The recently established public-private partnership whose mission is to bring jobs to Ohio could offer some benefits to Lawrence County.

That’s how Bill Dingus, director of the Lawrence Economic Development Corp. sees Jobs Ohio, the new program that Gov. John Kasich has introduced.

Dingus was at an unveiling of Jobs Ohio for the southern part of the state at a kickoff last week in Chillicothe. There is now a $3.6 million grant that will fund a special southeast Ohio unit of the program.

“Hopefully it will bring more leads to Ohio,” Dingus said. “I have been here eight years and Ironton has yet to get the first lead from the state of Ohio. The new organization will be much more directed to business recruitment.”

The new program has three main components: business loans, infrastructure grants and what is termed “close the deal” funding.

“That will give the ability to negotiate the final dollars to get a business up and going,” Dingus said.

All funding for JobsOhio will come from the profits the state gains from liquor sales.

“They are investing that back into jobs,” he said.

However, Dingus sees the county as already having success on its own without a boost from state government.

“We have not done well, but by comparison to the balance of the state, we have done well,” he said. “But we want to see more things happening, more job creation, more opportunities for our young people.”

Another boost for this part of the state could come with the appointment last week of Lawrence Kidd of Jackson to the Jobs Ohio board. Kidd is the CEO of Reliable Staffing Services and founder of 10-in-10, whose goal is to create 10,000 jobs in southeast Ohio in the next 10 years.

Already the governor has appointed Gordon Gee, president of The Ohio State University; James Boland, executive with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Steven Davis with Bob Evans Farms, Martin Harris of the Cleveland Clinic, Gary Heminger of Marathon Petroleum, and Bob McDonald of Procter & Gamble and Pamela Springer of Manta Media.

“(Kidd) will have a good understanding of the barriers we struggle with in economic development in rural Ohio,” Dingus said.