Valley celebrates emerging leaders during Wick Park ceremony

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YOUNGSTOWN — Eighteen Mahoning Valley residents who are 30 and younger have been named 2020 Emerging Leader Justice and Equality People Helping People Award recipients.

The Mahoning Valley Diversity Dinner planning committee honored the community leaders during a ceremony Aug. 2 at Wick Park.

The awards originally were meant to be presented at the inaugural 2020 Mahoning Valley Diversity Dinner at Stambaugh Auditorium, but the dinner was rescheduled for April 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jon Howell and his wife, Adrienne, are heading the Mahoning Valley Diversity Dinner initiative along with the help of nearly 40 committee members. The planning committee's mission is to highlight leadership in the community.

Howell said the group started in January with the sole purpose of having a huge diversity dinner. Although they initially planned for a 500-person event, the planning committee still wanted to recognize young community leaders with a smaller ceremony. About 75 people were in attendance.

Howell said he believes the 30 and under age group oftentimes gets too much negative attention and not enough recognition.

"We know that there are a lot of 30 and under people doing a lot of positive things [in the community]. So this event, a big part of it was just elevating the people in the community 30 and under — these young people who are doing good things to offset those who might not be doing so much good," Howell said.

The award ceremony started with an invocation from the Rev. Lewis Macklin, followed by opening remarks from Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown. Alison Fortenberry, a community advocate representing the Philadelphia Student Union, was the keynote speaker. Award recipients were introduced by Mahoning County judges Theresa Dellick, Anthony D'Apolito, Renee DiSalvo, Carla Baldwin and Anthony Donofrio.

"All of these judges are community-focused judges. This is not a one-time event for them to do," Howell said. "They are committed to making the community they work in better — and they don't do it just on the bench; they do it outside the courtroom."

In addition to the ceremony, Howell posted social media videos from community leaders Bonnie Burdman, director of Community Relations/Government Affairs of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation; Robin Woodberry, executive director of Mahoning Valley Association of Churches; and the Rev. Rolando Rojas, senior pastor of Spanish Evangelical Church.

"We believe that a diverse group of people working together is what can solve Youngstown and Mahoning Valley's complex problems. We believe it calls for a diverse group of people with diverse perspectives, diverse backgrounds with diverse educational levels and so forth. So we wanted to make sure that this project represented that to the public," Howell said.

"Those people were handpicked to do those videos because of what they represent in the community," he added.

Howell told Mahoning Matters that it was outstanding to bring community leaders together, even though it was during the uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic, and not quite the way he initially planned.

"A part of our goal with young people in the community is to set before them positive examples of success and integrity. So everybody on that program we felt represented the Mahoning Valley as a successful human being and one who lives life with integrity because we believe that no one can become anything they haven't first seen," Howell said.

"We believe that the Mahoning Valley is a beautiful melting pot of diversity, and that in order to solve these very complex problems that the Mahoning Valley faces, that it will call for all those beautiful people to come together in unison," he added.

2020 Emerging Leader Justice and Equality People Helping People Award recipients are: Jenna Binsley, Christa Buckler, Tei'Asha Simms, Brittany Bailey, Ke'Lynn Bean, Emerson Dinsio, Cassie Tonus, Maddie Tonus, Chris Gunther, Lekeila Houser, Miles "Jay" Johnson, Sonya Lenior, India Raven McDowell, Joseph Napier, Ty'onna Powell, Jennifer Rodriguez, Kira Walker and Shienne Williams.

This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 5:16 AM with the headline "Valley celebrates emerging leaders during Wick Park ceremony."