County Executive Armond Budish held his sixth annual State of the County address on Thursday, May 20, 2021. He provided an update to the community on efforts to support public health and safety during the pandemic, and the many ways the County supported residents and small businesses. He also provided a look ahead as we begin to emerge from the worst of the pandemic and consider how the County moves forward.


Below are some highlights from Executive Budish’s speech:

Looking Back

• Pre-pandemic numbers: Bureau of Economic Analysis figures issued at the end of 2020 for 2019 shows our County Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at $88 billion. This ranks us as the 31^st largest economic in the nation, putting us in the top 1%.
• Swift and proactive COVID planning (video): Even before the first COVID infection was discovered in Cuyahoga County, we swung into action, with our first priority being the public’s health and safety. We bought and sought donations of PPE, and through our persistence we’ve been able to distribute over 16 million items of PPE to 1500+ medical facilities, first responders, group homes, assisted living facilities, schools, etc.
• Feeding families (video): As soon as we had the immediate and critical safety issues under control, we turned to the unfolding economic crisis. Lots of residents lost their jobs, leaving many without the income needed to put food on the table. We worked with the Food Bank, Hunger Network, Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging and senior center network to provide more than $1 million for about 50% more meals that the prior year.
• Keeping residents in their homes: As thousands of people lost their jobs, experts around the country predicted a “tsunami” of evictions. To prevent this from happening here, we established a rent relief program, helping both renters and landlords. We’ve already invested nearly $20 million in this program and we’re not putting out another $10 million in support. Our investments will protect about 8,000 renters.
• Supporting small businesses (video): Small businesses are the lifeblood of any community. Seeing the many dark storefronts and closed signs, we knew we had to take actions. We were determined to save as many small businesses as possible. We invested $11.5 million to provide grants to more than 1,500 small businesses, which included 168 restaurants—the spine of our hospitality industry.

Looking Forward

• Cuyahoga County Diversion Center: Earlier this month we opened the Cuyahoga County Diversion Center, the first of its kind in Ohio, which provides those with mental health or substance misuse issues treatment and care options in lieu of jail after committing a low-level offense. We’re anticipating that the Diversion Center will keep about 500 people out of the criminal justice system in the first year, with the goal of returning to productive lives in the community.
• Retaining and growing businesses: The County retained both the Sherwin Williams Headquarters and their Research and Development facility, which will retain 3,500 jobs and bring 400+ new jobs. GOJO, the makers of PURELL, opened a new manufacturing facility in Maple Heights, bringing 200+ new jobs.
• Microgrid: Microgrids are a secondary power source that can guarantee a business hooked up will have continuous electricity even if the main power source goes down. Some of the biggest power companies in the country have already expressed interest in coming to the county to develop and invest in our microgrid.
• Water attraction: Cuyahoga County can offer reliable, abundant fresh water to companies, without adverse environmental impacts. We can leverage our normalcy—we don’t suffer from water stress or drought, don’t have wildfires and don’t get hit with hurricanes, tornados or intense flooding. We’re embarking on a campaign to make sure companies understand the Cuyahoga water advantage and help attracting people to grow our population.

Learn more:

• Lakefront Public Access Plan: Executive Budish has a vision for walking and biking paths along the lakefront from one end of the county to another. We’re managing projects from East 9^th to East 55^th, the Beulah Park-Euclid Beach Connection Trail, resurfacing and adding bike facilities along Wolf Road and much more.

• COVID disparities (video): The pandemic hit no one harder than our minority communities of color and exposed the way that pervasive, long term systemic racism causes terrible inequities. As vaccinations became available, we took action to provide vaccinations at Black churches and in minority neighborhoods. We also worked to eliminate transportation and registration barriers for vaccinations at the Wolstein Center.

• Digital divide (video): Internet access in today’s world is critically important for everyone. More than 18% of families in the County have no home internet access. With a variety of partners we provided 11,000 laptops, hotspots and internet service to families, and brought low cost internet service to 1,000 homes in East Cleveland.

• Neighborhood surge project: Executive Budish announced a new pilot program, called the Neighborhood Surge, designed to truly transform some of our poorest, most in need communities. The pilot program would launch in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood. After getting input from residents, city and community leaders, we will actively concentrate our programs on that community, working to lift up residents and businesses so that they can get the support they need to thrive.

Visit the State of the County homepage to view all six addresses from Executive Budish.