Ex-Mayor Jay Williams to headline 1st event of Valley's City Club

YOUNGSTOWN — The new City Club of the Mahoning Valley, which its founders say will be a forum for open debate and the exchange of ideas, will have its first event Sept. 21.

The club, a chapter of the City Club of Cleveland, will “feature a high level of discussion on various issues,” said Phil Kidd, its co-founder and the associate director of Youngstown CityScape. “We need something similar to the City Club of Cleveland, and that’s what we’re working to do here.”

The club received about $5,000 from the Raymond John Wean Foundation to cover the start-up costs including marketing and website creation, he said.

There will be monthly events in 2016, and if the club proves to be a success, there will be quarterly events in 2017, Kidd said.

“We know the time is right for a forum like this in the Mahoning Valley,” said Tim Francisco, co-founder and a Youngstown State University English professor. “We’re experiencing new energy and innovative thinking here, and we are certain the City Club will spark new connections, partnerships and projects.”

The first event is a Sept. 21 panel discussion on economic development in the Mahoning Valley at Stambaugh Auditorium, 1000 Fifth Ave. Doors will open at 5 p.m. with dinner at 5:30 p.m. and the discussion starting at 6 p.m.

The panelists are ex-Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams, who heads the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration; state Sen. Capri Cafaro of Liberty, D-32nd; Youngstown State University President Jim Tressel; and Thomas Humphries, president and chief executive officer of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber.

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