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During a special ceremony on June 17 at 5X���� at Tuscarawas, Gil Goldberg, district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Cleveland District office, presented Steve Schillig, director of the Ohio Small Business Development Center (OSBDC) at Kent State Tuscarawas and his staff with the Small Business Administration’s 2013 Small Business Development Center Excellence and Innovation Award.

“It is a tremendous honor to have been selected for the 2013 Service Excellence and Innovation Center Award,” says Schillig. “I feel very fortunate to be a part of a great team and to have the wonderful support of Kent State Tuscarawas.”

According to Goldberg, Schillig and the Kent State Tuscarawas OSBDC received the honor for its excellence in providing value to small businesses and advancing program delivery and management through innovation. He also complimented Schillig and the OSBDC on their work with small companies, helping them to get through the recession, and with college and high school students. “What singles them out is their focus on youth entrepreneurship,” Goldberg says.

Schillig’s staff  includes Certified Business Advisor Joe Belinsky, Program Assistant Deanna Spencer and 14 Jobs Act advisors.

“We are proud to have the Ohio Small Business Development Center be an integral part of our campus,” says Gregg L. Andrews, Ph.D., dean and chief administrative officer of Kent State Tuscarawas. “This past year, this group of dedicated professionals assisted more than 600 clients with new business start-ups and expansions of existing small businesses by providing counseling, loan assistance, training and networking. As a result, the center assisted small businesses with capital infusion of $3.4 million dollars and counseled 33 business start-ups. According to an analysis by Ohio University, the total economic impact for our Small Business Development Center Region 10, of jobs created or retained, totaled $76 million dollars in payroll, making a total impact of $326 million dollars in Economic Impact in the 10-county region we serve.”

The OSBDC at Kent State Tuscarawas was able to assist a larger number of entrepreneurs the past two and a half years due to $362,436 in federal funding from the Jobs Act Program for counseling and training for Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Coshocton, Guernsey, Harrison, Holmes, Jefferson, Muskingum and Tuscarawas counties.

The Ohio SBDC Network provides free, confidential, in-depth business consulting in areas such as business management, government regulations, financing, international trade and product development.

The SBDC of Ohio program was created in 1985 through a partnership between the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Ohio Department of Development. The program fosters a strong climate for small business growth through a statewide integrated system of small business service, advocacy and awareness, and more than 40 partnerships with chambers of commerce, colleges and universities, economic development of organizations and Edison Centers. Kent State Tuscarawas serves as the award winner’s local host organization.