As the Trump Administration looks to choose a site in coming months for the East Coast Missile Defense System, support is quickly mounting across the State of Ohio for the Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center to be named the location for the $4.6 billion project.

In just the past few weeks, two U.S. Senators and 14 Members of the House from Ohio signed and sent a joint letter of support to President Trump, as did the nine members of the Ohio Metro Chambers Coalition—representing 32,000 employers that provide more than 3.1 million jobs—and 23 superintendents of Trumbull County school districts. These are just three of more than 300 letters sent that the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber has tracked to date.

The content of the letters is impactful, as they reference Ravenna’s proximity to Youngstown, Akron, Canton and Cleveland and the workforce each of these communities offer; the vital infrastructure around the base that is necessary for such a project; the buildability and affordability our region offers—with more than 78,000 trained men and women in the construction fields in northeast Ohio, which is 20 times and six times more, respectively, than the New York and Michigan sites under consideration for the project have available; and the longtime, significant role Camp Ravenna has played in the nation’s defense.

The Chamber and Eastern Ohio Military Affairs Commission have been soliciting letters of support for Camp Ravenna to be chosen for the Missile Defense System for the past month and have made specific requests to service organizations, government associations and more.

The Regional Chamber’s Vice President of Government Affairs, Guy Coviello, said, “In addition to the sound arguments that we have the most buildable and affordable site, the big takeaway from these letters is that this community and the State of Ohio overwhelmingly embrace the presence of the U.S. military here.”

For more information, contact Coviello at 330.550.5258; Chamber President & CEO James Dignan at 302.670.2199; or Executive Director of EOMAC Vito Abruzzino at 330.219.3081.