By TED SCHMIDT
PNC Regional President, Youngstown
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – In many ways, 2022 was a tumultuous year that presented challenges Americans haven’t seen since the 1980s.
At the top of that list, of course, is inflation, which reached a 40-year high early in the year. The Fed has been raising interest rates, which appears to have helped stem the rise in inflation. Reaching the Fed’s target rate of 2% remains a challenge, however.
In addition, many of the global supply chain issues that negatively impacted the economy over the past few years seem to have been resolved, although potential potholes remain.
A number of significant global issues, including the ongoing pandemic, the war in Ukraine and volatile energy prices, continue to add uncertainty to the economic outlook. Most economists, including PNC chief economist Gus Faucher, expect a mild recession in the spring or summer.
As a national main street bank, PNC is focused on traditional banking activities. We work to become embedded in the local communities we serve, with regional presidents in each of our major markets who are responsible for delivering the whole bank locally and ensuring PNC understands – and supports – the local community development and banking needs of our regions. In other words, PNC’s success is directly tied to the success of our customers and communities. That commitment to the community is embedded in PNC’s corporate DNA.
All of us at PNC are absolutely committed to the Greater Youngstown community. In 2022, we demonstrated this in a variety of ways, including our support for community programs that are making a real difference.
For example, in October, the PNC Foundation announced that it had awarded a total of $100,000 in grants to the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley and the Youngstown Business Incubator to support financial empowerment to six neighborhoods and increase the level of entrepreneurship to minority and disadvantaged businesses.
In November, we announced more than $57,000 in PNC Foundation grants to support Youngstown early education efforts. The grants, which went to seven local organizations, were in support of PNC Grow Up Great, a bilingual, $500 million, multi-year initiative that helps prepare children for success in school and life.
While the world has changed dramatically over the past few years, PNC’s commitment to our customers and the communities we serve hasn’t wavered. We look forward meeting the financial needs of the local community for years to come.
“It is no secret that people are at the forefront of everything we do, and we directly correlate our success with the success of our employees and clients,” says Marcy Angelo, director of operations.
Angelo was a nominee for the 2022 Athena Award, which is given annually to recognize local business and professional women who have demonstrated excellence in their chosen careers, provided leadership in the community and mentored or contributed to the growth of other professional women.