YSU's

OUR COMMUNITY

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown addresses healthcare reform

His lecture was attended by about 400 people on Sept. 3 in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center. The lecture was sponsored by the YSU Center for Working-Class Studies. ...read more

Mayor Jay Williams discusses Youngstown's economic development on CSPAN

CSPAN continues a special segment examinging the impact the economy is having on local cities. Mayor Jay Williams discusses stimulus spending, foreclosures and job loss. Youngstown has received 27 million dollars:

20 million applied to the expansion of local businesses toward a 1/2 billion dollar project
4 million applied to waste water projects

Some monies were applied to the maintainenance of the police force to avoid layoffs. Youngstown has a 14.7 foreclosure rate. He is looking forward to announcement of 100 of jobs created in the area. Youngstown is still recovering from the loss of steel manufacturing. Now he stated the focus is to diversify the economic base of jobs to include manufacturing, emerging software technologies, education, and health care. He also discussed Youngstown being selected as one of the top 10 places to start a business by Entrepreneur Magazine.

...watch video

The Dreamer: Youngstown, Ohio

Sure, Youngstown may not have the economic firepower of other cities on this list, but it has one important commodity in spades: hope. This rust belt burnout hit the skids in the late '70s and early '80s when the steel industry packed it in, cutting 30,000 jobs and leaving the town synonymous with hard times (listen to Bruce Springsteen's “Youngstown” for details). But in the last decade, something special has happened in this northeast Ohio city. Jim Cossler and his innovative Youngstown Business Incubator, which offers fledgling B2B software companies mentors, networking and services like office space and bandwidth for free or at a deferred cost, are taking Youngstown's business future into their own hands. The incubator concept was revolutionary enough to help ignite a renaissance in this small city. “Youngstown fell so far, traditional community leaders threw up their hands and told the younger generation, 'You guys try,'” Cossler says. “The new generation is envisioning things we wouldn't have talked about 10 years ago.” Cossler points to the work of the area's dynamic congressman and energetic young mayor as examples. “They said, 'Let's clean the slate and start over again,'” he says. “There's a radical transformation going on here right now.”

Source: Entrepreneur Magazine ...full article

State of the Dream 2009: The Silent Depression

In this year's UFE report for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, they found that people of color are experiencing a silent economic depression. It's silent because it's going unnoticed, unacknowledged and unaddressed - and yet the evidence is striking. While the general population has been in recession for one year, people of color have been in recession for five years. By definition, a long-term recession is a depression. They detail additional evidence that shows the current racial economic inequity, including poverty rates, wealth and assets and economic mobility. While racial barriers did not prevent an African-American from becoming President, they continue to impede many people of color from achieving the same economic success as their white counterparts. ...more

BLACKS TALK GREEN:
New Black Activists have an environmentalist's mission

With all of the concerns of our environment, there is emerging many African American activists have incorporated environmental issues as apart of there mission to revitalize their communities.

Majora Carter, a single mother turned activist, fights for environmental justice in the South Bronx. She discusses how minority neighborhoods have suffered most from fight for environmental justice in the South Bronx flawed urban policy, and energetically shares her grassroots efforts to “Green the Ghetto”.
...watch the video
...download presentation

Van Jones is an environmental advocate, a civil rights activist and attorney, and a New York

Times bestselling author. Based in Oakland, California, Jones is the president and founder of Green For All, a national NGO dedicated to “building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.” His first book, The Green Collar Economy, released on October 7, 2008, was a New York Times bestseller. Jones also founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a California NGO working for alternatives to violence and incarceration. ...www.greenforall.org

OUR COMMUNITY		Archive
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown addresses healthcare reform His lecture was attended by about 400 people on Sept. 3 in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center. The lecture was sponsored by the YSU Center for Working-Class Studies. ...read more

Mayor Jay Williams discusses Youngstown's economic development on CSPAN CSPAN continues a special segment examinging the impact the economy is having on local cities. Mayor Jay Williams discusses stimulus spending, foreclosures and job loss. Youngstown has received 27 million dollars: 20 million applied to the expansion of local businesses toward a 1/2 billion dollar project 4 million applied to waste water projects Some monies were applied to the maintainenance of the police force to avoid layoffs. Youngstown has a 14.7 foreclosure rate. He is looking forward to announcement of 100 of jobs created in the area. Youngstown is still recovering from the loss of steel manufacturing. Now he stated the focus is to diversify the economic base of jobs to include manufacturing, emerging software technologies, education, and health care. He also discussed Youngstown being selected as one of the top 10 places to start a business by Entrepreneur Magazine. ...watch video

The Dreamer: Youngstown, Ohio Sure, Youngstown may not have the economic firepower of other cities on this list, but it has one important commodity in spades: hope. This rust belt burnout hit the skids in the late '70s and early '80s when the steel industry packed it in, cutting 30,000 jobs and leaving the town synonymous with hard times (listen to Bruce Springsteen's “Youngstown” for details). But in the last decade, something special has happened in this northeast Ohio city. Jim Cossler and his innovative Youngstown Business Incubator, which offers fledgling B2B software companies mentors, networking and services like office space and bandwidth for free or at a deferred cost, are taking Youngstown's business future into their own hands. The incubator concept was revolutionary enough to help ignite a renaissance in this small city. “Youngstown fell so far, traditional community leaders threw up their hands and told the younger generation, 'You guys try,'” Cossler says. “The new generation is envisioning things we wouldn't have talked about 10 years ago.” Cossler points to the work of the area's dynamic congressman and energetic young mayor as examples. “They said, 'Let's clean the slate and start over again,'” he says. “There's a radical transformation going on here right now.” Source: Entrepreneur Magazine ...full article

State of the Dream 2009: The Silent Depression In this year's UFE report for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, they found that people of color are experiencing a silent economic depression. It's silent because it's going unnoticed, unacknowledged and unaddressed - and yet the evidence is striking. While the general population has been in recession for one year, people of color have been in recession for five years. By definition, a long-term recession is a depression. They detail additional evidence that shows the current racial economic inequity, including poverty rates, wealth and assets and economic mobility. While racial barriers did not prevent an African-American from becoming President, they continue to impede many people of color from achieving the same economic success as their white counterparts. ...more	BLACKS TALK GREEN: New Black Activists have an environmentalist's mission With all of the concerns of our environment, there is emerging many African American activists have incorporated environmental issues as apart of there mission to revitalize their communities. Majora Carter, a single mother turned activist, fights for environmental justice in the South Bronx. She discusses how minority neighborhoods have suffered most from fight for environmental justice in the South Bronx flawed urban policy, and energetically shares her grassroots efforts to “Green the Ghetto”. ...watch the video ...download presentation Van Jones is an environmental advocate, a civil rights activist and attorney, and a New York Times bestselling author. Based in Oakland, California, Jones is the president and founder of Green For All, a national NGO dedicated to “building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.” His first book, The Green Collar Economy, released on October 7, 2008, was a New York Times bestseller. Jones also founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a California NGO working for alternatives to violence and incarceration. ...www.greenforall.org