Like many, Dublin’s Tristan Stover, a Columbus State student who rides the bus to and from school every day, wants online access all the time.

That can be difficult for those who don’t pay extra for unlimited internet access on their smart phone or other devices and for those who ride public buses.

Columbus, Ohio, is the state capital of one of the states that border Lake Erie in the Great Lakes region of the United States. It has the highest metropolitan concentration of Fortune 1000 companies in America and is the home of one of the best research schools, Ohio State University (OSU). It is also home of Battelle, the world’s biggest private research institute. On the other hand, Columbus also has a large, low-income population stranded by the decline of low-skilled factory employment and was ranked 46th out of the 50 largest U.S. cities for upward mobility. As a result, average per-capita income is among the lowest in the U.S, employers in the Columbus region struggle to find qualified staff and the struggles associated with unemployment and low-wage jobs afflict too many of its citizens. Nevertheless, community-wide leadership and collaboration among organizations are working to turn this around by leading a regional approach to economic development with surrounding communities. Columbus is now one of a handful of US regions that turned the exodus of newly minted grads to instead become a magnet for talent. In 2013, Columbus was named one of the top 10 cities in the US for new college grads and employment growth in skilled manufacturing has exceeded 35% over the past decade.

Amazon.com Inc.'s three Central Ohio data centers for cloud computing and storage are operational as of this week, the company and state officials said Monday.

The Amazon Web Services centers in Dublin, Hilliard and New Albany are among 38 data center campuses – Amazon calls them "availability zones" consisting of one or more buildings – in 14 geographic regions globally; four more regions are set for launch this year.

National management and IT consulting firm CapTech announced today that it has expanded its presence in the Midwest with the opening of a new office in Columbus, Ohio. CapTech is now located in 11 major markets across the United States.

Over the past ten years, the company, who employs more than 600 consultants enterprise-wide, has quadrupled in size. In Columbus, they are creating jobs for top technology and management consulting talent, and expect to add over twenty-five new positions over the next two years. Consulting Magazine currently ranks CapTech #6 on their list of Best Firms to Work For.

Columbus has become a nearly recession-proof hub of Ohio. Ohio State University, state and local government, insurance and retail are the central spokes of the city's economy, which at a glance looks remarkable.

"In a service economy Columbus was destined to do better, much better than places with smokestack industry," says David Stebenne, a professor of history and law at Ohio State. Columbus has a set of built-in advantages, including a countercyclical set of employers — insurance, government and the university. "Even in bad times insurance is insurance," he says.

As the first hurricane-force storm sits just off from the Atlantic Ocean’s shores, the American Northeast Summer draws to a close. During its rapid course, I took some hours to look back on the ICF Summit in June, celebrate its highlights and to consider what it means as our movement goes forward into the next Awards cycle, with its conclusion this time on the big stage of New York.

In a prior life, Joe DeLoss worked as a banking analyst, but today, his day job couldn't be more different. DeLoss owns the wildly popular Hot Chicken Takeover in Columbus, Ohio, serving up Nashville Hot Chicken, a spicy style of fried chicken.

But it's not the leap from banking to fast food that makes his story so interesting. It's the fact that his two-year-old restaurant is staffed by a nearly 50-person workforce that has largely experienced incarceration. Some employees have criminal arrest records, while others have served time for everything from misdemeanors to felonies. DeLoss admits they might be overlooked by other employers, but he's a firm believer in second chances. Make no mistake, though; it's no charity.

Rev1 Ventures backs startups beginning at proof-of-concept.

Rev1 Ventures this morning announced that it has raised $22 million for a new fund focused on seed-stage startups in Columbus, Ohio. Among the investors are local institutions like Ohio State University, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., Cardinal Health (CAH -0.40%), Worthington Industries (WOR -0.92%) and The Columbus Foundation.

COLUMBUS, Ohio
In 2014, Atlantic Magazine dubbed Franklinton "the most downtrodden neighborhood in Columbus."

New developments including artist space and specialty bars and restaurants are attracting people to a neighborhood people once forgot about.

Access Ventures' David Taliaferro saw how Kiva loan programs had helped grow Louisville's small businesses from the ground-up. So, the company went shopping to add another city to its repertoire.

Taliaferro, a Kiva Fellow and director of microfinance with Access Ventures, said the firm wanted to implement and support a Kiva program in a city with a growing business environment, something comparable to Louisville. About a year later, the firm will expand its Kiva footprint to Columbus, Ohio.