Program presented as model at conference of 500 officials

The federal SBA chief touted Youngstown's program to a national audience.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Jeffrey L. Chagnot sat in a Washington, D.C., conference room last week flipping through a thick binder of information. Then, the city development director felt a nudge.
It was Jay Williams, the city's Community Development Agency director. He was poking Chagnot to look up at the slide show on the giant screen in front of the room.
There, bigger than life and in full color, was the Youngstown-U.S. Small Business Administration Revitalization Initiative.
The Youngstown-developed program was presented as a model to the 500 officials attending the conference. They came from 40 cities around the country whose cities also have been named federal renewal communities.
Then, SBA Administrator Hector Barreto gave a speech to the conference titled "Small Business, the engine of recovery." A third of that speech was spent touting Youngstown's program as a model for other cities, Chagnot said.
City officials didn't know their work would be featured.
"We were kind of shocked," he said. "That was kind of gratifying."
The program combines city incentive programs, low-interest private bank financing and federal loan guarantees. A year into the initiative, 13 companies have invested nearly $2 million and created more than 200 jobs in the city.
Last year, SBA officials started spreading the Youngstown program as a model because of its success. Cities in up to six states are expected to adopt similar programs this year.
The city knew its program was being talked up around the country, but having it linked to the major renewal community designation is a new level of recognition, Chagnot said.