For far too long, cynicism and pessimism have characterized attitudes of many in the Mahoning Valley toward its economic vitality and potential for growth. Too often, news of proposed development projects have been greeted by gloom and disbelief. Too often, such attitudes have become self-fulfilling prophecies.

In recent years, however, some of those attitudes have been adjusted to recognize our region has indeed turned the corner in reinventing itself as an economic force to be reckoned with.

Don’t just take our word for it. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine himself recently lauded the Valley for gargantuan gains over the past four years, including a 34% increase in business deals, a 23% increase in new jobs, a 61% increase in new payroll and a 140% increase in retaining jobs.

That data served as a foundation for the major announcement DeWine made last week in Niles that Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties would now be recognized as its own distinct economic development district in the statewide JobsOhio network of seven targeted regions of the state. The four counties have become the Lake to River Economic Development district.

The monumental positive impact the birth of Lake to River portends for the economic fortunes and quality of life in the Valley cannot be overstated. For several reasons, we are confident it will live up to its transformative potential.

First, in the eyes of JobsOhio, the state’s quasi-public economic development agency, and in the eyes of potential business and industry developers across the nation and around the world, the Mahoning Valley will now be seen as its own distinctive region with its own distinctive set of assets.

Though the Valley’s membership in the Team NEO JobsOhio district has been beneficial in helping to bring innumerable new businesses to the region over the past dozen years, realistically the four counties in Lake to River have represented only a paltry 2/9 piece of the TEAM NEO pie made up of 18 member counties. Today the Valley stands as its own fresh, unique and whole development pie.

With members from much larger counties such as Cuyahoga and Summit, it could have been easy for some would-be developers to overlook the Valley completely, as competition for investment here would have been much more keen.

Not only does the region get its own distinctive presence in JobsOhio, it also can more easily tout its own distinctive natural and human assets, such as its framing within two major commercial waterways, its location midway between Chicago and New York, its abundance of oil and natural gas resources within the Utica Shale and many others.

The Lake to River Economic Development district also has fortified our region’s already formidable network of economic development agencies and nonprofits, including the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber, the Western Reserve Port Authority, the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments and others. We’re confident that those partnerships will only strengthen and become more cohesive given the momentum the Lake to River district creates.

Already the blending of these groups through the Mahoning Valley Partnership has resulted in commitments of $2 million from the governments of Mahoning and Trumbull counties toward fulfilling the partnership’s Valley Vision 2050.

That vision encompasses stabilizing and expanding businesses; expanding public participation in workforce training; enhancing education and employment opportunities; and increasing stability of nonprofit organizations and businesses.

Additionally, as Guy Coviello, CEO of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber has emphasized, the timing for the Valley’s unique development district could not be more spot-on. It comes as our region has witnessed substantial progress in attracting major new commerce, most recently the announcement that personal goods manufacturer Kimberly Clark has purchased a large swath of former steel mill property in Warren for an expected production plant.

As he stated in an opinion section essay last weekend in this newspaper, “This game-changing shift allows the Regional Chamber and its many partners to shift our focus to continuing to alter the economic development landscape so we can fully capitalize on this generational opportunity for growth.”

In short, the creation of the four-county Mahoning Valley-centric development district paves the way for greater recognition by outside investors of our region and stronger and more focused efforts within the district to attract them. All of which bodes exceptionally well for establishing more positive attitudes among residents on this region’s readiness for strengthening and diversifying our economic base, growing our population and enriching our overall quality of life.

Toward those ends, we wish the committed leaders of Lake to River Economic Development nothing but sensational success.

editorial@vindy.com