For decades, Ohio cities like Mansfield have experienced economic turmoil, loss of industry and subsequent population decline. But, in recent years, the northeast Ohio city has reversed that trend.

More people are moving to Mansfield. With Intel poised to set up shop a mere hour away, the city is preparing for a wave of even more people. City leaders say they’ve been getting ready for this moment long before Intel announced it would make its home in Ohio.

Abigail Bottar with member station Ideastream Public Media reported on how the Rust Belt city is preparing for its renaissance. She sat down in an interview with the Ohio Newsroom to explain.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

On the city’s preparations

“City and county officials are working to make Mansfield and Richland County as desirable as possible for businesses and developers, so that includes investing in Mansfield’s downtown and working on a comprehensive land use plan to decide where the city should have manufacturing businesses and where there can be more investments in housing. The Richland County Chamber and Economic Development has also been really involved, working to both attract new businesses and support existing businesses.”

“This has been a long time coming for Mansfield. There was a real concerted effort around 2018 to get residents involved in reinvigorating the city and coming up with unique ways to not only attract businesses but also people and families. And now with all this buzz around Intel, leaders in the community really feel like they’re seeing the fruit of their labor.”

On how the region is reacting

“Every county I checked in with surrounding Licking County – where the Intel plant is being built – are being super proactive on how they can capitalize on this investment. For example, in Coshocton County, John Berry, the president of Central Ohio Technical College, told me they have been working with Intel since they announced the project on how the school can get students ready for Intel jobs.”

“Berry says the school has been able to tweak that program and already has students about to graduate and are getting good jobs in similar industries to Intel. Other counties have done similar things to Mansfield, like investing in business parks to be ready for when businesses want to move in.”

On the challenge of housing

“[Housing] is something a lot of these communities have already been working on, because they’ve been seeing population growth well before Intel’s announcement. In Mount Vernon in Knox County, for example, there are 1,500 units either currently being built or about to be built. And officials I spoke with also said they hope people in their counties will get some of these new manufacturing jobs or that people from other counties will commute in for them.”

“I was kind of expecting there to be pushback [from residents already living in these cities], but from everyone I talked to, it seems like residents are really excited. And officials I spoke with have been trying to be very proactive about including residents on the changes that they’re making. So it really feels like they’re bringing residents and the existing businesses already there along with them for this big transition with Intel.”

On lessons from Mansfield

“The biggest takeaway in Mansfield is the power of working across sectors as a team backing one shared goal. I spoke with Alison Goebel with the Greater Ohio Policy Center about this, because her organization works on revitalization in Ohio’s legacy cities, like Mansfield.