Youngstown is a player again.

While the transition from heavy manufacturing to high tech has not come without its bumps, this northeastern Ohio community is steadily turning smokestack industries into green jobs. Thanks to a host of emerging new economy businesses, Youngstown feels -- well, young again. If anybody doubts it, the city even made the coverof Entrepreneur Magazine's August 2009 issue as one of the 10 best cities to start a business.

At the same time, locals point to assets like Youngstown State University, Mill Creek Park -- one of the country's largest municipal parks systems -- the Butler Institute of American Art (housing more than 20,000 individual works) and the recreational opportunities, music and arts as key threads that are sewing the fabric of Youngstown together again.