Though the signs are up all across Ohio, elected officials still feel compelled to remind us that the Buckeye State is “The Heart of it All.”

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted took another such opportunity recently when he visited the Rotary Club of Toledo to talk about the jobs landscape. According to a report by WTOL, Husted said of the revived slogan:

“We brought it back because we are a state that’s growing. We have more jobs than people to fill them right now.”

In fact, WTOL says Husted told the group there are 16,000 open positions of all sorts in northwest Ohio alone, in a wide variety of different industries.

The lieutenant governor touted Ohio’s prowess in providing food, planes and computer chips worldwide, and said the challenge now is finding workers with the skills to fill all those open jobs.

But what is the state doing for our region?

Is the problem that local and county officials are not doing a good enough job showcasing the potential in these parts of the state?

Ohio is growing, and that’s a wonderful problem to have. But don’t forget about areas outside of the big cities, such as Appalachia. We need jobs and opportunity here, as well.