Cuyahoga County’s Five Year Economic Development Plan lays out strategies and objectives for all regional economic development actors.  The plan has been updated each year through 2018, as required by the County Charter. Updates for 2018 were delivered to County Council on June 1, 2018, outlining objectives and strategies to create and sustain economic and population growth and job creation through 2022. Cuyahoga County Council adopted the plan on June 24, 2018.

Working with the Cuyahoga County Economic Development Commission, staff of the Department of Development analyzed and reported on regional progress on each of 32 action items listed in the Five Year Economic Development Plan.  For example, one action item is to “Provide and leverage funding for small businesses to start and grow, particularly in neighborhoods.” In the first half of 2018, Cuyahoga County worked with six cities and four nonprofit agencies to provide over $2 million of new funding to 31 small businesses. Another action item is to “Form partnerships with public and private entities to assure funding for startup and early stage businesses creating jobs of the future, for example technology and health care.” In the first half of 2018, Cuyahoga County partnered with JumpStart and the Cleveland Clinic to house the first United States location outside Silicon Valley of the “Plug and Play” high-tech startup incubator at the Global Center for Health Innovation. A cohort of 12 startup companies focusing on innovations in health care completed their residency, several of whom are looking to expand their operations in Cuyahoga County.

Additionally, Cuyahoga County has engaged the Center for Economic Development at Cleveland State University to review and recommend improvements to the economic indicators of regional strength and economic progress listed in the Five Year Economic Development Plan. This work is ongoing as the Five Year Plan is updated each year.