Silverlode's New Home

Our new address is 3043 Superior Ave, which is on the northeast corner of Superior and E. 31st Street.  Please feel free to stop by if you are in the neighborhood!

Created in 2002 and recently extended through 2015, the Ohio Third Frontier is a $2.3 billion initiative that supports applied research and commercialization, entrepreneurial assistance, early-stage capital formation, and expansion of a skilled talent pool that can support technology-based economic growth.

Silverlode Consulting has helped organizations to secure over $600 million in Federal, State, and local funding programs such as the Ohio Third Frontier.  For more information about the Third Frontier Program or other opportunities for your organization, please contact Dennis McAndrew at (216) 263-9000 x202 or dennis@silverlodeconsulting.com.

The Energizing Careers Program offers up to $6,000 per employee to train/re-train full-time, existing employees.  Companies must demonstrate they are an OEM, Tier 1 Supplier, or a company that engages in manufacturing activities in the supply chain for the solar, wind or biomass industry.  Eligible training activities includes technical training, quality, lean manufacturing, process improvement training, first time manager training, and a portion of training assessment fees, curriculum development and travel.  Training courses must lead to a recognized certificate through a state educational institution, career center, industry organization, apprenticeship program, etc.

Silverlode can assist with projects that have an eligible training budget of at least $40,000.  We will assess your training program for eligibility, assist with establishing the training budget, complete and submit your application.  When awards are made, we will make sure your company receives all of your grant funds by completing reimbursement requests and any compliance reports.  Call us soon so we can get started — applications are due November 19.

The Job Creation Tax Credit is one of Ohio’s most used and lucrative incentive programs. In fact, other states have copied this program when developing their own incentives packages.  In the past, a company had to create at least 25 net new jobs over three years and obtain local financial support for their project.  New rules established in late 2009, require that companies now create $660,000 of new annual payroll by the end of a three-year period.  Credits are based on Ohio withholding taxes of new employees.  Companies receive a percentage of those new withholding taxes in the form of a refundable tax credit; therefore, if you have no tax liability, you are refunded the credit amount in cash.  Credit percentages and terms are based on the number of jobs, payroll and capital investment.

Feel free to contact us to discuss if this program may help your company grow in Ohio.

Third Frontier R&D Grants are awarded for R&D expenses such as personnel wages, testing equipment, supplies, purchased services and travel.  Grants can be up to $1,000,000, and companies are required to provide matching funds.

Silverlode can assist with proposals that have an estimated project budget totaling $1,000,000-$2,000,000 or more.  We will assess R&D projects to determine eligibility, and will draft and submit proposals.  When the funds are awarded, we also assist with compliance, reimbursement requests, and overall grant maintenance.  This is a time sensitive opportunity; please call us to discuss your project as soon as possible.

Our project began with a universe of more than 175 cities in over 40 countries.  From this, we narrowed the field to a long list of 25 potential locations on three continents.  Using a proprietary weighted location factor analysis, we will continue our work until we have arrived at a ranked short list of cities from which we can select the optimal location for our client.

The states that do a good job tend to all exhibit the following best practices:

1. They make it very easy to determine who within the state is the best point of contact for a particular project.
2. They are very responsive, returning calls or messages quickly.
3. They allow for a single point of contact throughout the life of a project, so customers are not shuffled between various departments and people.
4. Their assistance programs are well-defined and predictable.
5. They do what they say they will do.

Note that customer service has nothing to do with who offers the most incentive dollars. Not only are incentives a secondary location decision factor, but they are obviously worthless if a state cannot deliver on what they offer. Also note that the best practices listed above do not have a high cost of implementation. They are about attitude and approach. As site selection consultants, our job is to not only help our clients find the best location for their project, but to find a site where they can meet their often challenging deadlines; and that is why customer service is so important.

The grants we are writing for our clients represent more than $150 million in total capital investment projects, support the retention of around 43,000 direct and indirect jobs, and more than $2.3 billion of annual earnings for U.S. workers.