College will be focus of forum

Stakeholders will get a chance to express opinions about plans for the college.

STAFF REPORT

LIBERTY — ACTION, a faith-based community organization, is inviting the public to an open forum on Eastern Gateway Community College at 6 p.m. March 1 at Liberty High School.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, will be the keynote speaker for the event titled, “Where We Are, Where We Are Going, How We Get There.”

Ryan recently announced plans for the community college’s main campus to be located on Courthouse Square in downtown Warren. Details of that arrangement would have to be worked out, he said at the time.

There is no central campus now for the college, which officially opened last fall. Classes are being offered at six locations in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Jefferson counties.

“The public forum is to facilitate an open discussion about the implications of the proposed central campus and to provide those with a vested interest in ECCG with a voice regarding its development,” said James E. Walker, co-chairman of ACTION’s Comprehensive Community College Committee.

ACTION (Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods) has been actively promoting the creation of a central campus for Eastern Gateway since plans for the college were developed last year.

Last November, the organization launched a petition drive to support the establishment of centralized campus for EGCC.

After collecting almost 4,000 signatures, the group delivered the petition to Eric Fingerhut, Ohio’s chancellor of higher education.

In conjunction with the forum, Eastern Gateway will conduct a college fair at the high school from 5 to 7 p.m. in an effort to enroll new students and inform the public about course offerings.

ACTION is contacting church youth pastors, high school principals, school boards and superintendents and union members in an effort to get as many potential students to the event as possible, Walker said.

Dr. Laura Meeks, president of EGCC, is expected to attend the forum, and Gov. Ted Strickland, Fingerhut, state legislators and local business leaders and educators also have been invited.