Mark Knows It All

Last week I had the privilege of attending a seminar on social media and mass marketing. It was sponsored by the local Power of the Arts and the Wean Foundation and ostensibly aimed at non-profits. It was moderated by Tyler Clark of Tyler Clark consulting and held at the Youngstown Business Incubator. I went expecting a ho-hum seminar, more curious about the Incubator than the seminar topic. Was I wrong!!! The topic was fascinating, and was probably the most informative 1 1/2 hours I have spent over the last several years. Mr. Clark did an outstanding job in presenting difficult material. To often with tech savvy folks, the assumption is the person to whom they are talking is the know much more than they actually know to start out hence losing everybody's attention within the first five minutes. Mr. Clark was patient with those in attendance who obviously had only a limited grasp of how these things work, and answered more technical questions in a concise manner. The subject mat...

During the next weeks you will notice a change in Western Reserve America and Mark Knows It All . We have been working to establish Western Reserve America Group as a 501-(C)-3 non-profit corporation established for the purpose of promoting conservative education in Northeast Ohio. Donations to Western Reserve America will be tax deductible. The stated purpose is as follows: 1) Establish an endowed chair for Constitutional Studies at a local university. 2) Develop a supplemental curriculum for secondary schools emphasizing conservative political thought. 3) Develop in-service materials for educators demonstrating the importance of teaching personal responsibility in the classroom. 4) Establish scholarship funds for conservative high school students who demonstrate excellence in governmental studies and wish to pursue a degree in journalism or education. A major fund raising campaign will begin mid-January upon completion of the paperwork. In order to comp...

I am going to be taking some time off next week, so I want to wish all of my readers a Happy Thanksgiving a little early. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. It caps a beautiful fall season. It is an eating holiday, so there is no muss or fuss with gifts and cards outside of the preparation of one of the best meals of the year. I’m not a turkey fan, but I love everything else that comes with the dinner package… and my wife makes the best stuffing ever. But mostly Thanksgiving is the only time of the year, at least for me, for some quiet contemplation. We can give thanks to our God for all of the blessings of this life, and hopefully in the one to come. Thanksgiving forces us to look at the good things in our lives, centering on family, friends, health and freedom. And let’s not overlook monetary issues. Even in the hardest of times, as a country we are still better off than most of the rest of the world in our standard of living and way of life. We face challenges. But w...

Last week, the Mahoning Valley was shocked to learn that out of the top 100 metropolitan areas in the United States, it has the highest rate of poverty in the country. The Brookings Institute, who compiles data such as this, stated that Youngstown has the nation’s “highest concentration” of poverty. Concentrated Poverty is defined as a population in which 40% live with an income at or below the poverty level, approximately $22,000.00/family of four. 49.7% of the City of Youngstown’s population lives below the poverty level. By comparison, Cleveland has 42% and Columbus is around 27%. Well…what do you with this? The study says this is still a residual result from the loss of the steel mills 35 years ago. I suppose that's part of it. But statistics don’t always tell the story. In addition to being listed as the city with the most poverty, over the past 1 ½ years Youngstown has been listed as the best city in the country in which to start a business, and hold onto your hats...