Freelancing: The per-hour pay is crummy. While it's nice to get that check, you find that you've made as much as you would bagging at the A&P for the same amount of time, but at least they haven't withheld any taxes so you have that to look forward to at the beginning of next year.

       Why do it? The byline, me boy, the byline.

       Below is the introduction to the supplement I wrote for Northern Ohio Live

Northern Ohio Live
January, 1997

Making It Happen
[excerpt]

CAMP, Inc., EPIC and EBTC provide essential assistance to Northern Ohio companies

A special advertising supplement to Northern Ohio LIVE's 1997 Regionalism publication.

Written by Pete Nofel
a freelance writer living in Cleveland

     When the oil embargo of the 1970s touched off the economic conflagration that raged through the country, heavy industries in Northern Ohio and around the Great Lakes were the first victims. What was the industrial heart of the country became the Rust Belt as once-thriving factories were left to fall to ruin.

     Luckily a group of far-sighted leaders in the business community, the state legislature, and the federal government decided to fight back against the loss of manufacturing jobs. Their fight led to the inception of the Ohio Thomas Edison Program in 1984 and the establishment of the Edison Technology Centers to promote economic development throughout the state.

     Today there are seven centers state-wide:

• The Edison BioTechnology Center – EBTC – promotes the formation and growth of biomedical companies.

• CAMP, Inc., which began as the Cleveland Advanced Manufacturing Program, has expanded to help manufacturers across northeastern Ohio upgrade through appropriate technology.

• The Edison Polymer Innovation Corporation – EPIC – directs applied research, development, and analysis of new polymer materials for businesses.

• The Edison Industrial Systems Center – ESIC – is deeply involved in improving industrial systems for businesses in northwestern Ohio.

• The Edison Welding Institute – EWI – specializes in the development and dissemination into industry of all aspects of joining materials together, and assists manufacturers in central and southeastern Ohio.

• The Edison Materials Technology Center – EMTEC – seeks solutions in both long-term, and short-term problems in materials and processing.

• The Institute of Advance Manufacturing Sciences – IAMS – provides solutions to all manufacturing processes with a focus on manufacturing machinery improvement.

     EMTEC and IAMS assist manufacturers in southwestern Ohio.

     In Northern Ohio, three of the Edison Centers – EBTC, EPIC, and CAMP – are poised to produce a major impact on the region. Here are the stories of each of these three centers and how one company, the AcroMed Corporation, has used these resources to succeed.

– excerpt end –