Restoring Prosperity
The Greater Ohio Policy Center Blog
GOPC and our subconsultant, Reinvestment Fund, were in the Mahoning Valley this week sharing our interim research findings. Several dozen people attended the public information event and offered important feedback and insights on how the research team is classifying neighborhood market strength and how housing cost-burden is being experienced by different vulnerable populations in the region.
Ohio’s 22 legacy cities boast numerous resources and institutions that contribute to each city’s identity and economy. In an effort to showcase their benefits and the need to preserve them, Greater Ohio Policy Center staff identified and mapped hundreds of these valuable cultural and economic assets.
The webinar, hosted by GOPC and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, is entitled Private Development Programs for Weak Markets and focused on the experience of for-profit developers working in weak markets to build market strength and simultaneously address racial- and income-disparities.
Between 2000 to 2020, incomes grew at varying rates for US cities, metropolitan areas, and states. Ohio is no different, with most of its municipalities seeing increases in household incomes. While many Ohioans had higher incomes in 2020 than in 2000, these income gains were not spread evenly across the state and the speed at which incomes increased was not always consistent between municipalities across the observed time frame.
The market opened in May 2021 with over 3,200 member-owners, showcasing a strong investment from the community as well as a slow yet steady gain of momentum for the project. Gem City Market was recognized for its service to the community and presented the 2022 Irv Bieser Peace Award by the Dayton Rotary in September, and in November, the founders of the Gem City Market also won the NAACP’s President’s Award.
