Program is welcome addition for newcomers

YOUNGSTOWN -- The tranquillity of Mill Creek Park and the treasures at the Butler Institute of American Art await newcomers in a program called Meet the Mahoning Valley, which gives a whirlwind view of the community's highlights.
Founded in the fall of 1998 as a spinoff of the yearlong Leadership Mahoning Valley program, the biannual event has provided a crash course on the Valley's high points for many relocated business executives and professionals and their spouses.
Who was helped: For Laura Lewis, a Kent native who relocated here with her husband from Peoria, Ill., last summer, Meet the Mahoning Valley offered some reassurance that the couple had found a good place to raise their three small children.
"It helped us to have a good attitude," she said. "When you move somewhere, people who live there tend to talk about the negatives."
Lewis said the program gave her and her husband, Robert, a head start in exploring their new hometown. "We've met people who grew up here and don't now where the Butler is, or who never go to Mill Creek Park," she said incredulously.
Frank Sole, an independent business consultant and co-chairman of the Meet the Valley committee, said the Leadership Mahoning Valley members designed the program to help new arrivals to the area feel at home.
The agenda has been tweaked from year to year, said Tim Mulvey, a commercial insurance agent and also a co-chairman, but planners generally aim for a mix of sightseeing, panel discussions and educational presentations.
"It gives newcomers a chance to find out about things that they might not have learned about until much later," Mulvey said. "This day goes a long way toward offsetting any misinformation that may be out there."
An overview: He said organizers try to familiarize participants with the workings of the Valley, from health care and the arts to the political and educational environment, as well as the recreational opportunities.
For example, plans for the next session October 18 include a panel discussion featuring political figures from Warren, Youngstown and Mahoning and Trumbull counties; tours of the Butler Institute in Howland and a YSU professor's lecture on the Valley's ethnic heritage.
"It's a networking opportunity too," Sole said, explaining that participants get to know each other as they travel by bus from place to place.
Who is helped: Organizers target the program to executives and professionals who have relocated to the Mahoning and Trumbull county areas, and their spouses, and newly promoted executives are also encouraged to attend.