REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY SANDY K. BARUAH ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - DAYTON, OHIO

SUNDAY, JUNE 29, 2008

AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY

Introduction by: Congressman Michael Turner

Thank you, Congressman Turner, for that kind introduction, and thank you for inviting me to join you today to discuss the economic future of the Miami Valley and Clinton County regions in Southwestern Ohio.

Your efforts, Congressman, to reach out to members of President Bush’s Cabinet for help in addressing the recent plant closings in this region are just another example of your leadership, and your active engagement in helping Ohio communities address the challenges of the 21st century worldwide economy.

Your call has been heard, Congressman, and the Federal Government is committed to being at your side as this region addresses the challenges that lay ahead.

I’m pleased to be joining my Federal colleagues here today from the Small Business Administration and the Department of Labor. We are here to learn what your needs are, and to learn how we can be of help. The fact that such a high-level group of Federal officials is here on a Sunday is a testimonial to how seriously we take the challenges you face, and the respect we have for you, Congressman Turner.

Throughout George W. Bush’s presidency, he has encouraged the collaboration between Federal agencies to achieve common objectives. Today is the latest example of the Federal Government working together.

EDA’S HISTORY WITH ECONOMIC RECOVERY

As we discuss the economic situation here in Dayton, I can assure you that we understand what you are going through. General Motors’ closing of its Moraine plant is expected to result in 2,500 lost jobs, and, when supplier jobs at Delphi and others are factored in, the number could go up to 8,000 lost jobs. Meanwhile, DHL’s closing of operations in Clinton County has the potential of costing another 8,000 jobs. These are serious times for the region.

The Economic Development Administration – along with our Federal partners – have experience helping communities recover from these types of economic challenges. EDA has played a role in helping:

• North Carolina address the loss of furniture and textile jobs.

• Michigan address the significant transformation taking place in the auto industry.

• Iowa address the loss of their Maytag plant.

• And other regions experiencing significant economic dislocations.

Our goal at EDA is to work with you – the leaders of the Southwestern Ohio region – along with Federal partners and the State of Ohio – to get through this difficult time.

There is no doubt that things look troubled now. I won’t pretend that significant challenges, and changes, do not await this community.

However, I can offer hope. Not the hope that these exact same jobs and exact same firms will be back here soon – but hope that a better day – and a better economic picture – await this region.

Just look at Aurora, Colorado – a bleak situation with a bright outcome.

The 1999 closure of the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora – the city’s largest employer and a major tax base contributor – caused the sudden loss of 4,000 jobs. The folks of Aurora felt the same anxiety you all are feeling today.

The leaders and community members of Aurora – after coming to grips with their new reality – banned together to take a fresh look at not what their community was, but what it could be. They decided to identify what their competitive advantage might be in the 21st century economy.

First, they realized that they needed to work together. No longer could cities, townships, and counties go their separate ways. No longer could the public sector and private sector work at cross-purposes. No longer could key institutions, such as educational, philanthropic, and non-profit work in disharmony. They need to work together.

Once they organized themselves as a region and developed a “we’re in it together” attitude, things began to fall into place. The Aurora region identified medical services and leading edge medical research as areas they had an opportunity to exploit.

Today, Aurora is the hub for medical care in the region, and is a center for leading edge medical research in the entire Rocky Mountains. The 4,000 jobs of the Fitzsimmons Army Base have already been replaced by even higher-skill, higher-wage jobs and up to 30,000 jobs are expected to populate this medical and research hub.

It didn’t happen overnight. It didn’t happen easily. But it did happen.

Aurora is one example, but there are others. Will the recovery of the Southwestern Ohio follow the exact same pattern as Aurora? No. You will find your own way – and EDA wants to help.

You have assets to help. You have a highly trained workforce. You have expertise in advanced manufacturing. You have a great institution in the University of Dayton, which has impressive engineering and research facilities – which I toured during my last trip to Dayton (June 2006).

In the Aurora example, EDA provided resources to finance strategic planning so the region could answer the “what’s next” question. We invested over $5 million over the course of several years to help build the medical facilities that now house all these great jobs. I am proud that EDA has played such a positive role in helping Aurora, and other places, such as the State of North Dakota, the Iron Ore Range by Duluth, Minnesota, the textile region of North Carolina, answer their “what’s next” question.

EDA can help you do three key things:

1. Strategy Development: Our Planning and Economic Adjustment Programs can provide resources to begin the strategic analysis of your challenges and to identify your potential competitive advantages. In fact, EDA provides annual funding to five Economic Development Districts in Ohio to address this very challenge. However, none of these Districts cover Montgomery or Clinton counties, and I’ve asked our EDA Regional Office to examine options to address this.

2. Infrastructure Development: As in my Aurora example, EDA can help you build things. Our agency has an extensive portfolio of investments encompassing business incubators, research facilities, buildings, port facilities, even roads and water lines, all with the goal of generating higher-skill, higher-wage jobs.

3. Bolster Small Manufacturers: Through our Trade Adjustment Assistance Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, EDA provides technical assistance to small and medium-sized manufacturing firms to become more competitive in the global marketplace.

EDA’S CURRENT WORK IN THE AREA

That’s how we can help. The good news is that we’re not starting from scratch – we’ve already begun work in the region:

• In Dayton, EDA invested over a half million dollars in 2002 to extend and improve Detrick Street, which serves the Select International Corporation, and to make the Detrick Street area more attractive to industrial development.

• Also in Dayton, EDA approved an investment of over $2.5 million in 2006 to help build Dayton’s “Creative Technology Accelerator,” which is part of the city’s “Tech Town” effort to develop an old industrial area into a technology center that will create higher-skill, higher-wage jobs.

• In Highland County, EDA invested over a half million dollars to help provide the infrastructure necessary for the 90-acre Leesburg Industrial Park.

• And, in Clinton County, EDA is working with the county officials and the Ohio Valley Regional Planning Commission to establish an economic recovery coordinator that will help the region address the economic impact of the closings.

CLOSING

With these projects, we have a head start in helping Southwestern Ohio address the challenges of the 21st century economy. EDA stands ready to continue to be your partner in your economic planning and recovery efforts.

EDA is here to listen to you. We don’t have all the answers – you will have to develop the answers, because successful economic recovery and development is always locally-driven. We want to help you answer your “what’s next” question and help you get where you want to go.

Thank you again to Congressman Turner for convening this discussion. Perhaps the most important part – and sometimes most difficult part – of building successful strategies for economic recovery and development is getting the right people in the room. The “right people” include leaders from both the private and public sectors who are ready, willing and able to work together. Today, we see this collaboration beginning to take place.

On behalf of President Bush, thank you for the invitation to be here today, and I look forward to our discussion.

# # # # # #