YOUNGSTOWN — More than 200 community development professionals from across Ohio will gather in Youngstown and virtually Wednesday through Friday.

The occasion is the 37th annual Conference of the Ohio CDC Association. Meeting at the DeYor Performing Arts Center, DoubleTree by Hilton Youngstown Downtown, and The Youngstown Flea, this year’s community development corporations conference highlights the Mahoning Valley’s resiliency, community economic development and partnerships and collaborations, its organizers said.

“Community development corporations across the state are empowering communities to take local action creating local results. Given the pandemic’s disparate impacts on low-income and communities of color, the work of community developers is increasingly vital to an equitable recovery,” Nate Coffman, executive director of the Ohio CDC Association, said. “We’re excited to visit Youngstown to shine a light on their collaborative spirit and innovative strategies that are improving the quality of life and creating economic opportunities throughout the Mahoning Valley.”

Through neighborhood tours and workshop sessions over three days, participants will learn about:

• The Mahoning Valley Community Store Initiative;

• Neighborhood stabilization in the Idora Neighborhood and Glenwood Avenue corridor;

• The city’s “cultural corridor,” historic Wick Park, and North Side institutions ;

• CityScape at Briel’s greenhouse / florist project and other revitalization efforts throughout the Mahoning Valley.

The keynote speaker is Evelyn Burnett, a Youngstown native, and co-founder and CEO of ThirdSpace Action Lab and Third Space Cafe headquartered in Cleveland. She served as vice president of economic opportunity at Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, an intermediary whose mission is to foster communities of choice and opportunity throughout Cleveland.

Burnett is a 2018 German Marshall Fellow and sits on the board of several organizations throughout Northeast Ohio and nationally including ioby (In Our Back Yards), Credit Builders Alliance, Teach for America, Birthing Beautiful Communities, Dance Cleveland, Walsh University School of Business and CTMDreams.

Local tours start Thursday afternoon, featuring several themes and covering multiple corners of the Valley, including the Idora neighborhood with Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation; Oak Hill Collaborative and Rocky Ridge Neighborhood Association; Commonwealth Kitchen Incubator; and a tour of Warren led by Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership.

“Every year, the tours are one of the highlights of our conference,” Coffman said. “Our members look forward to the ideas and inspiration they can take home to their own communities across Ohio. Our volunteers look forward to sharing Mahoning Valley success stories and methods to meet the many challenges in communities across Ohio.”

Conference sponsors are Premier Bank, Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, PNC Bank, Raymond John Wean Foundation, Huntington Bank, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Fifth Third Bank, JPMorgan Chase and Co., Finance Fund, KeyBank, Third Federal Savings and Loan, US Bank, First Financial Bank, Federal Home Loan Bank, Mahoning County Land Bank, Enterprise, Regionomics LLC, NeighborWorks Collaborative of Ohio, IFF, L’uva Bella Winery and Brands, and National Equity Fund.