‘THE CITY OF YOU’

August 6, 2016 at 12:01a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Jon L. Howell may live hundreds of miles from the Mahoning Valley, but his commitment to improving life in Youngstown – and sharing the city’s progress with others – remains close to his heart.

“We’re committed to the city of Youngstown and lifting the quality of life here,” the Bloomington, Ill., man said, also referring to his wife, Adrienne Howell.

Jon Howell, a service manager for State Farm Insurance and a 1980 South High School graduate, was not shy about touting what he sees as many of the city’s virtues and assets, including many committed people’s energy and creativity in continuing Youngstown’s renaissance.

He also was happy to have met and spoken with some of them during Friday’s two-hour opening reception to usher in “The City of You | Visual Stories of Youngstown,” a new audio and visual exhibit in M Gallery at Erie Terminal Place, 112 W. Commerce St., downtown.

To that end, Howell also took part in a podcast interview during the event.

The show, which runs through Sept. 23, features a series of graphic-design posters with snapshots of elected officials, business entrepreneurs, artists and others with a vested interest in the city, along with downtown buildings superimposed behind them.

Also included are a variety of testimonials describing what Youngstown means to them.

One shows Councilwoman Basia Adamczak, D-7th, with a quote that reads in part: “... I try to go around the city and encourage citizens to connect, engage and participate in making Youngstown a better place.”

“The spirit of the campaign [that made the exhibit possible] is all about people who live, learn, work and play here,” said Robert J. Thompson, director of Youngstown Design Works and a Youngstown State University assistant professor of graphic and interactive design.

Design Works is a YSU student-led graphic and interactive design entity that offers a variety of creative solutions to the area’s nonprofit organizations, start-up companies and small businesses.

Thompson noted the exhibit’s artwork and other offerings will change periodically, largely to reflect the city’s progress and happenings. Similarly, live podcast interviews will take place at the gallery roughly every few weeks to allow people to share their stories and be part of the show, he continued.

“There’s always something going on,” Thompson said. “Nothing is static.”

Perhaps few people who live elsewhere appreciate that more than Howell, who visits the city four or five times yearly.

Earlier Friday, he took part in a photography project in downtown that featured a diverse group of 75 millennials age 21 to 35 who spend time improving the city’s quality of life. Many in the group took part in a cleanup effort last week in Youngstown’s McGuffey Heights neighborhoods, Howell said.

“This is Youngstown’s future, right here,” he said, pointing to a series of pictures of some of those in the group.

Youngstown has great potential to be a model city, partly because of its affordable cost of living, but it’s vital that crime continues to decrease while the quality of education improves, Howell said.

“I think Youngstown will catapult in the next two or three years,” he said.

For information about the exhibit, email Johanna George, gallery director and events manager, at johanna@nyopg.com, or Thompson at rjthompson01@ysu.edu.