#GOPCThread: Home for Thanksgiving is the Focus of our #OHCommunitySpotlight

Thanksgiving is upon us, and like many, staff at Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) will be traveling for the holiday, many to our hometowns across the greater state of Ohio. That is why we have decided to turn the attention of this month's #OHCommunitySpotlight to the places we at GOPC call home.

Not on Twitter? The thread is available online, as well as below.

Greater Ohio Policy CenterRead on Twitter

Next week is #Thanksgiving, and like millions of Americans, staff at GOPC will be traveling, gathering with our families, and giving thanks. This month, we are devoting our #OHCommunitySpotlight to our hometowns & special places around Ohio #GOPCThread

GOPC's @AlisonGoebelOH grew up in the Chicago suburbs but has lived in #Ohio long enough to feel like a native. She claims @Mansfield_Ohio & @TiffinOhioGov as her adopted homes. #GOPCThread

GOPC did an #OHCommunitySpotlight on #Mansfield earlier this year, which talked about the amazing past, present, and potential futures of the Fun City. Mansfield has a rich manufacturing history, which continues today while also diversifying into "eds & meds"

Alison's husband grew up in Tiffin and still has a lot of family in the area. European settlers 1st moved to the area to establish a military depot during the War of 1812; the city is named after the 1st Gov'r of #Ohio (Photo by Maison Hainey Photography) #GOPCThread

Tiffin has long produced glass & ceramic products, including #AmericanStandard toilets. While still a manufacturing town @NationalMach) it has diversified its economy and revitalized downtown to retain @tiffinu + @HeidelbergU students. #GOPCThread

GOPC's @JasonEWarner was born and raised in @CityofWadsworth. Most of his family still lives there, with ancestors going back to the city in SE #MedinaCounty to before the Civil War #GOPCThread

The city itself was founded in 1814 & enjoyed its first wave of success thanks to mining (which incidentally brought Jason's ancestors to Wadsworth from Wales #GOPCThread

In 1895, the Ohio Match Co. was established, & was at one point the largest match producing factory in the world, producing more than 300 million wooden & paper matches each day. However, like many industries in Ohio, manufacturing declined and the plant closed in 1987.

Today, Wadsworth is a thriving suburb 20 minutes from downtown Akron and 40 minutes from downtown Cleveland, which offers big-city amenities, festivals, and of course, it's own brewery (@wadsworthbrewco) #GOPCThread

GOPC's Twitterless Lindsey Elam says all of the Buckeye State feels like home. Lindsey is originally from Ohio's first capital, Chillicothe, but she has lived in @ColumbusGov, Buckeye Lake, @CityofAthensOH, and @nelsonvillecity. #GOPCThread

On most weekends Spring-Fall, you will find Lindsey in one of our @OhioStateParks_. Lindsey & her husband have the goal of visiting every state park in Ohio; she's visited 21 of 75. She is using the State Parks Passport to keep track #GOPCThread

The Village of Buckeye Lake is on the north edge of Ohio's 1st state park, designated in 1949 when @ohiodnr was created. Buckeye Lake State Park once had a popular amusement park & dance hall. Today, it has a 3,100-acre recreational lake & 4.1-mile multi-use path. #GOPCThread

GOPC's Aaron Clapper was born and raised in Zanesville, Ohio, the state's second capital. Aaron visits his family often, who still live in Zanesville and the surrounding area #GOPCThread

Zanesville is part of GOPC's Reinvention Cities Network, and a small legacy city. Over the past few years, Zanesville's revitalization efforts have exemplified commitment of local leaders to invigorate the downtown, focus on housing, and advance development. #GOPCThread

GOPC highlighted Zanesville as a Community Spotlight, touching on the city's pottery roots, as a clay-making region, as well as the area's focus on arts and culture #GOPCThread

Aaron encourages you to visit Zanesville, and shop local in the downtown. You can drive or walk across the city's Y-Bridge, which stands above two conjoining rivers, and connects downtown Zanesville with the north and south regions. #GOPCThread

GOPC's Erica SpaidPatras went to school in #MtVernonOH, an early 1900s center of glass production & current producer of natural gas compressors. This industrial past is celebrated in Ariel-Foundation Park, featuring a historic tower in the newly built park. #GOPCThread

Downtown #MtVernonOH is dense & walkable with restaurants, shops, a theater @woodwardopera, & art galleries. Downtown's Public Square was designated in early platting as a place for social gathering & current home to an award-winning farmer's market. #GOPCThread

Part of downtown #MtVernon's renaissance is #SPI Spot, a science playspace housed in a former candy factory. At #SPI Spot, kids engage with sensors, gears & chains, & a climbing area, just to name a few. After exploring, lunch or shopping is steps away. #GOPCThread

Planning nerds will be interested in following #Mt.VernonOH's latest initiative to continue to advance downtown's renaissance by forming a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area to spur economic development and attract visitors to downtown. #GOPCThread

Project manager Maria is not originally from #Ohio but is part of a growing foreign-born population in @ColumbusGov where 12.7% of residents were born outside of the US. The city's foreign-born population has grown nearly 43% in the last 10 years #GOPCThread

Immigrants make up ~5% of the state's population and play a big role in the economy. For ex., immigrant business owners accounted for 6% of all self-employed Ohio residents and generated $891.7M in business income in 2018. Learn more in this @immcouncil report #GOPCThread

#Columbus is the 14th largest city in the US and home to a variety of arts & culture hubs, like @ColumbusZoo, @COSI, and @Columbusmuseum. #CBUS also has nearly 400 recreational parks, including @Scioto_Mile, home to the 9th most photographed city skyline #GOPCThread

In the past, Columbus was a popular place for Italian and German immigrants. Today, #CBUS has large populations of Bhutanese Nepali, Somali, Congolese, Iraqi, and Afghan New Americans #GOPThread

Located on the shores of Lake Erie in northeastern Ohio, GOPC's Meg Montgomery was born and raised in Ashtabula. The county was created in 1808 and later organized in 1811, with Jefferson being the county seat. The county has approximately 97,000 residents.

Ashtabula harbor was once one of the busiest ports in the world, and the county was once home to many manufacturing plants. As with many of the "rust belt" communities, many of those industries ceased to thrive.

Today, with the perseverance of the locals, Ashtabula County has become a popular tourist destination. You will find the shores of Lake Erie, 19 covered bridges (with both the longest and shortest in the country)...

As well as many local wineries, historic shopping in the Harbor, and the Western Reserve Greenway Trail, which consists of 27 miles from the City of Ashtabula southward to the County Line to where it continues into Trumbull County.

Ashtabula was one of the first communities we featured on our #OHCommunitySpotlight Thread series last year. You can read the whole thread here

That wraps-up this weeks #GOPCThread. On behalf of all of us here at GOPC, best wishes for a happy and safe #Thanksgiving. Be safe whether you are traveling by plane, train, automobile, or just walking down the street