Neighborhoods

Thursday, July 13, 2017

On July 12, 2017, Bernadette began moving into her brand new
Idora Neighborhood home at 759 Pineview Avenue.

The updated 3 bedroom, 2
bathroom home includes a formal dining room, eat-in kitchen, spacious living
room with a fireplace, and a master bedroom with a walk-in closet. Bernadette
said she was drawn to the Idora Neighborhood because her street is so quiet,
her neighbors take very good care of their yards, and because she loves the
brick home. Bernadette also went through YNDC’s free HUD-approved housing
counseling program and said that she wouldn’t have been able to buy a home in
Youngstown if it weren’t for the program and the help she received from Tammi,
YNDC’s housing counselor. Congratulations, Bernadette!

The Ohio Army National Guard is
teaming up with Youngstown to tear down vacant homes.

It’ll support the South
Side Blight Removal and Greening project. Now, tearing down vacant houses in
Youngstown isn’t anything new. But the men and women doing the work are the
interesting part of the demolition. “It hits me on a personal level,” Thomas
Pepe of the Ohio Army National Guard said. Pepe is part of the Ohio Army
National Guard in Ravenna. He grew up in Mineral Ridge and has seen the changes
in Youngstown. “I have always wanted to do something for this city to make it
better, because this is our little slice of the pie, as you could say,” Pepe
said. “It feels real good to partner up with Youngstown and make a positive
impact.” That’s exactly what he’s doing along with other members of the Ohio
Army National Guard. “We can’t wait to get out to get out and do a community
outreach event like this because there’s a positive,” Lt. Mike Huggins of Ohio
National Guard 1192nd Engineer Company said. “It’s positive for the community
to see us out here and it’s great training for our soldiers.”

“I’m proud of the National Guard stepping in and doing their
thing,” said Stacey Moore of Youngstown. “It’s good to see that somebody is
taking pride in the city.”

“I’m glad that we get to be here and see the people,” Pepe
said. “We do meet the nice people that we meet because there are nice people
out there. And, if anything, I feel like we’re doing it for them and the city
of Youngstown.”

The National Guard fills up its trucks. And when the truck
is too full, another one is lined up and ready to go. Ohio Army National Guard
members are going to be in Youngstown through the end next week helping the
city with as many demo projects as it can. “Anytime the community wants us to
help them out, we’re here because we are actually a part of this community,”
Huggins said. To read the full story from WKBN, click here. 

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Year-to-date revitalization recap for July, 2017:

671 Volunteers at 15 Community Workdays

2,556 Cubic Yards of Debris Removed

5,966 Unique Cuts
Made by Grass Cutting Team

8,914 Linear Feet of Sidewalk Scraped

140 New Clients
Enrolled in HUD-Approved Housing Counseling

13 Vacant Units
Rehabilitated

257 Students Attended 12 Safe Routes to School Events

The sound of glass breaking and lumber snapping filled the
air on Hudson Avenue Monday as one after another abandoned house was razed.

But
instead of city-paid contractors leveling the decrepit structures, Ohio
National Guardsmen oversaw the demolition. The 1192nd Engineer Co. of the Ohio
National Guard is providing the primary support for a two-week demolition
campaign on the South Side. Their work is supporting the South Side Blight
Removal and Greening effort. “This falls under the umbrella of what we call the
Innovative Readiness Training Program,” said Maj. Gen. John C. Harris Jr., Ohio
assistant adjutant general. “We leverage opportunities like this to add value
to our communities, and it enhances our readiness training for both our federal
and state missions.”

The program is part of one of the lesser-known aspects of
the mission of the National Guard, Harris said, which is to add value to
communities. “It motivates our soldiers because it creates an opportunity to
provide a tangible benefit to the community, the assistant adjutant general
said. “When our soldiers walk away form this, they know that they’ve done something
good for a community.” Harris, city officials and National Guardsmen spoke to
reporters at a press event yesterday at the former Sheridan Elementary School,
where the troops were assigned for the day. The 1192nd hopes to raze 12 to 14
houses and their lots fully graded by the time the unit leaves July 22, said platoon
leader Lt. Josh Walker. “This is a win-win for everyone,” he said. “The city
gets cleaned up, and [the soldiers] get to accomplish their mission while we
get to train.” The troops are stationed at Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training
Center. They travel to Youngstown and back each day. To read the full story from the Business Journal, click here. 

Lt. Josh Walker, National Guard & Abigail Beniston, City Code Enforcement.

To watch the video from the Business Journal, click here. 

