Nine projects competing for $300,000 in grants

YOUNGSTOWN — Two Mahoning Valley proposals are among nine finalists vying for $300,000 being offered by an organization that supports economic growth and collaboration in Northeast Ohio.

A committee organized by the Fund for Our Economic Future — consisting of more than 100 foundations, organizations and philanthropists from 16 counties in Northeast Ohio, including Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana — received 39 applications for the money. The group reduced the number of finalists to nine.

It’s now up to the public to vote for up to three projects to share the $300,000.

The local proposals are:

Nine communities in Mahoning and Trumbull counties would collaborate with Youngstown State University’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies to implement a Web site to market sites in those communities for economic development. The communities are Youngstown, Warren, Niles, Girard, Struthers, Campbell, Newton Falls, McDonald and Lowellville.

Mahoning County, Youngstown, Boardman, Austintown and the city of Canfield want to share broadband technology for law enforcement, disaster recovery and general information technology services. The project’s total cost is $312,000 with the governmental entities seeking $120,000 from this fund.

Details of the projects can be viewed online at www.efficientgovnow.org with people voting on that Web site, by telephone at (877) 771-5206 or with a mail-in ballot available at public libraries from Wednesday to July 31.

For the complete story, read Wednesday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com