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YOUNGSTOWN — A group of Youngstown State University students has ideas on how to retain students and to repopulate and revitalize Youngstown.
Economics professor Albert J. Sumell teaches 16 students in his Urban Economics class, who helped research these issues.
Sumell said the continuing population decline has had an impact on the area’s economic development.
“When I say it’s the major economic issue, it means that no matter how many businesses that we’re able to attract in this area, unless we have the people and the workers to fill those jobs, it’s not going to help in terms of future economic development,” Sumell said.
The students presented their findings last week at the Williamson College of Business from the project developed over three months.
RETENTION
Focusing on retention of students, graduate economics major Jacob Graffius, along with additional team members, developed and distributed a survey to students and came to an understanding of where they plan to go after graduation.
Their answers helped gauge what the university can do better to encourage the retention of these students while also seeking solutions to bringing new residents to the area.
The survey determined that 44 percent of the 440 responses plan on living elsewhere after graduation. For high school graduates from the area, 62 percent are likely to stay based on responses from 239 participants.
Students who stay cite family and friends as the main factor; others include housing, jobs, education and entertainment.
“Seventy percent of respondents who plan to leave listed at least one reason outside the bounds of policy,” Graffius said. Those reasons range from a lack of several keys including quality affordable housing options, entertainment options and quality public services.
To keep these students, Graffius said, “more and better paying jobs was the most common response.”
The study said recent job creation in the Valley, as new technologies locate here, may be linked to the population beginning to level out.
When asked what the area lacks from the perspective of businesses, however, responses state the campus area lacks grocery stores, entertainment options, international restaurants and convenience stores.
REPOPULATION
Graduate economic student Kapila Ghimire and junior economic and computer science student Nikolina Drobnjak’s work focused on attracting refugees and immigrants to the Mahoning Valley to spur its economic growth.
“We know that Youngstown faces economic challenges, and we’ve seen a consistent decline in population over the last few years,” Ghimire said. “That’s why we think it’s imperative for us to focus on the revitalization of the immigrant population.”
The group defined immigrants on three metrics: refugees, “who are unable or unwilling to return to their country of nationality,” Ghimire said; asylees, “people who arrive in the U.S. on their own and then ask for asylum,” she added; and secondary migrants, or people who move to Ohio from their original U.S. resettlement.
Drawing inspiration from other cities, the pair, along with their team, examined how immigrant communities have helped local economies, citing that cities with higher foreign-born populations perform better in household incomes, innovation, productivity, startups, essential occupations (i.e. nursing, construction, and housing) and cultural appeal.
To determine how the Mahoning Valley can tap into that potential, both Ghimire and Drobnjak’s research helped them to determine strategies and policy recommendations they believe would benefit the community.
Strengthening pathways to naturalization and civic engagement were two proposals Drobnjak emphasized.
“That entails increasing awareness about education, training opportunities and financial assistance for immigrants who want to take the path to civic engagement and also entails using feedback to bridge the gap between immigrants and the broader community,” Drobnjak said.
As the daughter of Yugoslavian immigrants, Drobnjak said this was a struggle for her parents when they came to Youngstown 25 years ago.
She said they faced many hardships, similar to other immigrant populations, which in Youngstown primarily have come from countries such as Italy, India and Mexico, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Other recommendations the group offered include strengthening education opportunities, fostering entrepreneurship through programs and resources, creating a welcoming environment from both community and local leaders, transportation assistance, skill development that takes into account the needs of immigrants and refugees, and collaboration — not competition — between municipalities for the benefit of all.
CASE STUDIES
The group examined Lehigh Valley and Utica, New York – areas with large immigrant populations, to compare the impact migration has had on those areas.
Drobnjak said that despite the similarities between the Mahoning Valley and Lehigh Valley, both have taken different paths since the 1970s.
The Lehigh Valley, which comprises Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton metropolitan area, is among the fastest-growing metro areas in the Northeast — a population growth their study said is driven largely by migration.
An increase in entertainment options, Drobnjak said, has influenced the young adult population to grow by 10.7 percent in the past decade.
Utica saw 60,000 refugees come to the area, and the study says the majority were fleeing from war or political persecution.
The community and lawmakers have embraced the new faces through means of both policy and social services that have helped immigrants assimilate.
cmcbride@tribtoday.com
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