YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- 2011 was a year in which the Mahoning Valley made headlines around the United States for being one of the national leaders in job and manufacturing growth, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber reported Wednesday.
Stories highlighting the Youngstown-Warren area's economic resurgence could be found in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, Forbes magazine, Bloomberg News Service, National Public Radio, Fox News and CNN Money, the chamber said.
Last week, a reporter from The Nikkei, Japan’s Wall Street Journal, spent time in the Youngstown-Warren area gathering material on the growth of business and industry here, according to the announcement. The reporter, Joshua Ogawa, interviewed Tom Humphries, president and CEO of the Regional Chamber, toured TMK Ipsco’s steel pipe finishing plant in Brookfield and interviewed officials at VEC Inc. in Girard on the company’s growth, particularly in the oil and gas construction field.
“The interest in the economic resurgence of the Mahoning Valley has been escalating for more than a year around the U.S., and now countries around the world are sitting up and taking notice,” Humphries said. “The more notice we get in the national and international press, the easier it is to sell companies about locating operations here in the Valley. The positive story unfolding here is definitely getting their attention.”
This week a news crew from the Washington, D.C., Bureau of AFP (Agence France-Presse), will be in Youngstown visiting manufacturing sites and interviewing economic development officials including the chamber’s Eric Planey, vice president for international business attraction, Humphries noted.
In addition, a reporter from Financial Times Deutschland will be in eastern Ohio covering the presidential primary. The reporter will make a stop in the Valley to interview people about the economic revitalization of the Youngstown-Warren area including Planey and others at Youngstown State University and the Youngstown Business Incubator.
NHK, the public broadcasting station of Japan, also is in the area looking at efforts in Youngstown and Warren to improve conditions of urban decline while also reporting on the area’s improving economy. And, TV Toyko of Japan has been in touch with the chamber about coming to eastern Ohio soon to report on Utica shale development and its positive effect on the region, Humphries said.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.