Steel Valley Meltdown; The Movie

I truly believe that the Mahoning Valley will be the growth center for Ohio for the next ten years. The reason is clear. The rest of the state, for that matter the nation, is going through what we went through 30 years ago when the steel industry collapsed. More people lost their jobs in the Mahoning Valley in the years following 1977 than are currently employed by General Motors nationwide…and there was nobody there to help us.

Over the past 30 years, although the area has continued to lose established large company manufacturing jobs, the area has done an outstanding job at establishing a highly diverse small business base which has held its own during the current recession. There are approximately 3500 new call center jobs in the area. It has become a warehouse/distribution center. A local specialty pipe manufacture is expanding. Several technology companies have moved into the area or have been “homegrown” in the business incubator/tech center downtown. While cities like Toledo and Dayton are just beginning their trek into the abyss, Youngstown is coming out of the other side of the ordeal, and looks better than ever. Seriously.

While unemployment is still higher than the national average, much of that is due to the unique socio-economic issues to the area, which are almost unsolvable. It shows in the city schools named the worst in the state. But for the most part, the area is holding its own, and is poised to break-out.

Because of my faith in the area, I was enthusiastic about attending the premier of a documentary called Steel Valley Meltdown at the DeYor Center this past weekend. The fifty-one minute work was put together by two local filmmakers, Kevin DeOliveiera and Dan Mizicko, whose talent and guts echo the message in the film. These guys did a great job, and the area should be proud of them. Mr. Mizicko, by the way, is only 21 years old.

Their premise is simple. If you live here and are under 35 years old, you don’t remember the area when it was a major steel producer. You look at the area through a clear lens, not clouded by the past and the baggage that comes with it. Translate: you’re not waiting for Sheet and Tube to make a comeback. The young folks today are able to take the area at face value, and work with its strengths looking for new opportunity.

The movie was structured in three segments looking at the area’s past, its present, and its future. The past started with Connecticut Western Reserve, and went through the collapse of the manufacturing base during the 1970’s and 80’s. It examined the roles of the steel barons and the rise of the unions. It looked at the role of the mob after the collapse of the industrial base. I learned some things, and it was fun to look back.

The present was defined as the last 10 years, as Youngstown began to get its mojo back. It looked at the 2010 project. It examined the advent of the small business in the area and the tech development downtown. It examined the rebirth of the downtown, and the role of the university; and ended with Entrepreneur Magazine naming Youngstown one of the top ten places in the country to start a new business. And just in case you missed it, the NBC Today Show this past Saturday interviewed a real estate expert investment advisor who stated Youngstown is the second best place in the United States to invest in real estate behind Indianapolis. The reason? The amount of young people attending Youngstown State University who have the entrepreneurial spirit and are deciding to stay here.

The future focused on how the folks under the age of 35 may have lost the memories of Youngstown’s steel heyday, but have maintained the individualism and spirit that were the driving force behind the area’s industrialization, survival, and resurgence.

The young men who made this documentary are perfect examples of their own thesis. These guys conceived the movie concept, raised the money, made the movie, and are now entering it into various film festivals around the United States and Canada.

Good for them. And I thank them for reminding me why I decided to stay.

Watch the trailer here.