A few years ago, a bunch of empty steel mills stood, rusting, on the banks of the Mahoning River. Today, most of them are razed, leaving large fields ready for new businesses.
Sounds like a good idea, right? The Mahoning River Corridor Initiative, nicknamed “Rollin’ on the River,” corralled $24 million in federal and state grants to improve the infrastructure and environment along the Youngstown area’s waterway. The nonprofit initiative used the funds to tear down the old hulks, while leaving a few old plants worthy of retrofitting in between.
The effort attracted 1,600 jobs to the river’s banks and expanded to include nine towns along a 30-mile stretch. Yet the initiative was struggling to get attention.
“We were having a heck of a time getting people to understand what it’s all about,” says director Dan Mamula.
Then the group’s steering committee heard about a new contest, EfficientGovNow, launched by the Cleveland-based Fund for Our Economic Future. The contest challenged local governments in Northeast Ohio’s 16 counties to propose new ways they could work together. Regular citizens would choose the three best ideas, which would win grant funding.
“When they announced the initiative,” says Mamula, “we said, ‘Let’s see what they’re looking for, and what niche do we need to fill our mission.’ ”
Mamula’s river group decided it needed an interactive Web site to market all that cleared land to entrepreneurs. None of the towns had the money to do it alone, but with a grant, they could do it together.
So the group submitted its proposal earlier this year — and didn’t stop there. “We organized a public campaign,” says Mamula, former mayor of Struthers. The local chamber of commerce and Youngstown State University got the word out. The Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative, a community organization, went door to door and talked to crowds at festivals to rally the vote.
They won. The “Rollin’ on the River” Web site proposal came in first this July, and the group is getting the $57,451 grant it requested.
EfficientGovNow surpassed expectations, says Fund for Our Economic Future chairman Dave Abbott.
“We had no idea if people would respond,” Abbott says. The fund’s staff expected about 15 proposals. It got more than 60. Nine finalists were selected for public vote and attracted 13,400 responses.
Seven northwest suburbs of Cleveland took second place with a proposal to study collaboration among their fire departments. Consolidation might provide citizens better fire protection and help control the rising costs of emergency services. But none of the towns, from Lakewood to North Ridgeville, could afford to put up the initial funding. “It’s hard to justify doing a study when you’ve had to lay off cops and firefighters,” says Debbie Sutherland, mayor of Bay Village.
So the West Shore mayors jumped at the chance to compete in the contest. They got out the vote by talking to local newspapers and getting city council members to fire off mass e-mails. The proposal’s second-place finish means the towns get $100,000 to hire a consultant to examine the fire district idea. The mayors hope to have a study in hand by spring.
“EfficientGovNow really acted as a catalyst to move things forward at least by two years,” Sutherland says.
The contest advances two goals set by the Fund for Our Economic Future, Abbott says. The fund encourages regional collaborations to help reduce the cost of government, which makes up 10 percent of Northeast Ohio’s gross regional product. Projects such as the Mahoning River initiative also fit the fund’s efforts to make Northeast Ohio more economically competitive.
The fund is spending $500,000 on EfficientGovNow but stands to leverage about 15 times that much money in savings, Abbott says, if the top three proposals reach their goals. Other finalists may attract funding from other benefactors, he reports. The fund will hold the contest again next year.
Mamula, who hopes to see the river initiative’s Web site up by the middle of next year, says the contest provided an inspiring example to the communities he serves. “It actually showed the Mahoning Valley could get it together, could compete, could sell the idea,” he says. It also gave his group attention throughout Northeast Ohio and beyond.
“The value there, I can’t even put a number on that,” Mamula says. “Now, people outside the region know who we are.”