Ready Cincinnati unveils 2025–27 “3 by 3” strategy; cites jobs, site shortages and small-business grant wins

Kim Lauterbach, representing Ready Cincinnati, told Hamilton County commissioners on March 25 that the regional economic development organization has adopted a new three-year strategic plan it calls the “3 by 3” strategy, aimed at growing jobs and capital investment across its 15-county, three-state region.

The presentation to the Board of Hamilton County Commissioners explained the plan’s three high-level goals — “booming business,” a unified global brand and prioritizing engagement and inclusive growth — and identified life sciences, aerospace and aviation, food/flavor/beverage and chemicals and materials as priority attraction verticals. “Ready Cincinnati stands for the Regional Economic Development Initiative,” Lauterbach said, introducing the organization’s role in drawing business to the region.

The plan builds on Ready Cincinnati’s 11 years of work, Lauterbach said. She recapped the organization’s regional totals since inception: about 800 projects won, roughly 68,000 new jobs and about $12 billion in capital investment. In 2024, Ready helped secure roughly 4,000 jobs regionwide and more than $1 billion in capital investment; about 25 projects were within Hamilton County last year, bringing nearly 1,000 jobs to the county and an average wage in the county of about $81,000, Lauterbach said.

Why it matters: county commissioners said a vibrant Hamilton County is central to the region’s success and pressed Ready Cincinnati on where the county should focus resources. Commissioners repeatedly raised site readiness and brownfield funding as constraints on competing for very large projects. “We still don’t have enough sites,” Lauterbach said, calling site availability one of the region’s primary limitations for competing for very large, “mega” projects.

Commissioners and Ready Cincinnati staff also discussed the organization’s small-business grant program, originally unveiled in 2020. Lauterbach said Hamilton County has been the program’s leading local success: Ready Cincinnati assistance has helped 69 small businesses in the county produce about 450 new jobs and nearly $30 million in new payroll, with about 80% of grant recipients qualifying on underrepresented ownership and 20% qualifying by zip-code. Lauterbach described the fund as flexible grant support, with awards commonly in the $50,000 range, used for machinery, building costs, software and training.

Commissioners asked for more detail about the foreign direct investment pipeline; Lauterbach said Japan is the largest source of FDI for the region followed by Germany, the U.K. and France and that industry trends are shifting toward aerospace, chemicals and food/beverage in addition to historic automotive activity. County officials asked whether the organization’s outreach remains flexible amid changing global trade and tariff conditions; Lauterbach said the organization vets trips and will not deploy investor dollars where prospects appear unlikely.

Discussion points captured but not acted on included: repeated requests by commissioners for more state brownfield funding and policy flexibility (the Ohio Future Fund and state brownfield programs were cited as a partial but not yet fully deployed source), and commissioners offering advocacy on state funding for site development. Ready Cincinnati executives thanked Hamilton County for being a founding-level investor and described the JobsOhio partnership and the requirement that both city and county match investments to draw JobsOhio funding.

Ending: Commissioners did not take formal action on the strategic plan during the staff meeting; discussion closed and the board moved to the next agenda topic.