Shipley encouraged everyone to refer people to GRIT, to become a mentor or hire a Future Plans student.
“I’m Debora Plymail, I’m the director for OhioMeansJobs for Adams and Brown County. We administer the GRIT funds locally, and we administer Workforce Integration and Opportunity Act funds. We provide the funding for different training for young adults from 14 to 24, we provide training for our adults 18 and over with special funding and also dislocated workers. We were proud to be part of the initial meeting. We believe in the assessment tool, we think it’s a good tool for our toolbox. That’s what we look for for those people that we serve,” said Plymail.
Plymail mentioned future collaborations that will launch soon, one being with the Wilson Children’s Home in West Union, Ohio.
“I’m Kristy Amy. I am part of implementing and being a support and a resource for GRIT. It’s been my honor to be working with you for the last year. I hope for you all that we can be inspired together to think differently on how we can all work and lift the community up in new and different directions. I am a huge nature person, and Adams County is a wonderful place. It’s a beautiful community, and everyone should stay here and work. So, how do we do that? We really dialed in on the slogan of “stay here.” The ideal is that you can live, learn and work right here. Today, we’ve heard a lot of stories about students, but I want you to think about not only the students but the adults as well. Even before COVID-19, we were struggling with people that had opted out of the employment market. We’ve talked a little about remote work as well as other options. As we look at education in general, we’ve seen Mr. Seas talk about attainment,” said Amy.
According to Monster Government Solutions, the highest level of education in the county is a High School diploma or equivalent.
“We need more skills than that, so how do we move people up in educational attainment? If we look at this chart, this is from the last 90-days of in-demand jobs in Adams County. You’ll see at the top is CDL drivers; there are registered nurses, delivery drivers, frontline supervisors, software developers and nursing. About half of these jobs require some kind of workforce certification or an Associate’s Degree. If we’re not building out not only our youth but our adults, who’s going to fill these jobs locally? These needs aren’t going away. So, we’ve got to start working together so we can get people that have the skills to plug into these opportunities. That’s what the spirit of GRIT is all about,” said Amy.
Moving forward, GRIT will tackle such things as breaking down silos, broadband, training and communication. As the meeting came to a close, attendees interacted and conversed constructively about the topics mentioned.
For more information and to reach out, visit GRITohio.org.
