Neighborhoods

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Claire Hawkins has been participating in YNDC’s FREE, HUD-Approved Housing Counseling program since 2014 and recently purchased her first home.

“It’s everything I wanted in a house,” said Claire. She moved to the area from Alabama and saw an ad for the Housing Counseling program on Facebook after renting homes in Youngstown for a few months. “I didn’t know anything about credit or how to get a credit card, so I started taking the classes.” She said once she had a credit card and was able to start building credit, she was able to make progress toward her goal of homeownership. “The program is amazing, it’s a blessing. In Alabama we didn’t have anything like this.” She said one of her biggest motivations to purchase her own home was to have something to leave behind for her children. “No matter what happens to me now, they’ll always have a place to call home.” Her advice to new homeowners is to seek out educational resources like YNDC’s HUD-Approved Housing Counseling program because the information can be valuable and empowering. Congratulations on your new home, Claire! 

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) hosted a groundbreaking Thursday as it begins one of its largest renovations.

YNDC is spending $250,000 to renovate a building with four townhouse apartments just off Clearmont Drive and Glenwood Avenue.

Each one is at least 1,200 square feet. 

The building is 90 years old, and when it's done, it will still have many of its historic features. 

It's part of a larger effort to revitalize the Glenwood Corridor.

"There's many projects that are happening, so this kind of fits in with what we're attempting to do up and down the street," said YNDC Director Ian Beniston. 

Councilwoman Anita Davis said she's glad to see the work taking place.

"This adds to the cosmetic value but also to the actual dollar value of the neighborhood," she said.

Down the street, a planned health clinic will also bring investment to the neighborhood. To read the full story from WKBN, click here.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation broke ground on their biggest project to date in a continuing effort to clean up and revitalize the Glenwood Corridor. 

YNDC is a citywide planning and development organization working to stabilize and revitalize neighborhoods throughout the city. 

The group broke ground on one of the largest, oldest, and longest vacant properties they've ever worked on Thursday morning. 

An apartment building on the corner of Clearmont Drive and Glenwood Avenue is the newest project for renovation. 

The historic four-story building was originally built in 1928 and has been vacant for nearly 20 years. 

However, YNDC hopes to change that. 

With funding from Home Savings and cooperation from the city of Youngstown and the Mahoning County Land Bank, they hope to completely renovate and update the building into four new apartments ready for residents by October. 

Ian Beniston, the Executive Director for YNDC, said the group has never done a project of this magnitude. According to Beniston, they typically work on single family homes and have done a few smaller apartments. 

Beniston said the building needs a lot of work before it is ready to house new families. He expects that volunteers and staff will replace the roof, mechanics, doors, windows, as well as improve sidewalks, driveways, parking, and general upgrades to the property. To read the full story from WFMJ, click here.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. broke ground Thursday on the renovation of a 90-year-old apartment building in the Glenwood Avenue corridor.

The four-unit apartment at 650 Clearmount Drive was built in 1928 and has been in YNDC possession since 2014. Tiffany Sokol, YNDC’s housing director, said the organization would spend approximately $250,000 renovating the 5,200-square-foot property.

Home Savings and Loan created a loan to finance the project for the YNDC.

The building is red brick and sits at the corner of Clearmount Drive and Glenwood Avenue, four blocks south of Canfield Road.

Sokol said the building would be rented as four units, each with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a second level, formal dining room and a laundry.

“They’re very cool rooms,” Sokol said. “The building is full of great character. We’re excited to have it renovated, and of course we’ll be adding modern upgrades like high-efficiency furnaces to help manage the utility costs associated with the units. Our construction team has done a great job here so far, and we know they’ll do a wonderful job on the renovation.” To read the full story from The Vindicator, click here. 

Renovation of a four-unit apartment building off Glenwood Avenue is one of several community improvements taking place along the South Side artery, said Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. Executive Director Ian Beniston.

