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00000174-c556-d691-a376-cdd69ef90000WKSU undertakes a year-long examination of entrepreneurship in Northeast Ohio with a 360-degree look at business creation in the region and examine the resources available to start-ups, the opportunities, and pitfalls in the local business climate. The project includes long-form features as part of WKSU's ongoing Exploradio series as well as entrepreneurship-themed news reports.00000174-c556-d691-a376-cdd69efb0000The Entrepreneurship Beat is produced with generous support from the Burton D. Morgan Foundation. Burton D. Morgan Foundation champions the entrepreneurial spirit, contributes to a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem, and leads in the burgeoning field of entrepreneurship education. Read more about the project HERE.

Absent Investment, Congressman Ryan Says the Midwest is Left With Nostalgia

Tim Ryan and Comeback Cities participants
M.L. SCHULTZE
/
WKSU
Tim Ryan, far right, organized the Comeback Cities Tour with his California Counterpart. Ro Khanna

More than a dozen Silicon Valley venture capitalists traveled to Youngstown and Akron yesterday, looking for ways to invest in the Midwest. 

The Comeback Cities Tour was organized by Northeast Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan and his California counterpart, Congressman Ro Khanna. Ryan says the goal is to round out the uneven American economy by boosting entrepreneurs who are not based on the East and West Coasts. 

“If we line up the capital with the ideas, we will have growth in communities like this. And we will be OK with a comprehensive immigration plan that brings people into this society because those are entrepreneurs, too," Ryan said. "But if there’s not money behind that in communities like ours, people will default to nostalgia.”

The group of investors includedJ.D. Vance, who grew up in Ohio and whose book, “Hillbilly Elegy,” detailed economic and cultural desperation hitting in parts of the Midwest. His fund focuses on entrepreneurship outside the Silicon Valley. 

M.L. Schultze is a freelance journalist. She spent 25 years at The Repository in Canton where she was managing editor for nearly a decade, then served as WKSU's news director and digital editor until her retirement.