Mission/Goals


Our Mission

YNDC is
committed to improving the quality of life in Youngstown by building and encouraging
investment in neighborhoods of choice for all. 
We aim to accomplish this mission through a dual approach that includes strategic investments to rebuild market confidence in neighborhoods
with strong assets, and broader partnership strategies to strengthen Youngstown’s community
development capacity and the citywide infrastructure supporting neighborhood revitalization.

Our Goals

YNDC’s
central purpose is to foster the transformation of vulnerable, undervalued and
transitional neighborhoods into healthy neighborhoods of choice – places where
people are willing to invest their time, energy and resources and where
residents can manage their own problems.  YNDC has set the following goals to guide its
neighborhood transformation agenda:

  1. To
    rebuild market confidence in neighborhoods through strategic reinvestment
    and neighborhood improvement activities in focus neighborhoods.
  2. To
    strengthen the social fabric of neighborhoods through the active
    participation and involvement of residents and neighborhood organizations
    in planning and activities of YNDC.
  3. To encourage
    all community development actions in Youngstown
    to have a clear strategic outcome and every outcome to be leveraged to
    maximize its impact.
  4. To
    forge strong partnerships and effective collaboration among stakeholders
    to layer the resources necessary to be successful.
  5. To
    increase wealth and asset building through the appreciation of home values
    and other advancements.
  6. To
    foster the development of a new language for community development and
    revitalization.
  7. To
    operate in a manner that cultivates hope for positive community change
    among all residents of Youngstown.
  8. Expand
    the pool of public and private resources directed toward the revitalization
    of Youngstown’s
    neighborhoods.

Our Guiding Principles

In addition to the above goals, YNDC will also
follow a set of guiding principles in all aspects of its organizational and
program decision-making.

  • Inclusion/Diversity  YNDC is committed
    to an aggressive policy of openness and inclusion in all aspects of its
    work.  This includes extending
    opportunities to all parts of the Youngstown
    community to offer input on critical program decisions, and to compete fairly
    for contracts YNDC may award or job openings that may be created as a result of
    its programs and investments.
  • Integrity  YNDC pledges to maintain the highest ethical
    standards in its organizational and programmatic decisions and expects its
    staff and board to maintain these standards in their dealings with one another
    and YNDC’s external stakeholders.   
  • Collaboration  YNDC believes strongly in the
    principles of collaboration and partnership and is committed to working
    collaboratively with others to advance common goals and expand the overall
    impacts of its work.
  • Transparency  YNDC will operate with
    openness in all its key decisions, including its choices of where and how to
    invest the resources entrusted to it, with whom it chooses to partner and
    contract, and how it makes its own administrative and governance
    decisions. 
  • Innovation 
    YNDC understands the direct benefits of learning and innovation in all
    aspects of its program; it will continue to seek better ways of accomplishing
    its strategic goals and is committed to introducing new programmatic and
    management approaches wherever appropriate.