Neighborhoods

Transforming neighborhoods, changing lives

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) is a multifaceted neighborhood development organization launched in 2009 in partnership with the City of Youngstown and The Raymond John Wean Foundation to catalyze
strategic neighborhood reinvestment in neighborhoods throughout the city.

YNDC works to transform neighborhoods into meaningful places where people invest time, money and energy into their homes and neighborhoods; where neighbors have the capacity to manage day-to-day issues; and where neighbors feel confident about the future of their neighborhood.

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. 

Ian Beniston is the Executive Director of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation and reports to YNDC’s Board of Directors. Prior to becoming Executive Director, Ian spent five years as YNDC’s Deputy Director. Ian is responsible for the organization’s consistent achievement of its mission and financial objectives. He is also responsible for the day to day operations of the organization. His duties include management of program staff, development of innovative programming, resource development, budgeting and finance, marketing and communication strategies, development of strong partnerships and relationships among diverse stakeholders, and organizational development.

Ian has eighteen years of urban planning and neighborhood development experience in the private, non-profit, and public sectors. Ian holds a Master of City and Regional Planning from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Youngstown State University. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and has obtained Housing Development Finance Professional certification from the National Development Council.

Ian’s community involvement includes serving on the Board of Directors of the Community Corrections Association and ACTION. Ian was selected as a 40 under 40 award recipient in 2009, a 25 under 35 award recipient in 2013, a Next City Vanguard, 40 under 40 making an impact in cities across America, in 2014, OCDCA CDC Staff Member of the Year in 2015, and a 25 under 35 MVP award recipient in 2018. Ian resides in Youngstown with his wife, Krista, and daughter, Eleanor. REVITALIZE.

Contact Ian at ibeniston@yndc.org or find him on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/ianbeniston.

Tiffany Sokol is the Housing Director for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. She leads a team of professional staff in the development and implementation of housing programming, pursuit and administration of grant funding, financial management, and management of organizational communications and marketing.

Prior to joining the YNDC team,
Tiffany gained diverse experience with careers in sales, business administration, and marketing project management.

Tiffany holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from Youngstown State University in Marketing Management and Advertising and Public Relations. She is an NCHEC and HUD-Certified Housing Counselor, a National Development Council Housing Development Finance Professional, and a licensed Realtor with Branches Real Estate. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Ohio Community Development Corporation Association. 

Tiffany received the OCDCA Stephanie J. Bevens Award in 2015, was selected as a 25 under 35 honoree by the Mahoning Valley Young Professionals in 2016, received the OCDCA Rising Star Award in 2017, was honored at the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley's 2019 Gems of the Valley, and was named a WYTV Hometown Hero in 2019. 

Tiffany is an active church member and deeply invested in supporting the youth in her community. She lives on Youngstown's south side with her dog, Fiona.

Contact Tiffany at tsokol@yndc.org.

Jack Daugherty is the Neighborhood Stabilization Director for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. He leads a team of professional staff in the implementation and planning of neighborhood stabilization programming, pursuit of grant funding and other new funding sources, and the development of strategic initiatives.

Jack was born and raised in Youngstown and was employed in Buffalo, New York working on a HUD Choice Neighborhood Transformation Plan before joining YNDC. Jack also served as an intern for YNDC in the summer of 2011.

He is a graduate of SUNY Buffalo with a Master of Urban Planning and also holds a B.A. in Geography and Sociology with a certificate in GIS. He has also obtained Housing Development Finance Professional certification from the National Development Council. Jack resides in Youngstown.

Contact Jack at jdaugherty@yndc.org. 

Liz Ifill is the Office Manager for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. She is responsible for running the office in an efficient and effective manner, handling necessary administrative, organizational, communication, and other functions for this fast paced and growing community development organization.

She also assists with all aspects of the organization’s work under the direction of the Executive Director.

Prior to joining the YNDC team, Liz gained experience with careers in education at the Mahoning County School Education Resource Center (now the Southern Park Academy) and in customer service.

