By Mick Dillon / Jambar Contributor
It’s been one year since Youngstown Mayor Derrick McDowell stood on his campaign trail and promised Mahoning Valley residents a revitalized downtown economy.
Embedded in his campaign were his roots as a business owner in the area, as he cited the success of the Youngstown Flea, a vendors’ market he’s owned and operated since 2016.
Business owners downtown have expressed concerns about various issues they feel hold the area back from flourishing again — parking, construction and city-sanctioned events at the often-vacant Youngstown Foundation Amphitheater. McDowell promised to amend these problems and bring economic success back to the city’s heart.
One program that’s starting to take stride under McDowell’s administration is the Downtown Youngstown Ambassadors Program started by the Economic Action Group.
According to the EAG website, ambassadors are a team deployed to perform daily litter cleanup and initiate beautification projects, along with listening to residents’ daily needs and communicating them to business owners and local authorities.
The program launched in 2025 after EAG polled community feedback during its Downtown Strategic Plan process. EAG Marketing Manager Kennedy Kish stated the program was put in place to make downtown Youngstown a better place.
“The program was established to create a clean, safe, and welcoming atmosphere for downtown businesses, residents and visitors alike,” Kish stated.
EAG regularly communicates with the current administration to ensure both groups’goals are aligned for the city’s progression.
“This looks like hands-on partnership, such as Community Action Days with the mayor and Code Enforcement for concentrated cleanup efforts,” Kish stated. “We also maintain an ongoing dialogue through monthly special events meetings with the downtown events department, police, and the street department, and we participate in monthly Homeless Continuum of Care meetings to help tackle broader community challenges together.”
On the other side, business owners downtown hope to see McDowell’s attempted revitalization come to fruition.
Jordi Dando, general manager of Ryes Craft Beer & Whiskey and Imbibe Martini Bar, said she has seen a lot of changes in her 12 years as a business manager on Federal Street.
“When I first started [working downtown] in 2015, it was not super busy, and then the next few years were great,” Dando said. “Right before [COVID-19], we started to see less events, less traffic, more construction and more difficulty getting into the downtown area.”
With the coronavirus pandemic, downtown Youngstown experienced economic plague, with business closures and a lack of general traffic. This has persisted since and is something the current administration vows to fix.
Kish stated EAG echoes the stress of the impacts the pandemic had on the downtown area.
“Since 2020, we have dealt with a compounding series of challenges. We navigated a pandemic that prevented gatherings, extensive road construction that made access difficult and the devastating Realty Tower explosion that temporarily shut down the city core,” Kish stated.
Though the last decade has provided ups and downs for the area, Dando, like many others working downtown, is hopeful that the new administration will promote positive change.
“Our biggest change is the new mayor and seeing if he can get us back on track with the events and coordination,” Dando said. “[The current administration] is doing First Fridays and quite a few other things to try to bring the downtown businesses together.”
While there is ongoing pressure on the mayor to revitalize the city, Dando said business owners have a responsibility to work together to provoke economic change in the area.
“The bars need to be cohesive. … Some of the businesses want some of the other businesses to close, and we can’t be that way. We need to support each other,” Dando said. “Nobody’s ever going to agree with every single thing everybody else does. … We need the support of each other to make it work.”
Kish stated EAG has a similar outlook in regards to local business collaboration.
“We consistently see that when businesses collaborate, everyone benefits,” Kish stated.
From a city involvement standpoint, Dando said she’d like to see Youngstown utilize its assets more.
“I would like to see a lot more events booked at the [Youngstown Foundation Amphitheater] during the summer. We have the space, and we’ve built a place for it. [Events] should be happening every weekend,” Dando said.
Downtown Youngstown has served as a revolving door for failed businesses, with grand openings consistently followed by closures. Dando said the ratio of bars to restaurants in the area needs to be sorted out.
“I would love to see restaurants that are open later. We have very few options as far as that goes,” Dando said.
EAG has heard the concerns of businesses and patrons and vows to work alongside the community in its efforts to bring downtown Youngstown the same success it had decades ago.
“Our immediate focus is on continued collaboration and maintaining our core events, including a fall variation of Pop-Up on Phelps [Street],” Kish stated. “Additionally, EAG will soon release the Downtown Youngstown Strategic Plan, which is aimed at continuing to boost the downtown economy as we recover from COVID-19, recent construction and the Realty Tower explosion.”
Kish stated the ambassadors program is part of the Downtown Youngstown Strategic Plan, and the organization was able to roll it out parallel to the plan’s development.
As local businesses and organizations work alongside the administration, Kish stated involvement from YSU students is just as critical to the city’s success.
“The community itself can become your classroom. Getting involved downtown is a perfect opportunity to take the skills you are learning in your coursework and apply them in the real world,” Kish stated.