NIST Awards $250,000 in Emergency Funding to the MEP Center in Ohio to Support Impacted Manufacturers

The Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), part of the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has awarded $250,000 to help manufacturers recover from Ohio severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, flooding, landslides and mudslides as a result of storms that occurred May 27-29, 2019. Per FEMA DR-4447, the Ohio counties impacted are: Auglaize, Darke, Greene, Hocking, Mercer, Miami, Montgomery, Muskingum, Perry, and Pickaway.

The Ohio Manufacturing Extension Partnership (OH MEP) will receive funding to identify and support small and medium-sized manufacturing establishments adversely affected by the storms and flooding. The OH MEP will be conducting a survey of manufacturers in the impacted Ohio counties and engage with those manufacturers in their recovery efforts by evaluating and assessing their operation in terms of consequences of the severe storms, tornados, floods and mudslides. The project period of performance will be from 9/1/2019 to 8/31/2020 totaling $250,000 in federal funds.

Since 1988, the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) has worked to strengthen U.S. manufacturing. As a public-private partnership, MEP delivers a high return on investment to taxpayers. For every one dollar of federal investment in FY 2018, the MEP National Network generated $29.5 in new sales growth and $31.0 in new client investment. This translates into $3.8 billion in new sales. During the same time, for every $1,065 of federal investment, MEP created or retained one manufacturing job.

As a non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department, NIST promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life. To learn more about NIST, visit www.nist.gov.