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Creation of brotherhood a goal in the ‘Heart of Williamsport’

MARK MARONEY/Sun-Gazette Dallas Miller places a pin Monday afternoon on a board to provide demographic data points prior to a focus group discussion on opportunities and economic growth in Williamsport. The event was part of the Heart of Williamsport program.

MARK MARONEY/Sun-Gazette Dallas Miller places a pin Monday afternoon on a board to provide demographic data points prior to a focus group discussion on opportunities and economic growth in Williamsport. The event was part of the Heart of Williamsport program.

At a Heart of Williamsport focus group meeting Monday, John Yogodzinski had an idea similar to Williamsport Welcomes the World, the annual downtown festival that brings thousands of people to city streets just before the Little League World Series Championship weekend.

He suggested the creation of a twice-a-year downtown festival focusing solely on inbound college students.

It might help many students feel welcome and encourage them to stay here to work and raise their families, he suggested.

Yogodzinski, who owns Graphic Hive, a graphic arts business on West Fourth Street, was among the 50 or so in a focus group who shared their ideas in the brainstorming session.

The professionals were from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and offered their experiences as part of the focus group invited by organizers with Heart of Williamsport.

Heart of Williamsport is a program that has collected stories and done research through surveys and is keeping the data in preparation for implementing a plan to affect positive change in the city and parts of Lycoming County.

Daryle Walton, an insurance professional, said getting the youngsters early in school with a program such as Junior Achievement would help to foster their leadership skills and allow them to create their own “mock businesses” and see plans through.

Any city’s success also depends on a strong transportation network, one that gets people in and out of the city and through the region, according to Gail R. Kulp, executive director of the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership.

Health and medicine is vital to a city, and recruiting top-skilled employees remains a mission for UPMC Susquehanna, said Patricia L. Jackson-Gehris, a representative of the health care and hospital network.

Realizing the next generation of workers is desperately needed was a concept relayed by Jason Fitzgerald, president of Penn Strategies, an economic development consulting firm working for the city.

Fitzgerald cited the success of Textron-Lycoming, an airplane engine manufacturing plant, where the average age of the workforce is 51, he said.

Expanding technology to a segment of society that is in a “technological divide” was important to Tonya Anderson. She said the more rural areas need broadband expansion in order for children and families to be able to compete.

A procedure for expanded broadband computer network is among the goals of the Northcentral Regional Development Commission, according to Jerry Walls, retired executive director of the county planning department.

Kelly Anderson, of CareerLink, said having a criminal history remains a barrier for many young adults who are seeking job training and employment. However, there are programs in the region looking to solve that issue.

The Northern Tier Regional Planning and Development Center has a program that puts those with certain criminal histories to the test, according to Chelsea Myers, city planner.

Stephanie Young, director of city department of Community Development, said the city can direct entrepreneurs and those seeking business start-ups and tax abatement through Keystone Innovative Zones.

Mary Woods, organizer of Heart of Williamsport, said the ideas shared on opportunities and economic growth will be used as part of an action plan to be implemented in the spring.

The consensus believed in a cooperative means of developing a better communications strategy, one focused on small business development and incentivizing entrepreneurial spirit.

Its goal is “to infuse people with understanding … and how to be a part of the community and foster civic engagement, reduce crime rates and see investments go up,” said Kim Wheeler, deputy director of the Lycoming County Planning Department.

The city has an “abundance of privately owned, small businesses revitalizing the downtown and neighborhoods in the city,” Woods said. “Our next phase is to implement the action plans by bringing these ideas to companies, non-profits, churches and local government entities,” she said.

The concept is a pilot program supported by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and Orton Foundation and its Heart and Soul program.

Social networking and friendship is important to Phillip Preziosi, former city police officer, mayor and current chairman of the city Redevelopment Authority. Preziosi said he recently canceled a proposed International Day because of scheduling difficulties but wants to see such an event happen in the spring.

The day would be for a diverse group of various people with different backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures to have a day of sharing and love, food vendors and “getting to know each other,” Preziosi said.

“You can’t have community without the unity,” he said. “Brotherhood is what it is all about.”

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