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A $600,000 federal grant is coming to help the area respond to the Lordstown GM idling
ERCG to develop, apply strategy to assist region
LORDSTOWN
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration awarded a $600,000 grant to the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments to develop and implement a strategy to help the region respond to the idling of the General Motors complex in Lordstown.
The agency said the grant, awarded Thursday, will be matched with $150,000 in local investments.
“This EDA investment and local matching funds will help Eastgate contract a dedicated recovery coordinator and a supporting team of individuals, who will help the region chart a course to renewed economic dynamism,” said John Fleming, assistant secretary of commerce for economic development.
The money will fund the Eastgate Economic and Resiliency Project, which includes a dedicated recovery coordinator and supporting team to develop a strategy to guide the region’s economic development efforts. The team will work in concert with experts at Cleveland State University’s Center for Economic Development, an EDA university center, to determine where the region should focus its economic resiliency efforts today and in the future.
“Any federal money we get to help the village is greatly beneficial,” said Lordstown Mayor Arno Hill.
There is discussion of using some land in the village as a drop location for triple trailers as Lordstown has an exit on the Ohio Turnpike, Hill said.
“This EDA grant establishes a local disaster recovery coordinator to develop and implement plans to address the economic downturn in the region, largely due to the shutdown of the GM Lordstown complex and its supply chain,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th. “Without question, the local and regional impact of the GM closing was profound – given the direct, indirect and induced loss of jobs.”
Ryan called it a “critical and timely investment that will help us focus on a plan to reconnect local businesses with growing industry drivers.”
GM idled the Lordstown facility, which had more than 10,000 workers at once time, in March after 53 years of operation.
GM ended production of the Chevrolet Cruze at the plant, eliminating about 1,600 jobs left.
In May, General Motors disclosed it was in discussions with Workhorse Group Inc., a Cincinnati-area company, and an affiliated, newly formed entity to sell the Lordstown facility. Workhorse wants to use the idled plant to build electric vehicles.
Hill said Thursday he has heard nothing new about Workhorse in a while.
He’s still holding out hope that GM will put a new vehicle in the Lordstown facility.
“Even though GM says they’ve shut down Lords-town, there’s still a small chance we might get something,” Hill said.
GM CEO Mary Barra spoke earlier this month with members of the Ohio congressional delegation, telling them that the company doesn’t need the Lordstown complex because it has too much capacity elsewhere, according to Ryan, who attended that meeting.
The $600,000 federal grant comes from the EDA’s Assistance to Coal Communities program, which the agency awards funds on a competitive basis to assist communities severely impacted by the declining use of coal through activities and programs that support economic diversification, job creation, capital investment, workforce development and re-employment opportunities.