Neighborhoods

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Heather moved into her new home at 4013 Helena Avenue in the Handels Neighborhood in October.

The updated 2 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom home includes a spacious living room with a fireplace. Heather sat down with us to talk about her homebuying experience and what attracted her to the neighborhood. Heather, a first-time homebuyer who was born and raised on the West Side of Youngstown, said the history of the neighborhood and proximity to food and restaurants was her favorite aspect of the location. Heather heard about YNDC from family members that still live on the West Side and have seen other revitalized homes in the area. Heather’s favorite part of her new house is all the original woodwork in the living room and front hallway. Congratulations, Heather!

The city of Youngstown received a two-part grant totaling $1 million to help combat crime for the South Side Revitalization Project. 

Senior GIS and Data Services Manager John Bralich, said this project will implement strategies for crime reduction on targeted areas in the city’s south side. Fiscal Unit Commander Jason Simon, said the planning grant of $150,000 was given to 12 cities to implement a plan to combat crime in the city. Youngstown was one of three chosen for an implementation grant worth $850,000, Simon said. “We have to combat violent crime where it is,” Simon said. Crime isn’t just a police issue, and it’s suggested residents get involved. “We want to talk to residents about where they think crime is most at,” Simon said. “This grant gives us the opportunity for block watches to be the eyes and ears for the police department on things we might miss.” As the seasons change in the city, so does crime. “Violent crime goes on throughout the whole year,” Simon said. “However, as the holidays approach, burglary in department stores occur more often.”

Youngstown State University is involved with the plan. Simon said YSU’s part is a data and research perspective to show what’s effective and what’s not. The Youngstown Police Department has partnered with YSU and their crime analyst is working with Bralich. “They’re identifying where the hotspots for crime come up and we monitor it for patterns and changes,” Simon said. Police officers are sent out with the most recent intelligence and proactively take care of any problem. YSU helped the city of Youngstown in the past with a number of planning initiatives, such as the Youngstown 2010 Comprehensive Land Use Plan, the overhaul of the city’s zoning code and neighborhood action plans under the direction of YNDC, Bralich said. “YSU is also a long-standing partner of the city of Youngstown and Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation,” Bralich said.

Bralich serves as the research team leader for YSU. “I oversee all data collection and analysis,” Bralich said. “This includes all GIS mapping, data analysis and fieldwork.” The YSU Research Team is assigned the duty of assisting in problem definition, community engagement activities, completion of the final summary report and developing solutions, Bralich said. Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences Richard Rogers said he is involved with the project as well. “I put everything into perspective of the criminal justice side of things,” Rogers said. YSU has goals set in place for this project. “Our goals in this project are to reduce crime, improve neighborhood quality of life and to increase the collective efficacy of the target area,” Bralich said. Simon said better practices will be used to listen to the community and residents on crime issues in the area. To read the full story from The Jambar, click here.

Friday, November 17, 2017

On Thursday, November 16, eighteen representatives from ServeOhio
visited YNDC as part of the ServeOhio Commissioner Retreat.

YNDC AmeriCorps
REVITALIZE Team Members Damaris Grant, Keneen Harris, Omar Mahdee, and Ryan
Tyler-Stevens were sworn in for their year of service before joining volunters from Easter Seals, the Ohio CNCS State Office, ServeOhio, AmeriCorps VISTAs, and YNDC Team members for a sidewalk
cleanup. Sidewalks on Edwards Street were scraped and cleaned from High Street
down to Marshall Street. Volunteers removed 5 cubic yards of debris and reclaimed 390 linear feet of sidewalks.

After losing his job Oct. 30, Jason Ray, a resident of the East Side, is looking for a new direction in the workforce. “I have a lot of experience in industrial work and at warehouses,” he said Thursday.

“Right now I’m trying to get some different training and get more experience under my belt other than just warehouse work. I want to have a career in something electrical.” Ray is one of the city residents who attended the Taft Promise Neighborhood Job Fair at Youngstown Metro Assembly Church on South Avenue. He is interested in a career with a company such as Ohio Edison, but first needs a job to pay his bills. “Once I get employed,” he said, “I can think about school and a career.” The Taft Promise Neighborhood initiative works with more than 40 organizations whose goals are revitalizing and strengthening the community through education, job training, health and wellness, neighborhood safety and resident engagement. Seventeen recruiters from local institutions, businesses, and organizations took employment applications and resumes. Among them were the Youngstown City School District, Rite Aid, SafeHouse Residential Services and Raphael’s Barber Academy. Said Ray of his attendance at the job fair: “They give you a lot of information, valuable resources and they give you help as far as legal aid if you need it.” A friend of Ray’s who works for Taft Promise, Dionne Dowdy, referred him to the job fair. Dowdy is a volunteer in AmeriCorps Vista. “We brought the community in the neighborhood here to see what their needs were and one of them was employment, so we thought that we would do a job fair,” Dowdy said.

Leading up to the fair, Taft Promise held weekly classes for a month to teach participants soft skills — a good work ethic, computer skills and how to prepare their resumes. “We teach them the attitude of working, being in a workplace, being on time, being respectful, and getting a long with others,” Dowdy said. The classes will continue as an ongoing program to prepare residents for the next job fair in the spring. “Some people think TPN just looks at Taft Elementary School and that neighborhood around it,” said its executive director, April Alexander, “but our boundaries are from Market Street to Shady Run Road, and Midlothian Boulevard to Indianola Avenue. So we’re looking at a large radius.” At the job fair, the Common Wealth Kitchen Incubator offered to support anyone interested in becoming an entrepreneur in the food business. “If they have ideas, they can come see us and we will help coach them through the whole process,” said Scott Dougherty, kitchen manager. “It’s a way to help local people build themselves up.” The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. accepted resumes from all interested in working for the organization. “We’re trying to be a good resource to people in our community. Especially those who don’t actively go out and seek jobs every day,” said Alaina Wells, an AmeriCorps Vista volunteer assigned to YNDC. To read the full story from The Business Journal, click here.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

On Saturday, November 18, thirty-nine volunteers helped
rehabilitate the inside of 2906 Glenwood Avenue.

