U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has scheduled a roundtable with community leaders in Youngstown on Monday to discuss the aftermath of the explosion at the Realty Building downtown.

Brown's office says the Senator will meet with government officials, business owners, workers, and downtown residents affected by the May 28 blast.

Brown and attendees will discuss the ongoing recovery efforts, according to the Senator's office.

The explosion has resulted in several events being moved, postponed, or canceled.

Events like the Simply Slavic Festival had to be moved to the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre, the Y-Live concert featuring Tim McGraw, which was scheduled for August 2 was postponed to September of 2025 and the Greater Youngstown Italian Festival, also scheduled for early August, was completely canceled.

Additionally, residents of the Realty Tower apartments, as well as the neighboring International Towers apartments, have all been displaced. Realty Tower residents were only told just last week, that they'd have the opportunity to reclaim some of their essential belongings from the building.

Downtown businesses have seen less traffic due to the explosion combined with the ongoing SMART2 road construction project, with some like the DoubleTree Hotel and the Bistro 1907 restaurant needing to temporarily close with no reopening date in sight. 

21 News has reached out to Senator Brown's office to see if Brown believes his team can help with the recovery efforts in any way and how. We were sent a statement that read in part:

"The focus of this event is for the Senator to hear directly from the community about the ongoing recovery. That’s how he does his job — listening directly to communities and then fighting for them."

Brown's team tells 21 News this event is solely for Brown to listen to the community and he will address what he's heard following the event.