Eastern Ohio alliance meets in Walnut Creek to boost regional growth

Walnut Creek put Holmes County in the middle of a regional development pitch as about 100 members of the Eastern Ohio Development Alliance met at the Carlisle Inn to look for the next employers, sites and infrastructure projects that could move eastern Ohio forward.

The alliance’s 36th annual meeting opened with check-in at 8:30 a.m., then a networking hour and Taste of Holmes County from 9 to 10 a.m. before the business meeting ran from 10 a.m. to noon. An Amish-style luncheon followed, giving county leaders, developers and public officials a chance to compare notes in one of the county’s most recognizable gathering places.

EODA spans 16 counties, including Holmes, and its leaders continue to frame the region as a single economic market rather than a collection of separate counties. The group points to access to Interstate 70, Interstate 77, the Ohio River and Class A railways as part of the pitch for winning new industry, keeping existing employers in place and moving projects from concept to construction.

John Carey, director of the Governor’s Office of Appalachia, used the meeting to press that broader approach. Carey, who was appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine in February 2019 after serving as Ohio’s chancellor of higher education from 2013 to 2018, said the state has invested more than $2.2 billion in Appalachian Ohio’s 32 counties since 2019. He also said the region covers more than 39% of Ohio, a scale that makes local coordination essential if communities want to capture more of that money.

For Holmes County businesses and workers, the practical test is whether that regional talk turns into visible work on the ground: water and sewer upgrades, demolition and cleanup, historical preservation and other community improvements that make property usable for employers. Carey said local communities drive those projects, which means the pipeline still depends on county and village leaders bringing forward sites and plans that are ready for funding and construction.

The annual meeting also included award recognition, underscoring that EODA is trying to tie the big regional message to specific local wins. The Foundation for Appalachian Ohio said grant recipients connected to its legacy funds were to be celebrated at the meeting, including work supported by the Dale Hileman Legacy Fund, which backs economic development and growth across EODA’s service area.

For Holmes County, the meeting in Walnut Creek was more than another luncheon and speech. It offered a snapshot of how regional development really advances here: through utility work, cleanup, preservation and coordinated county planning that can turn a meeting room conversation into a site, a project and, eventually, a new employer.