Secretary of State Jon Husted Tours Cleveland Sight Center, Launches Partnership to Serve Ohio Entrepreneurs

COLUMBUS – Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted today visited and toured Cleveland Sight Center (CSC).

Secretary Husted recently contracted with CSC to manage the Business Services Call Center within the Secretary of State’s Office, which assists Ohio entrepreneurs with starting and maintaining a business in Ohio.

Since beginning a partnership in January 2016, CSC has significantly improved customer service levels offered by the Secretary of State including reducing the average wait time for business services customers from over 10 minutes to just 54 seconds.

“Providing great customer service to entrepreneurs is extremely important as we work to create a great business environment in Ohio,” Secretary Husted said. “Cleveland Sight Center has given us the chance to improve our services at a lower cost to the taxpayer while also supporting their important efforts to improve the lives of people in Northeast Ohio.”

Cleveland Sight Center seeks to educate, empower and employ individuals of all ages who are blind or have low vision. CSC's Call Center employs 60 individuals who are blind, have low vision or other work-limiting disabilities to respond to calls from the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office, Ohio Department of Education, Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Department of Medicaid, Ohio Department of Taxation, TourismOhio and Cuyahoga Job and Family Services.

In addition to employing individuals at the Call Center, Cleveland Sight Center provides comprehensive services to 14,000 people every year through their preschool and early intervention programs, job-training services and independent life-skills programs.

“Cleveland Sight Center is excited about this partnership with Secretary of State Jon Husted,” said Larry Benders, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cleveland Sight Center. “This opportunity allows us to provide exceptional service to those wanting to start or operate a business in our state and employment opportunities for our clients to succeed and achieve independence. Our Call Center agents look forward to continuing to provide superior customer service to the businesses across the state of Ohio.”

The partnership with Cleveland Sight Center is the most recent step in Secretary Husted’s efforts to provide better services to entrepreneurs and businesses in the Buckeye State. Since taking office in 2011, Secretary Husted has revolutionized the process for starting and maintaining a business in Ohio by launching the Ohio Business Central program, which now allows 100 percent of Ohio-based businesses to be started online. The program has also cut turnaround time for new business applications by 75 percent and saved taxpayers millions of dollars in administrative costs.

To see the Secretary's visit to CSC, along with additional figures about this partnership, click here.