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Monday, June 11, 2018
On Sunday, June 10, 2018, the US Conference of Mayors and Wells Fargo awarded the First Place Small City 2018 CommunityWINS Grant for $150,000 to the City of Youngstown and YNDC for REVITALIZE Youngstown.
The award program honors the best neighborhood stabilization efforts in the country and YNDC’s work was selected as the best in the country in the small city category. The award was accepted by Mayor Jamael Tito Brown at the US Conference of Mayors 86th Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. YNDC Executive Director Ian Beniston was also in attendance at the event. REVITALIZE Youngstown is an ongoing effort by YNDC, the City of Youngstown, Mahoning County Land Bank, neighborhood groups, and other community partners guided by Neighborhood Action Plans to stabilize transitional neighborhoods. From 2015 through 2017 the program achieved significant results including: 116 homes repaired and rehabilitated, 683 vacant properties cleaned and boarded, 655 vacant homes demolished, 61 volunteer community workdays, 196 homes brought into code compliance, 10 neighborhood signs installed, upgrades to neighborhood parks, and many other improvements. These activities have resulted in a significant decrease in vacancy, increase in home sales prices, and decrease in crime in the city’s transitional neighborhoods. “This is a great honor for the City of Youngstown, YNDC, Mahoning County Land Bank and our many partners to achieve national recognition for our neighborhood stabilization work. We are making great progress, but have much work to do and will continue doing our best to make an impact,” Ian Beniston, YNDC Executive Director. The grant award funds will be used to renovate 2246 Glenwood Avenue, which is a vacant commercial building that will be used to attract businesses to the Greater Glenwood Avenue Corridor on the south side of Youngstown.