Helping to tear down about 28 vacant houses in Youngstown as
a member of the 1192nd Engineer Co. in Ravenna is a particular source of pride
for Pfc. Thomas Pepe. Pepe, of Mineral Ridge, used to live in Youngstown.

“I
want to give something back, and it’s been a great experience,” Pepe said
Monday. “I never thought I’d have the opportunity to help Youngstown, but here
we are doing our part. It means a lot to me because I used to live here. It
helps Youngstown, and it allows us to operate equipment we don’t get to use
very often.” About 40 members of the Army National Guard unit started
demolishing houses July 10 on the city’s South Side and will be in the city
until Saturday. The work being done will save the city $159,000 in demolition
costs, said Abigail Beniston, Youngstown’s code enforcement and blight
remediation superintendent. The city is spending about $5 million on demolition
expenses this year, she said. The unit is doing the demolition work as part of
a program for its members to meet training and readiness requirements.

Lt. Mike Huggins, who used to work in Girard, said, “It’s
nice to partner with Youngstown and help to beautify the city. This work reduces
violence because we’re removing houses that aren’t safe. There’s a lot of kids
in these neighborhoods. It’s not a safe place to be with these vacant houses.
We’re here to make sure we are taking care of the community.” The 1192nd
Engineer Co. is using the former Sheridan School on Hudson Avenue as its base
of operations. The unit, which specializes in the use of heavy machinery, is
demolishing houses for the first time, Huggins said. “This has a different spin
than what we normally do,” he said. “We’re here beautifying the city, and the
city has been really great. People are waving hi to us and greeting us warmly.”
Mayor John A. McNally said the city is pleased to have the 1192nd Co. in
Youngstown demolishing vacant structures. “Anyway we can get 10, 20, 30 more
houses down is something we’re happy to take advantage,” he said. “It’s a great
project. We hope it will lead to larger projects in the city.” The city is
demolishing about 520 vacant houses this year with about half of them already
down, McNally said. To read the full story from The Vindicator, click here.

Local leaders got to see the progress of The Ohio Army
National Guard’s project to rid Youngstown of its blighted properties.

Youngstown
Mayor John McNally and Major General John C. Harris, Jr. were both on hand
Monday morning when an old house on Hudson Avenue came tumbling down. It’s just
one of 28 houses that will be demolished, and it’s all free to the city thanks
to federal grants. McNally said it’s a win-win situation and one that makes
neighbors very happy. “I think they’re having a good time on a couple of
fronts. They enjoy tearing these houses down and getting training on how to do
it, but I also think they like talking to the residents,” he said. McNally said
by the end of the year, the city will tear down a total of 500 houses. That’s
more than double the numbers from last year. National Guard members are going
to be in Youngstown through the end of this week, helping the city with as many
demo projects as it can. To read the full story from WKBN, click here. 

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

On Saturday, July 15, AmeriCorps National Civilian Community
Corps (NCCC) team Cedar 3 arrived in Youngstown to fight blight with YNDC for
six weeks.

The team is composed of Team Leader Kristina Ray, Jodie Cruz,
Aurelia Mancilla, Sophie Pratt, Kimberly Reyes, and James Thomason. The team will
be conducting vacant home clean outs, tree planting, vacant home board ups, and
other corridor improvements. FIGHT BLIGHT.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

On Saturday, July 15, eighteen volunteers helped clean up 2691 McFarland Avenue at the Idora Neighborhood Volunteer Workday.

Volunteers representing the Anthropology Colloquium, Community Legal Aid, Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, Hope for Renewal/Tabernacle Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Progress Mahoning Valley, and YNDC helped cut down 6 trees and remove 44 cubic yards of debris from the property. Special thanks to Hope for Renewal/Tabernacle Evangelical Presbyterian Church for providing refreshments. Thank you to all the volunteers who dedicated their time to help FIGHT BLIGHT!

Healthy Food Programs: Mercy Health Youngstown is offering programs this summer
that help put healthy foods onto the plates of people across the Mahoning
Valley. 

The anchor program is the Farmer’s Market at St. Elizabeth
Youngstown Hospital, Belmont Avenue, which is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Wednesdays through October in the hospital’s Park Avenue lobby.

Two additional Mercy Health initiatives that enhance access
to healthy ingredients are the Double Up and Fruit and Vegetable Prescription
programs. Double Up enables people using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP) benefits to double-up their produce purchases at three markets
in the Mahoning Valley: St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital; Idora Neighborhood
Farmer’s Market, Youngstown, and Farmer’s Market at Courthouse Square, Warren,
both on Tuesdays. To read the full story from The Vindicator, click here.