Volunteers from the Boulevard
Park Block Watch, Freedom Church, Friends of the Mahoning River, Tau Kappa
Epsilon, Tabernacle Evangelical Presbyterian Church/Hope for Renewal, YNDC, YSU,
YSU Honors College, and YSUscape removed 5 cubic yards of debris from the historic
4-unit building and also helped pull staples, scrape paint, and patch walls.
The building is being rehabilitated by YNDC partner organization Hope for
Renewal. Special thanks to Hope for Renewal for providing refreshments. We
would like to thank all the volunteers for their hard work! 

Larry Graham purchased the house at 9904 Anderson Avenue in 2015, according to public records. But on a recent chilly fall afternoon, he wasn’t there. In fact, the house he’d tried to buy for $13,000 looked as if it had been abandoned months ago.

Frank Ford, a housing policy researcher at the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, stood on the sidewalk, looking up at the two-story, yellow-and-white house, studying the decay.

“The windows are broken, the siding is coming off, the gutters are falling,” he said. He stepped gingerly up the rotting wood stoop to the front porch. On the front door, Ford noticed a letter from the city building inspector stapled to the door, threatening to condemn the house for several code violations.

Ford was interested in the property because it was one of 654 listed on the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer’s website as having been sold on land contract in the past several years. It was, he said, like a lot of homes sold on land contract: the buyer put money into it, with the apparent hope of one day owning it, but never got to. To read the full story from IdeaStream click here. 

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) educational programming has taken place at Wilson Elementary School and the Youngstown Academy of Excellence educating 337 students on safe pedestrian behaviors, such as how to navigate railroad crossings, be visible to drivers, and safely cross an intersection. 

Classes are taught using a large poster board depicting a neighborhood resembling the one surrounding the school.  Students use this neighborhood scene to discuss different scenarios they might encounter on their way to school and role play similar situations, such as avoiding vacant houses, using crosswalks and listening to crossing guards to safely cross the street.  Students complete activity sheets to emphasize what was discussed in the lesson.

The Walking School Bus continues to educate students on ways to cross streets, navigate roads, and utilize crossing guards on their way to school.  In November, 45 students participated in the Walking School Bus by meeting at a designated time and walking to school together safely.  Walking School Buses take place each week at Williamson, Taft, and Wilson Elementary schools.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Year-To-Date Revitalization Recap for November 2017

1487 Volunteers at 21 Workdays

4,503 Cubic Yards of Debris Removed

31,441 Linear Feet of Sidewalks Cleared

208 New Clients Enrolled in Housing Counseling

18 Vacant Units Rehabilitated

1871 Students Participated in 87 Safe Routes to School
Events

92 Properties Brought into Compliance through Neighborhood
Action Teams

Innovations Conference 2018: Collaborating for a Healthier Mahoning Valley will take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Jan. 18 at the Jewish Community Center.

The event is sponsored by the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, The William Swanston Charitable Foundation, Western Reserve Health Foundation and The Trumbull Memorial Health Foundation.

The day-long conference is aimed at strengthening skills and identifying steps to create and sustain a healthier Mahoning Valley.

Natalie Burke, president and CEO of CommonHealth Action, will be the featured speaker for the conference. Burke is an advisor for corporate leaders and communities, where she guides people and organizations to a solution. To read the full story from The Business Journal, click here.

The annual holiday parade and Christmas tree lighting in downtown Youngstown has been getting bigger every year, and this year’s event promises to be the best yet.

The five downtown-gateway art projects are the result of the INPLACE project, which was funded by a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and administered by Youngstown State University. Three of the projects have been completed for several weeks. They are a sculpture in front of The Vindicator building; a bus shelter that repurposes a shipping container on East Boardman Street; and a small outdoor stage on North Hazel Street, between Commerce Street and Rayen Avenue. The fourth and fifth projects will make their debut Friday night. A system that will use lighting technology to project messages and art on the south side of the City Hall annex when it’s complete is one. The other is the lighting of the unused concrete railway arch bridge over Mahoning Avenue, just a few blocks west of downtown. The lighting project will use the Stambaugh Building on Central Square as its canvas Friday night. The building is currently being renovated into a Doubletree Hotel. The railroad arch lighting might be the most unusual of the five projects. It was being installed this week. “If all goes well, we’ll have it turned on Friday,” said David Tamulonis, the Boardman native and Youngstown resident who was a principal designer of the project. There will be nine energy-efficient LED lights down the middle of the arch’s ceiling, and continuous LED light strips around both edges, he said. “The lights are amber, dark orange-ish, and will give the effect of a glowing steel furnace,” said Tamulonis, a recent YSU grad who is the marketing coordinator of Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. Tamulonis was part of a group of YSU and Kent State University students who took part in a design effort put together by the McDonough Museum a few years ago. The goal was to find ways to improve the Mahoning Commons neighborhood and create links between downtown and Mill Creek Park. He based it on similar public lighting projects in other cities. To read the full story from The Vindicator, click here.