YBI receives $125,000 in donations

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Business Incubator on Thursday received $125,000 in donations from two charitable foundations and a local bank.

Farmers Trust Co., a subsidiary of Farmers National Banc Corp — the holding company of Farmers National Bank —said it was impressed by YBI’s contributions to Northeast Ohio and because of them it decided to facilitate the grants.

YBI will receive $50,000 from the Jane F. Lamb Charitable Foundation and another $50,000 from the William Neckerman charitable foundation. Farmers National Bank also will donate $25,000 to the YBI.

“These grants represent an investment in the future of the community and its economic development,” said Jim Sisek, president of Farmers Trust Co.

The trust company said it was motivated to secure the money by YBI’s efforts to attract the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute to downtown Youngstown and a study conducted by Cleveland-based Kleinhenz & Associates that showed the incubator’s positive economic impact across Northeast Ohio.

The donations come amid a fundraising campaign the YBI announced in February. It seeks to raise $2.5 million to aid the incubator in becoming more self-sufficient and less reliant on public funds. About half of the YBI’s $1 million annual budget comes from the state.

Thus far, the incubator has raised more than $1.6 million, including the $125,000, said Colleen Kelly, director of development for YBI.