By Deborah Flora
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Jon Howell is seated at the Mocha House in downtown Youngstown. Next to him is Vicki Vicars, his friend and collaborator. It is the Monday morning after the Youngstown Renaissance Bus Tour, which they called “an open house for the South Side of Youngstown.” They are debriefing me, the new columnist at the Business Journal.
“When I come to Youngstown, I expect to win,” Howell said.
Howell graduated from South High School and moved around while working for the State Farm insurance company – “a winning organization,” he stressed, because it leads the nation in writing property and casualty insurance policies and insures one of every four cars. Now retired after 30-plus years, he and his wife considered where to spend their golden years. For Howell, the answer was the city he never left behind.
Howell saw a win in Eric Holm’s emerging plan for Youngstown Jubilee Urban Renewal to renovate the vacant South High as a workforce development center. Howell helped to organize the Youngstown Schools United event on Aug. 10 on South High’s front lawn. He asked Vicars for help in securing a prayer leader. She brought Deacon Jesse McClain, who prayed that afternoon and talked about how much is developing on the South Side.
Howell and Vicars quickly went to work on a plan to spotlight that activity.
“Nobody said no” when they asked for support, Vicars said. Participants met at 8 a.m. Sept. 14 to tour South High. Then they broke into two groups, boarded charter buses, and visited six more sites.
“Those 80 people felt special,” Howell said, because only 80 seats were available. CCA Graphics on Market Street printed the tour tickets at its cost.
Participants included bankers, a mortgage lender, real estate agents, an insurance agent, nonprofit leaders, retirees, elected officials and office workers. Joining in were a 19-year-old who was curious about community development and a widower who wondered what he’d missed while caring for his ailing spouse, Howell and Vicars said.
Bernard Street may have been the most surprising stop, Vicars said. Bernard is off Glenwood Avenue and parallel to High Street. Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. is building single-family, 1,560-square-foot houses there (on land it acquired through Mahoning County Land Bank). The city’s new property tax abatement and down payment assistance programs add to their affordability. Within 72 hours of listing the first house, YNDC accepted an offer.
Many tourists had only heard of Oak Hill Collaborative on Oak Hill Avenue. They walked away with sound knowledge of that nonprofit’s impact as it decreases the digital divide with free beginning computer classes, low-cost laptops for purchase, and a makerspace with a 3D printer and more equipment for thinkers and builders.
The tour participants took in the beauty of St. Patrick Church, also on Oak Hill, and explored Mill Creek MetroParks’ Ford Nature Center, where a $4 million renovation was completed in spring 2023.
Some of the bus riders said they hadn’t seen the inside of the Youngstown Playhouse in years, even decades. The Playhouse has operated on Glenwood Avenue since 1959. It is celebrating its 100th season and is among the oldest continuously operating community theaters in the United States.
Most participants entered the cozy, artsy Glenwood Grounds Café for the first time. They were treated to coffee and pastry by Thrive Mahoning Valley, of which Vicars is vice president of advancement. Hospitality is central to Thrive MV, which welcomes new Americans here. That dovetails with Hope for Renewal, a faith-based nonprofit that operates the café in support of community and relationship building.
Participants were encouraged to return to Glenwood Avenue. They received $10 gift cards to Savannah Joe’s, a Southern comfort food restaurant across from Glenwood Grounds. The cards were purchased by YNDC and 1st Ward Councilman Julius Oliver. Savannah Joe’s opened in March 2023. (Try its shrimp and grits.)
“I was just overwhelmed at how much people loved it,” Vicars said of the experience.
It wasn’t a victory lap nor a deflection from the persistent reality of crime and poverty throughout the city. It demonstrated that “a transformation is happening,” she said.
“I expect South High to rise up from the doldrums,” Howell added. “Youngstown has to expect to rise up.”
Howell challenged participants by saying: You need to meet one or two people you don’t know. You wouldn’t be on this tour if you didn’t love Youngstown.
“A network was being built. It was relational,” he said.
They have been asked if tours of other parts of the city will be offered. They will share their model and expertise with organizers.
“We saw this as a prototype to go beyond the South Side,” Howell said. “If we see that bubbling up across the city, there’s power in that.”
The sum of individual wins is community gain. This is my lane for this column. Join me on this journey.
The author, Deb Flora, is the executive director of the Mahoning County Land Bank, a former newspaper reporter and columnist, and a lifelong Mahoning Valley resident.