Northeast Ohio's Turnaround Hopes in National Spotlight on Obama Visit

The private organizations taking part in putting together a small business forum involving President Barack Obama and his top officials on Sunday have big hopes and plans for revitalizing northeast Ohio, an area of the nation which boasts a strong industrial history that fell upon hard times in recent decades.

A group of about 100 of Ohio's small business people will have an opportunity to air their views about the economy, jobs and America's competitiveness globally, when the President makes a visit.

JumpStart and Nortech are the two non-profit groups, along with Cleveland State University that are putting on the Winning the Future forum on Small Business in Association with the White House on Tuesday. Both groups share the goal of fostering economic development.

JumpStart says its group was founded in 2004 by the region's civic, community, and philanthropic leaders with the vision to make an economic impact by nurturing a local entrepreneurial ecosystem and leverage that into a national entrepreneurship movement. Jumpstart helps entrepreneurs by bringing them together with successful ones. It also helps investors identify and work with early-stage companies.

NorTech sees itself as a catalyst for growing the region's emerging technology industries and says it is helping develop innovation clusters that create jobs, attract capital and have a long-term, positive economic impact.

Northech promotes Northeast Ohio's technology story , creates plans for growth economic growth and jobs , and helps build relationships among members for funding, research and business opportunities, while also engaging with federal, state and policy leaders to help boost the sector's growth.

Nortech says its goal is to help add 1,500 jobs, $75 million in payroll, and $100 million in capital to the region by 2017.

Jumpstart notes on its site that entrepreneurs such as B.F Goodrich, Charles Brush and Charles Diebold received support and grew their ideas to become the region's largest employers. The region has been hard hit, starting since the 1980s, with tens of thousands of jobs being lost and not enough companies hiring to recover the losses.

The White House says the forum will include several separate discussions on entrepreneurship, access to capital, workforce development, exports, and clean energy.

Obama will deliver remarks before and after the sessions.