Youngstown 2010 Plan

The City of Youngstown and Youngstown State University coordinated this planning process with help from nearly 200 volunteers, neighborhood organizations and businesses.

The City of Youngstown was operating under a comprehensive plan that was formulated over a four year period in the early 1950s. The plan was reviewed and updated with two additional volumes in 1974. These plans were for a different era that anticipated a population of between 200,000 and 250,000. The Youngstown 2010 Citywide Plan is based on a new vision for the new reality that accepts we are a smaller city that will stabilize at 80,000 people.

Linear population projections produced by the Ohio Department of Development and analyzed by Youngstown’s metropolitan planning organization, Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, indicate that by 2030 Youngstown’s population will fall to 54,000. Linear projections may be accurate if there is no change in the status quo. Youngstown 2010 is a chance to change the status quo and alter the slope of the projected trend line.

The City of Youngstown is positioned to become a competitive city once again. Keeping Youngstown 2010 a viable movement and not just another plan on the shelf will take the continued involvement of the community who helped bring the process to fruition. The City of Youngstown can not, on its own, do everything that is called for in the plan. It will be the energy of each neighborhood and each community member that makes this plan work. It is you that will make this plan work.

Youngstown 2010 is a guide for the community and future city administrations to follow and implement. Although change is inevitable, this document is intended to provide a solid foundation for a cleaner, greener, and more efficient city.

This plan will be updated after each census due to 74% of Youngstown voters who approved a charter amendment requiring review of the plan every ten years.