Rural development focuses on assisting villages and townships in identifying their assets, advantages, and priorities and developing and implementing customized approaches to facilitating and promoting desired development within that context. It also involves assisting rural businesses and revitalizing village downtowns.
Rural Development activity was active in 2020, as we worked with a number of businesses to sustain, open and expand.
We connected with almost 50 rural Seneca County businesses through our business outreach program (INSIGHT).
We worked with the Seneca County Commissioners, the villages of Bettsville and Green Springs, as well as Bloom, Clinton, Eden, Hopewell, and Pleasant Townships to develop and administer a Seneca CARES program modeled after the Tiffin CARES small business relief program. Seneca County contributed $390,000, while the villages and townships provided $205,000 in funding. 105 grants were awarded to rural Seneca County businesses.
The Seneca County Common Ground organization was created in 2020 and took over the Farmers’ Market, hiring the first Market Manager and putting on 10 successful events in spite of the challenges due to the coronavirus.
