Letter To The Editor: Is Heartland Forward In the Best Interest of Findlay?

Heartland Forward staff will work directly with Mayor Muryn and a select few she appoints from the strategic planning committee to advance Heartland’s agenda. We are told this is simply a “tool” to help Findlay. But whose vision is really being advanced?

According to Heartland Forward’s own website, its mission is not local — it is regional and transformational:

“Our mission is to accelerate economic growth, change the narrative about the middle of the country and generate $500 million of economic impact to the Heartland by 2030. We do this through applied research, community-driven programs, policy and convenings — focusing on regional competitiveness, talent pipeline and health and wellness.”

This is not a Findlay first mission. It is a broad regional strategy designed to reshape entire areas according to centralized economic goals.

Findlay’s future should be determined by the people who live here, not by outside strategists with multi-state ambitions. Our local businesses should be prioritized, not pushed aside. Our schools should reflect our community’s values, not regional workforce pipelines. Our government should answer to residents, not external policy advisors. Yet our local government is outsourcing economic, financial and even health direction to an organization whose focus extends far beyond Findlay.

Let’s be clear about what this means.

Findlay risks being transformed from a proud micropolitan community into a testing ground for regional economic engineering. Family-owned businesses face displacement as large AI data centers and corporate developments dominate growth plans. Farmland gives way to dense housing expansion. Decisions once made locally are increasingly shaped by outside interests backed by undisclosed nonprofit funding. This is not simply “planning.” It is a shift in control. Findlay does not need to be remade to fit a regional blueprint.

Patty Klein

Findlay,, Ohio