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.”

About YBI

The Youngstown Business Incubator is a 501 (c) 3 charitable, non-profit organization, with a primary mission to accelerate the start-up and development of scalable, technology-based companies in northeast Ohio.  Situated in downtown Youngstown, tenant companies have been awarded 20 intellectual property patents, developed 25 new commercial software applications and created over 250 high-skilled, technology jobs.   YBI provides entrepreneurial assistance, facilities and technology support.  For more information about YBI, visit www.ybi.org.

About Dominion

Dominion is one of the nation’s largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 27,000 megawatts of generation, 1.1 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas and oil reserves, 14,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline and 6,000 miles of electric transmission lines.  Dominion operates the nation’s largest natural gas storage facility with 975 billion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves retail energy customers in 11 states.  For more information about Dominion, visit the company’s website at http://www.dom.com.

About Inside Business

Inside Business is a magazine for business professionals in northeast Ohio and is published monthly by Great Lakes Publishing Company.  Visit www.ibmag.com for more information.