Ivanka Trump, other administration officials to visit Youngstown Monday

By David Skolnick | August 3, 2019 at 12:05a.m.

Workforce development, opportunity zones topics to be discussed Monday

YOUNGSTOWN

Ivanka Trump, adviser and daughter to President Donald Trump, along with others from the administration and U.S. Sen. Rob Portman will come Monday to Youngstown to discuss workforce development and opportunity zones.

The event will include stops at City Machine Technologies on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the Youngstown Business Incubator Tech Block Building 5 on Vindicator Square – the old Vindicator building – and a roundtable discussion with community and business leaders at Stambaugh Auditorium on Fifth Avenue.

Joining them will be Ben Carson, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Scott Turner, executive director of the White House Opportunity Zone Revitalization Council.

“Our mission is to engage with the private sector to provide workforce opportunities that allow all Americans, regardless of age or background, to acquire the skills needed to retain high paying jobs that will continue to be created under this administration’s pro-growth policies, like opportunity zones,” Ivanka Trump said in a prepared statement.

There are 15 opportunity zones in the Mahoning Valley. They are in low-income areas. Investments in the zones are eligible for 10-year federal tax breaks.

The Monday visit is intended to discuss improving the economic circumstances of those living in opportunity-zone communities.

Turner is on a 10-city tour of opportunity-zone communities.

Portman, a Cincinnati-area Republican, said: “I look forward to welcoming Ivanka Trump and Secretary Carson” to “the Mahoning Valley to discuss the benefits of opportunity zones and how they can help spur economic development and job creation in low-income communities.”

The visit comes as the Valley is reeling from the idling of General Motors Lordstown, which ended production of the Chevrolet Cruze at the 53-year-old facility. The closure eliminated the last 1,600 jobs left at the facility that employed about 4,500 in 2017.