Fresh ideas in Wilmington

WILMINGTON, Ohio - WILMINGTON, Ohio---What used to be a hub of activity now sits idle and now only the wind moves through the Wilmington Airpark.

Twentysomethings Mark Rembert and Taylor Stuckard hope to change that. The two have created the first Green Enterprise Zone in the United States.

"We were inspired by the loss of DHL," said Rembert Thursday afternoon from his office on Main street.  Both he and Stuckard are the co-directors of Energize Clinton County which is looking at fresh ideas for turning the community around.

"We got started in December of 2008. We actually started at a period in which myself and my partner Taylor were on our way to the Peace Corps. Our interest was really in international development but given the crisis that our community was facing we really felt called to stay at home and serve here instead of going to South America to serve there," explained Rembert.

The two hope to bring green energy companies to Clinton county but they also brought ideas like a "Buy Local" campaign.

"They wanted to raise awareness in the community that if people could keep dollars here and keep them rotating it would greatly help the chances of businesses staying afloat," said Phil Swindler of Swindler and Sons Florist.

Swindler suggests that the DHL pullout forced Wilmington to think creatively about how to recover.

"It made us do things we weren't doing. It made us get better," Swindler said.

Rembert and Stuckard also created the Clinton Community Fellows Program which is designed to lure young and talented college students who are from Wilmington back to town.

Chas Wiederhold is studying architecture at the University of Cincinnati. He put his design skills to work helping a local artist this summer. 

"It was a chance to come back to a community that I had invested a lot in high school. When Mark and Taylor came back to town and they started trying to re-energize the local economy and bring back a lot of youthful influence I was like I want to be a part of that," said Wiederhold.

Six years ago when Rembert and Stuckard left Wilmington they didn't think they would move back but now, almost two years after the creation of Energize Clinton County the two aren't looking to South America or anywhere else for a new challenge.

They want to help businesses on Main street become more energy efficient and are set to launch a new project to help make it happen.