New Haven, Indiana

“We have kind of an interesting situation as far as economic drivers,” McMichael says. “We have a lot of international companies. Multimatic, which is a Canadian company – relatively new in the last few years – have exceeded their promises and expectations, both in terms of investment and number of employees. SDI LaFarga Copperworks (a joint effort between LaFarga, a Spanish national company, and Steel Dynamics) has a large campus in New Haven that’s had an expansion in the last 12 months. We have another company that just recently announced an expansion, Sanko Gosei. That’s a Japanese company. Their North American headquarters are located in New Haven. We’ve got Trelleborg, which is a Swedish company. They’ve also got a large facility in New Haven. So, we have this interesting niche of international business.” In Woodburn, about eight miles outside of New Haven, the French multinational company, Michelin, also has a large tire production facility. Growing alongside international business opportunities, New Haven is also committed to building an effective workforce system. With the new East Allen Career Center that opened in August of last year in partnership with the East Allen County School District, the city is busy strengthening its talent pipeline for the jobs in Northeast Indiana. “The Center works with another school district within our county that’s focused on the trades,” explains Vongphachanh. “Between those two programs, we do have quite a large volume of students who are training to enter the workforce early.” One of the Center’s big initiatives through Greater Fort Wayne Inc. (GFW) –Allen County’s chamber of commerce and economic development organization – is the Made By Me campaign. Backed by the MadeByMe Coalition, which is made up of local business, educational, and civic leaders, the program is specifically aimed at building awareness among middle and high school students about career opportunities