NPR® Looks at Globalization From a Local Perspective
Life in Celina, OH, After Huffy Relocates Abroad

Celina, OH - What happens to small town workers when the town's largest employer packs it's bags and heads for foreign soil? As NPR's All Things Considered® found it's meant less cash in the pockets of many former workers at a bicycle plant in Ohio. But for some, it's also meant a happier life.

All Things Considered visits Celina, Ohio, as part of the NPR News series The Changing Face of America to gain perspective on small town America in the global economy. The visit occurs two years after Huffy, a bicycle manufacturer, closed its Celina plant to cut costs and started importing bikes made in China. NPR's John Ydstie explains the economic rationale, and the personal cost of globalization. He goes on to tell us how people are rebuilding their lives in the wake of the plant closing.

Former employees at the Huffy factory have had to find new lines of work - no easy task for many of the older employees who have spent their entire career with Huffy. Many residents are learning to survive on less income, but a few have taken steps to improve their quality of life, from spending more time with their families to getting a college education. Ydstie talks to Celina residents and former Huffy workers and finds out how they're coping as they start over.

This The Changing Face of America report will air on All Things Considered, Wednesday, July 26. For station information and broadcast times, please visit NPR's webpage at www.npr.org.

The Changing Face of America, is an 18-month-long series that tells the stories of regular, everyday Americans and the issues they face at a time of dramatic and rapid change. NPR News correspondents explore and report on such diverse issues as immigration, inter-generational conflict, economic development, urban growth, education, technology and leisure, all within the context of a changing America. Feature segments of The Changing Face of America appear on Morning Edition® with Bob Edwards and All Things Considered. As part of this series, NPR's midday call-in program Talk of the Nation® is traveling to cities and towns across America for monthly broadcast forums before live audiences.

The series is supported by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts. The Pew Charitable Trusts invest in ideas that fuel timely action and results. It is focusing a significant portion of its resources on supporting programs that stimulate participation in civic affairs. These include initiatives that foster a citizenry more engaged in local, regional and national public issues and that provide information resources for the media, the public and policymakers.

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