FORWARD YOUNGSTOWN | City seeks new identity 41 years after steel demise

YOUNGSTOWN — City officials this morning proclaimed Sept. 19 as a day for city residents to look toward the promise of the city's economy, rather than dwell on its past.

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, members of city council and local entrepreneurs celebrated the city's first "Reclaiming Our Identity" day on the steps of City Hall along East Phelps Street.

The date, which also marks "Black Monday" and the shuttering of Mahoning Valley steel mills, is now intended to be a reminder of the city's forward progress, rather than its economic collapse 41 years ago and the perceived depression and negativity that officials said have plagued the city's image in the following decades.

Brown led the crowd in chants of "Forward Youngstown."

"The problem sometimes is we get caught up in our history. We get caught up in what it used to be. And today, we're talking about what it could be," Brown said during the morning press conference. "Youngstown needs to move forward from where we are."