WARREN — With the creation of Lake to River Economic Development, a new entity to focus on business growth and job creation in the region, the Youngstown / Warren Regional Chamber is redefining its focus and work.

Lake to River — the seventh and final network region of JobsOhio, the state’s private economic development corporation — will focus on economic development in Trumbull, Mahoning, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties, which allows the chamber to shift resources toward “transformational initiatives” to prepare for the region’s future and sustained economic growth, according to the chamber.

“The chamber is going to have the opportunity to look at things I would classify as strategic and transformational as opposed to Lake to River focusing on things that are operational and transactional,” Guy Coviello, chamber president / CEO, said.

Take workforce, for example. Lake to River’s focus will be project-specific on finding a workforce with specific skills and numbers for that particular business, “whereas we’re going to look at how we grow the entire population to make sure there are plenty of workers, not for just that specific project,” Coviello said.

Or sites. Lake to River will concentrate on acreage and amenities, “whereas we’re looking at how we get all of our sites shovel-ready regardless of the project,” he said.

“They will look very closely at the 10 industry sectors that JobsOhio sees as having the most growth potential, whereas we will look at all industries,” Coviello said. “We will help companies whether they’re a driver industry or not.”

In addition, JobsOhio is limited to Ohio, but there’s opportunity in partnering with economic development organizations in western Pennsylvania — which the chamber can do to promote the region — which shares common assets and similar challenges, Coviello said.

NEW ROLE

Among the initiatives are growing the workforce, putting into place a Mahoning Valleywide housing plan to accommodate the population growth and changing the image of the region.

“If you’re in another state far away and thinking about taking a job here, say at Ultium Cells or Kimblery-Clark, you’re going to research what life is like in Youngstown, Ohio, and your Google results are not going to be good enough,” Coviello said. “So we need to make sure people are aware of all the good stuff we have here that makes this a really cool place to have a career and raise a family.”

Others include leadership development through Leadership Mahoning Valley, a standalone organization under the umbrella of the chamber, and its affiliate, Youth Leadership Mahoning Valley; and helping local nonprofit groups through the new Center for Nonprofit Excellence, also a standalone agency, but under the chamber’s umbrella.

There’s also work to be done on public policies to foster more shovel-ready sites for commercial and industrial development, Coviello said, as well as other opportunities in additive manufacturing, the natural gas and oil industry and new technology, including electric vehicles.

ABOUT LAKE TO RIVER

Announced Wednesday by Gov. Mike DeWine, the new agency will be bolstered by JobsOhio resources for services that include business, site and talent development, as well as project management.

Lake to River was incubated at the chamber, and in fact, the chamber eliminated six positions that have been absorbed by Lake to River, which will have its office in downtown Youngstown’s City Centre One building, where the chamber, Western Reserve Port Authority, Eastgate Regional Council of Governments and Youngstown Foundation are located.

JobsOhio will spend the next six to eight months training Lake to River’s staff on how to communicate and deliver economic development opportunities and programs.

Team NEO, the previous network partner the four-county region was a part of, will continue to support the projects and businesses JobsOhio has active projects with, and slowly, toward the end of the year, those will transition to Lake to River.

Also now, Lake to River will be the chamber’s new partner, not Team NEO, on development projects.

“The big difference is the footprints align perfectly and the efforts align perfectly with the advantage of it being focused on (the) lake-to-river (region), not the Team NEO region,” where development is happening “that doesn’t apply to us,” Coviello said.

Team NEO previously accounted for 18 northeast Ohio counties. The identity of the four counties looks a lot different than elsewhere in Team NEO’s footprint, “so now we’re working with a JobsOhio partner that has almost the exact same footprint as us,” Coviello said.

Lake to River will be governed by a nine-person board, two each from each county and one appointed by JobsOhio. Its interim CEO is chamber board member Alexa Sweeney Blackann,

former president of the former Sweeney Chevrolet and Sweeney Buick GMC dealers in Boardman. Board chairman is local businessman Chuck George of Canfield.

Have an interesting story? Email Business Editor Ron Selak Jr. at rselak@tribtoday.com.