Ohio Nonprofit, Creating Jobs Nationally

An interesting nonprofit job creation model being spun out nationally, as reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

An excerpt.

“Can one region "JumpStart" a national economy?

“However unlikely the proposition, the Northeast Ohio region of 4 million people is giving it a real whirl.

“First, it's leading by practice. Drawing on the region's historically large foundation resources, since 2004 it has had a "Fund for Our Economic Future" focused on such goals as connecting cutting-edge industries.

"This is regional, collaborative and for the long haul," says its president, Brad Whitehead. He cites the sparks of creativity and growth potential in such innovations as taking "a Rolls-Royce facility in fuel cells in North Canton, hooking up with Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, with polymer technology in Akron, and then materials and metal strength in Youngstown."

“Now, the Ohioans' signature job-producing nonprofit — JumpStart, a 7-year-old organization that invests public and private funds in entrepreneurial startups — is "going national" with a new affiliate, JumpStart America, which aims to raise $2 billion in the next decade for investments in promising ventures across the country.

“That effort, in turn, is working with the Obama administration's recently announced Startup America campaign, designed to celebrate, inspire and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship nationwide. That campaign is working, in turn, with the new Startup America Partnership, an alliance of venture capitalists, angel investors, universities and CEOs (AOL founder Steve Case chairs the group). A major focus: to encourage regional business-university-research coalitions (like Northeast Ohio's) to accelerate the creation of new companies and more jobs.

“All this falls under the classic notion of building interactive, idea-, product- and job-generating economic clusters. But it's needed with special urgency in the United States, right now.”