VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Four collaborative projects between the Youngstown Air Reserve Station and community stakeholders -- including a proposed firearms and safety training center at the Trumbull Campus of Kent State University -- will now move to the next phase following a meeting Thursday at the air base to finalize the plans that have been developed.

The projects were determined through the Air Force Community Partnership Program, which began working with YARS last spring, says Major Tara Richards, a full-time reservist with the U.S. Air Force Reserve. A deputy group commander at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Ga., for the civil engineering group, she is serving as a partnership broker for the program.

The proposed firing range and safety training center, which would provide area police and fire personnel a facility to train as well as base personnel, has been discussed over the past five years. With a “push” from U.S. Sens. Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown, is on the Air Force’s integrated priority list, says Col. James Dignan, YARS commander. Features could include a Hogan’s Alley type training facility such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation uses. 

Among other ideas being developed are reactivation of a medical training program involving Mercy Health that would provide YARS personnel with real-world experience as opposed to training in simulated situations. “That’s already a done deal. We’re just getting through some bureaucratic hurdles to get that done,” Dignan says. Other projects such as the firing range are longer term.  

Initiatives being worked on include educational programs connected with the region's universities and community colleges and blight removal projects in conjunction with the cities of Youngstown and Warren, and organizations such as Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership.

The objective of the Air Force Community Partnership Program "is to leverage the materials and the resources that we have both on and off the installation to come up with some mutually beneficial partnerships,” the Air Force Reserve's Richards says.     

The idea is “to build synergies where they can be built” between base and community assets and personnel, so that both can be more effective, Dignan affirms.

The process started last year with a kickoff meeting followed by a community meeting in which the concept was introduced to a broader group. “We get them to brainstorm about potential partnership ideas that they might have,” Richards says.

Work groups develop and define ideas in subsequent meetings “and they come up with some realistic goals and really determine what their objective is, and who does what and how they do it,” she continues.  

Groups worked on refining projects in four areas: a base firing range/safety training center, airfield services, education/health care and blight removal.

Thursday’s meeting at the air base was the “Way Ahead Meeting,” during which the various working groups finalize their ideas and present them to the leadership committee.

“At this point we hand the program off to the base leadership to run,” Richards says. Members of the program will return on a quarterly basis to facilitate projects. “But it’s their program to run.”

As part of Thursday’s meeting, local stakeholders heard from and provided input to two representatives of the Ohio Federal Military Jobs Commission, which was signed into law last year to “enhance Ohio’s competitive position” to retain, grow and leverage jobs associated with military assets in the state.

Yesterday was the first regional visit by any commission members, said retired Lt. Gen. Loren Reno, one of two commission members who came to YARS.

The Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber is working with the commission and is working on forming a local commission to support the long-term viability of YARS.

Pictured: James Dignan, commander, Youngstown Air Reserve Station.

Copyright 2015 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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