Steel Museum host previews Youngstown family ‘passport’ and offers free admission through March

Jonathan Kim Boris, administrator of the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor, told the Mahoning County Board of Commissioners that the museum is expanding its public programs and partnerships and will offer free admission through March.

Boris said the museum, affectionately known as the Steel Museum, preserves labor and industrial history for the Mahoning Valley and works closely with Youngstown State University on archives and educational programming. "All Youngstown State University faculty, staff receive free access to the museum," he said, noting the management agreement with the Ohio History Connection and YSU’s history program.

Boris described a recently launched endowment and a string of community partnerships that support exhibits, oral histories and school programming. He announced a downtown family "Youngstown Passport" pilot to launch in May, designed to let families check in at participating cultural institutions, collect experiences and encourage local visitation; more details were promised in March.

The museum will continue collaborations with YSU departments and regional partners, Boris said, and is positioning the passport program as a free, family-oriented way to connect residents with local cultural sites. He called the museum a community resource for researchers, students and families, citing its photograph and archival collections.

The board did not take a formal vote during Boris’s remarks; the presentation served as an informational highlight on the meeting agenda. The county’s cultural partners are expected to provide more details about the Youngstown Passport in a March follow-up presentation.