VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Ohio – Representatives of two local economic development partners both said Wednesday morning that they anticipate being able to announce good news in early 2025.
Barb Ewing, CEO of the Youngstown Business Incubator, Alexa Sweeney Blackann, interim CEO of Lake to River Economic Development, and Mike McGiffin, vice president of engagement investor relations for Lake to River, addressed members of the Western Reserve Port Authority Board of Directors during their final scheduled meeting of 2024.
Ewing, addressing the board on behalf of America Makes, reported she anticipates a decision early next year about state funding for the additive manufacturing innovation hub being proposed for the former Vindicator Printing Co. building in downtown Youngstown.
The port authority board voted at the meeting to support the innovation hub with four contributions of $25,000 over the next four years.
“Our goal is to establish Youngstown as the epicenter for additive manufacturing-ready technologies for industrial, aerospace and defense supply chain,” Ewing said.
A study performed over a two-year period identified 275 companies in those sectors in the four-county region, including 70 in aerospace, she reported.
“So it is very much here. It’s a very real opportunity. This is not pie in the sky,” she remarked. “We are building upon success now.”
The port authority also heard from Blackann and McGiffen about Lake to River’s progress. The seventh JobsOhio partner, which was announced in April, is composed of Ashtabula, Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties, which previously were part of the TeamNEO region.
Lake to River is managing 74 inquiries – mostly industrial projects – and 13 projects across the four counties representing $770 million in pending investment that could come through in the next 12 to 24 months, Blackann said. Projects now are taken directly to Columbus for assistance rather than through Cleveland-based TeamNEO.
“This team has been spending the last six, eight months developing this pipeline from scratch,” she remarked.
Lake to River’s first win was securing state funds to support revitalization planning efforts in downtown Youngstown following the May 28 natural gas explosion at Realty Tower and ongoing effects of extended downtown construction projects, McGiffin said.
“We’ve got two more [wins] that we’re going to be talking about within the coming weeks, and there’s another 13 projects behind them,” he added.
Blackann said Lake to River has been working in partnership with the port authority for a project that the organizations expect to be able to announce in the first quarter, as well as another one she could not provide additional details on yet.
In other business, the port authority board voted to accept two allocations of American Rescue Plan Act funds from the city of Warren of $1.5 million for community development projects and $84,000 from the city of Youngstown to oversee capital improvements projects in the 1st Ward.
“They need to allocate their ARPA funds by the end of this fiscal year, and if they allocate those to a public body, such as ourselves, we would have until the end of next year to spend it,” said Anthony Trevena, executive director of the port authority. “So we made an offer to the different municipalities. If they had ARPA funds that they wanted to park at the port authority during that duration, that would get a little more time to work through some projects.”
Pictured at top: Barb Ewing, CEO of the Youngstown Business Incubator, speaks during Wednesday’s meeting.