Economic development veteran talks at YSU

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Although there has been continued investment in Mahoning Valley, the area still has one of the slowest income growths.

On Monday, Don Iannone, a 40-year economic development veteran based in Northeast Ohio, had a workshop at Youngstown State University’s Williamson College of Business focused on how to address the lagging prosperity in the Valley and surrounding area.

In the “Redefining Economic Growth: Creating a New Narrative Around Prosperity in the Mahoning Valley” workshop, Iannone explained how rhetoric surrounding the area needs to change, and so do the types of jobs coming here.

“The shift in health care is from volume based to value based,” Iannone said. “Economic development needs to do the same thing. It’s not about how many jobs we create; it’s the quality. What we have seen is a low-wage and low-skill recovery.”

In order to grow prosperity in the region, Iannone says a new narrative of the region is needed that links prosperity to regional economic growth and development; a prosperity growth agenda needs built; and the region’s stakeholders need to act strategically to grow prosperity.

“Economic development I think could have much greater impact if it included more of you,” Iannone said to those in attendance at Monday’s workshop.

The workshop was sponsored by YSU by Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, the Economic Action Group, the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp., the Western Reserve Port Authority and YSU’s Regional Economic Development Initiative, REDI.