YOUNGSTOWN — Core challenges that continue to impact many Mahoning Valley residents can be mitigated or overcome if overall communication improves, several area religious leaders contend.

“Elected officials too often are not communicating with the community, and should operate more often on a grassroots level,” said Rose Carter, executive director of the Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods organization (ACTION).

Carter was among the panelists who took part in Thursday evening’s online discussion, “State of the Valley,” which broadcasted on Facebook Live’s Spanning the Need page.

Anthony V. Spano, a longtime philanthropist who founded The Hope Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, served as moderator.

Others on the panel who talked about creating local jobs with livable wages, handling gun violence, addressing quality-of-life issues and tackling poverty were M. Mike McNair, a social worker, counselor and publisher of the Buckeye Review; Vicki Vicars, pastoral minister with St. Patrick Catholic Church in Youngstown and a local activist; and the Rev. Richard Kidd, pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in Boardman.

Various initiatives and best practices to address such challenges also looked at were discussed.

Dealing with the city’s high poverty rate entails more than giving people in need handouts or a patchwork of low-wage jobs from which they’re barely able or unable to make a decent living. City leaders could augment a portion of the approximately $88 million American Rescue Plan dollars Youngstown received to ensure more workers can earn at least $15 per hour, McNair said.

The city has perhaps the nation’s most affordable housing stock, yet retains one of the country’s highest poverty rates, McNair observed, adding that it’s also vital to debunk certain myths about people who are poor, such as blaming them for their plight.

“We have to come up and always help the whole person — physically, mentally and emotionally,” he continued, adding, “I think that the No. 1 crime-prevention tool is a good job.”

A lack of communication also gave some city leaders and others false hope that additional jobs would be created with the Chill-Can project, only to see nothing materialized as the East Side site remains dormant, Carter pointed out.

Late last month, Mayor Jamael Tito Brown and Law Director Jeff Limbian said a letter had been sent to Mitchell Joseph, chief executive officer of Irvine, Calif.-based M.J. Joseph Development Corp., which owns the East Side property. The correspondence told Joseph to construct a number of buildings on the site and hire about 150 workers within two months or face a lawsuit from the city.

Another ongoing problem has been predatory landlords who live outside of the Mahoning Valley and do little or nothing to care for their properties, Carter continued.

Nevertheless, the problem also exists in Boardman, Kidd said, adding he’s received a lot of calls during the pandemic from people who need financial help, some of whom have received funds from the federal Paycheck Protection Program.

Vicars praised the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, and noted Youngstown received more than $88 million in funds from it.

“It is a lifesaver. We would have a second pandemic and a lot of people would be on the streets” without it, she said.

Vicars also pointed to recent successes in the Valley, including assistance provided by the Professional Development Center, which offers curriculums to cultivate skills in prospective employees that many employers require.

A holistic approach also is vital to lift people up. That includes giving them added hope, better job training, improved transportation and easier access to high-quality health care, she said.

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