Wednesday, December 31, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Long before the steel industry retrenched, this city was losing residents. Every census since 1950 -- when the city’s population peaked at 168,330 --– the number fell each time heads were counted.
What began as small losses turned into giant ones as the old mills were razed. Since 1970, each decennial count has shown the population dropped at least 16% and that those who remained were older on average than the nation.
The city lost something more than its young people. It lost their brains.
Now, though, with the city’s population in 2010 roughly 67,000, that drain – the loss of potential leaders, businessmen and educators – could be slowing.
Or even reversing course as evidenced by the 20 Under 35 honorees, who will be recognized Feb. 5 during a dinner event at Stambaugh Auditorium.
“Our generation, those in their late 20s and early 30s, is seeing a propensity to give back through charity or leadership or business and what they’ve learned in other places,” says John Landers, a project management office leader at Case Western Reserve University who lives in Boardman. “They want to make this community better with what they’ve picked up through their education.”
After graduating from Case Western Reserve, Landers spent about three years working for a software company in Washington, D.C., before coming back to the Youngstown area and working remotely. Less than a year after returning, his alma mater offered him a job. The plus side of that, he says, is that he can commute to Cleveland from Boardman, where he grew up.
“When you take the opportunity to go somewhere else, you see what you have in this community. You can get to places easily, the cost of living is low and it’s nice to have my parents five minutes down the road,” he continues. “You see the nuclear family more in this area than you do elsewhere.”
That theme of family and community runs deep among those who have gone elsewhere and returned. For some, it’s the desire to be close to family that pulls them back.
“When you go away, you see what other places have to offer. For me, the biggest thing was that if I don’t have family, what do I have?” asks Kevin Willis, a project architect at Strollo Architects Inc.
Willis considered leaving but decided to settle in the Valley. “My entire family is here and my wife’s entire family is here. That made it an easy decision.”
Others look at their childhoods in the Mahoning Valley and see it as the place they want their kids to grow up too.
“It’s a nice small town where you can raise your kids with good morals. When you raise your kids in a big town, there’s more things to shield them from,” says Marie Awad-Alexander, a general surgeon for Mercy Health who attended Northeast Ohio Medical University before going to Pittsburgh for her residency.
“We weren’t going to stay in downtown Pittsburgh. Had we stayed and raised a family, there’s no way I was going to raise my kid in some of the areas in Pittsburgh,” she says.
The decline in the Valley’s population over the last 50 years has been accompanied by job losses.
Many students leave for other cities, usually looking to places such as Cleveland, Columbus or Pittsburgh, either to continue their education or to secure jobs after they graduate.
For Jonathan Bentley, director of the Youngstown Human Relations Commission, the tug of home was always there while he went to Ohio State University. The jobs available here that he wanted, however, didn’t encourage his return.
“I love Columbus and it’s my second home. There’s an abundance of resources. I look back at Youngstown and there are [fewer resources]. The young people have a need for leadership, role models and people who want to impact the community. That kept pulling at me when I was away at college,” he says. “When the opportunity came up to [work with young people] full-time [in Youngstown], I took advantage.”
With people returning to the area – or deciding to stay here – a more nurturing environment has evolved, one that promotes community involvement and a more diverse economy. Those efforts are starting to pay off and draw people from outside the area. Jana Coffin, co-president of Making Kids Count, met her husband, a Youngstown native, in college and moved to the area five years ago. Over that time, she says, this area has become home.
“The best thing about this area is the tradition and the sense of community. I’ve lived in a bunch of areas big and small, but I just can’t get over those two things. It’s welcoming and people look out for one another. They’re willing to do anything for each other,” she says.
Originally from the Toledo area, all she knew about Youngstown before meeting her husband were “the mob and the statistics.” Today she is a self-proclaimed advocate for the city.
“I tell people that it’s awesome and they need to come here and try the food and see those traditions,” Coffin says. “It’s interesting because it’s a large place but you can always find people that are connected somehow. That’s what it’s really about: the people and the connections and the friends. That and the food here is really good. It’s unlike anywhere I’ve ever lived in a good way.”
Those who have left hesitate to speculate on what would have happened had they not come home.
“I don’t think too much about [what would’ve happened had I stayed in Columbus],” Bentley says. “I don’t have any regrets about coming back. The path you end up on is in the cards; you’ve already set it up. Different events bring you to where you are.”
To make Youngstown the best it can be, Landers notes, those returning – with their educations, intelligence and commitment to improving the quality of life – need to work together.
“We dealt with our best and brightest leaving for a long time. The fact that we’ve had folks come back speaks toward our trying to make a greater good. We aren’t going to survive and do good things [individually] as Boardman, Canfield, Youngstown and Austintown,” he says.
“It’s the Mahoning Valley that has to do it all together.”
EDITOR'S NOTE:
The Business Journal has published our annual "25 Under 35" extra edition, which contains stories and biographical sketches about the honorees. CLICK HERE to order a copy of this special publication.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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