If you have a small business located within the city limits of Canton, Massillon, Alliance, Hartville or Hills & Dales, you may be eligible for a micro loan at or below market rate. The Stark County Regional Planning Commission is accepting applications from small businesses for its Micro-Enterprise Loan Program. The program offers loans of up to $10,000 to owners of qualified Stark County businesses, which may have experienced trouble securing traditional financing.
For more information, call Jeff Ditson at the SCRPC at 438-0402.
Jobs online
The ETC Employment and Training Connection, an Internet-based system that links employers to qualified applicants was unveiled last month at Stark State College of Technology. The site provides employment, education and training services to job seekers and employers in Stark, Tuscarawas, Wayne, Carroll and Holmes counties. The site can be reached at www.etconnection.org.
Destination: Stark County
A recent study commissioned by the Canton/Stark County Convention & Visitors’ Bureau found that 2.3 million people visited Stark County in 1998, a 2 percent increase over the previous year.
Visitors to the county spent more than $436 million, which contributed to the creation of 11,436 new jobs and added $20.5 million in tax revenue.
Going South
Wern Rausch Locke Advertising Inc. of Canton has opened an Atlanta branch. The Atlanta office is part of the agency’s five-year expansion plan. The office will be managed by Atlanta resident Tricia Reese.
“Wern Rausch Locke has always grown as the client contacts moved onto other businesses and took us with them,” says C. Todd Locke, president. “This current plan is a marked effort to deliberately expand and broaden Wern’s role as a regional agency.”