Dominion East Ohio named Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI) a recipient of its 2009 Community Impact Award this week. YBI was one of 13 non-profit organizations in northeast Ohio, selected from over 100 applicants, to receive this award. In collaboration with Inside Business magazine, Dominion East Ohio bestows this honor on non-profit organizations that have shown exceptional leadership and determination, and are committed to making northeast Ohio a richer, more vibrant region.
YBI received this Award for its Taft Technology Center, a $6 million, 30,000 sq. ft. technology office building in downtown Youngstown. The building, located on a site previously occupied by five contaminated, vacant buildings, is now the global headquarters of Turning Technologies, an audience response software company that got its start at YBI. Collaborating with the Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corporation, the project is a result of YBI's commitment to creating suitable commercial properties for those successful technology ventures that YBI assists.
"YBI is thrilled to receive this prestigious award which celebrates YBI's unique model of incubation. Whereas traditional incubators "graduate" their successful start-up ventures, YBI collaborates with federal, state and local agencies to build commercial facilities to retain the businesses in downtown Youngstown," states Julie Michael Smith, Chief Development Officer, YBI. "YBI is growing a cluster of companies that are creating skilled, well-paying jobs and creating business opportunities, both for start-ups as well as existing businesses that use information technologies in their operations."