Liz holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Kent State University in Media Production. Liz currently resides in Youngstown.

Contact Liz at eifill@yndc.org. 

Performance Reports

Community support is vital to the YNDC’s success of transforming neighborhoods. And the YNDC’s success is vital to community progress.

That is why we post quarterly performance reports – so you can stay up-to-date on our accomplishments, stand behind our cause and thus strengthen our community.

Quaterly Performance Reports available below:

We are grateful to the following organizations for providing the financial resources to achieve neighborhood health.

 

Core Funders

The Raymond John Wean Foundation

City of Youngstown

 

Program Investors

Aimee and Lulu Seidel Foundation

Altrusa International of Youngstown

Bernard and Elaine Soss Family Charitable Trust

Citizens Bank

City of Youngstown, American Rescue Plan

City of Youngstown, City Council Discretionary Funds

City of Youngstown, Community Development Block Grant

City of Youngstown, HOME Investment Partnership

Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley

Denise Debartolo York

Direction Home

Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation

Eastgate Regional Council of Governments

Farmers National Bank

Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati Affordable Housing Program

Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati Carol M. Peterson Housing Fund

Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh Affordable Housing Program

Finance Fund

First National Bank Community Foundation

First Energy Foundation

Florence Simon Beecher Foundation

Frances Schermer Charitable Trust

Frank and Pearl Gelbman Foundation

George and Virginia Pugh Foundation

Healthpath Foundation of Ohio

HUD Comprehensive Housing Counseling Grant

Huntington Foundation

J. Ford Crandall Memorial Foundation

John S. and Doris M. Andrew Memorial Fund

John D. Finnegan Foundation

John F. and Loretta Hynes Foundation

Key Bank Foundation

Mahoning County Commissioners

Mahoning County Land Reutilization Corporation

Mahoning County Lead Hazard and Healthy Homes

Mercy Health Foundation

Ohio Housing Finance Agency

Ohio Housing Trust Fund

PNC Foundation

Pollock Company Foundation

Pollock Personal Foundation

Premier Bank

Produce Perks Midwest

Project MKC

Robert H. Reakirt  Foundation

Ruth Beecher Charitable Trust

Schwebel Family Foundation

Senator Maurice and Florence Lipscher Charitable Fund

Seven Seventeen Credit Union 

The William M. Neckerman, Jr. Charitable Foundation

The Youngstown Foundation

Thomases Family Endowment of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation

United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley

USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Inflation Reduction Act Grant Program

USDA Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program COVID Relief and Response Program

USDA Rural Housing Preservation Grant

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

W. and H. Bender Memorial Fund

Walter and Caroline H. Watson Foundation

Ward Beecher Foundation

Western Reserve Health Foundation

William Swanston Charitable Fund

Mike Ondo is a Construction Team Member for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. Mike works with a team to complete housing rehabilitation projects to improve the quality of life in strategic Youngstown neighborhoods.

The main purpose in developing a market oriented
neighborhood typology analysis is to characterize the market dynamics of each
neighborhood for the purposes of adopting effective market appropriate
revitalization strategies.

Neighborhood Typology

A quantitative measure of a
neighborhood’s condition based on five statistics:

• median household income
• owner occupancy
• percentage of mortgages that are subprime
• total number of foreclosures over defined
  18-month time period
• percentage of total parcels in Youngstown
  containing either a vacant lot or vacant structure

The combination of these statistics
places a neighborhood under one of three typologies; each typology utilizes a
specific intervention strategy:

• stable typology with protective intervention
• transitional/intermediate typology with
  revitalization intervention
• distressed typology with redirection
  intervention

Asset and Capacity Inventory

A qualitative measure
based on a neighborhood’s:

• assets – parks, new schools, and art and cultural
  institutions
• capacity – neighborhood groups and other
  stakeholder institutions

This indicates existing assets from
which to build and the potential of resident participation in a neighborhood
being considered for development.