YNDC held a groundbreaking Thursday morning to celebrate the $250,000 renovation of the 5,200-square-foot apartment building, 650 Clearmount Drive. Representatives of YNDC, the city and Home Savings Bank, which is providing financing for the project, took part in the event. YNDC acquired the building about four years ago from its previous owner, an out-of-town investor who had purchased the property but, as with many properties in the area, “never did anything with it,” Beniston said. The renovation is among eight projects launched or getting under way along the corridor, Beniston said, noting that there will probably be more projects to come. These include One Health Ohio’s upcoming $4 million project to convert the former Bottom Dollar Food grocery store into a health clinic and YNDC’s partnership with the Western Reserve Port Authority on the former Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley distribution center. Renovation of the brick apartment building, built in 1928, began about two weeks ago but kicked into gear this week, said Tiffany Sokol, YNDC housing director. “It needs a lot of work,” Beniston acknowledged. “Everything will be redone as far as the roof, the mechanicals, windows, doors.” YNDC also will repair the sidewalk around the apartment building. “Keep in mind we do try to preserve the historic character of the building,” he added. “We will also be up-lighting the front so you can see it from Glenwood.” 

“This is going to be wonderful,” said Anita Davis, Sixth Ward councilwoman. “When you do that kind of buildup and you do that kind of infrastructure repair, it just adds to the cosmetic value but also to the dollar value of the neighborhood.” Davis, Beniston and Sokol were unsure how long the property had been vacant, but estimated it had been unoccupied for a decade or more. “When you get into a building this old and it’s been vacant this long, you kind of expect the worst,” Sokol said. “When you find things that are functional and salvageable and especially cool architectural features that you can save, it’s exciting.” The four units should be ready for occupancy by late September or early October, Beniston said. “Managing the property isn’t really new for us,” he said. “It’s a little bit of a larger one but we own and manage rental properties right now, primarily in this area.” Three of the units are about 1,200 square feet, while the fourth has a “bump out in the back” that adds 400 more square feet, Beniston said. All four units have two bedrooms, a front porch, back porch, basement, living room, dining room and bathroom. The smaller units should rent for $650 per month and the larger for $675, he said. As part of its efforts Glenwood Avenue, YNDC also has partnered with the Mahoning County Land Bank to clean up the corridor, Beniston said. For the full story from The Business Journal, click here.

Friday, May 11, 2018

Two Youngstown City elementary schools celebrated Walk to School Day this week through the Safe Routes to School Program.

YNDC Team Members educated students about pedestrian safety and held activities for the children during recess at Wilson Elementary on Tuesday and Taft Elementary on Wednesday. The Safe Routes to School program is a partnership between the City of Youngstown and Youngstown City School District that seeks to encourage students to safety walk and bicycle to school. We’d like to thank the City of Youngstown, Youngstown City Schools, the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, and the Western Reserve Health Foundation for supporting this program! 

Friday, May 11, 2018

On Friday, May 11, 2018, the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley awarded YNDC with a grant for $25,500.

The funds will benefit YNDC’s Limited Repair program for low- to moderate-income homeowners with a focus in the Taft Promise Neighborhood on the South Side of Youngstown. We would like to thank the United Way for their generous support!

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Representatives from Home Savings and The City of Youngstown joined YNDC Team members and AmeriCorps REVITALIZE Team Members for a groundbreaking event at 650 Clearmont on Thursday, May 10.

Attendees broke ground at the site to mark the start of YNDC’s rehabilitation of the historic 4-unit apartment building on the Glenwood Corridor, the organization’s largest rehab to date. The project is currently under construction. We’d like to thank Home Savings Bank and The City of Youngstown for supporting this project and other revitalization efforts throughout the city.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation has been trying to stop what officials say are predatory contracts used in the purchase of city homes. Now Community Legal Aid wants to help by offering free legal services for people presented with such contracts.

"The shingles are deteriorated, the paint's peeling," Ian Beniston, with YNDC, said about a house on W. Ravenwood Avenue.

Vision Property Management, of South Carolina, owns the house which someone may eventually buy through what Beniston calls a predatory contract.

"They're taking advantage of people who aren't -- for whatever reason -- able to access a traditional home loan, but are pulled by a dream of home ownership," he said. To read the full story from WKBN, click here.

The board of directors for United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley approved $3.2 million in funding for the organization’s education initiatives and local nonprofits.

“The Mahoning Valley is fortunate to have strong agencies that provide crucial programs and services that strengthen our community and affect our most important assets, our fellow citizens.” said Julie Smith, United Way Board Member and Impact Committee chairwoman, in a release. “We are also appreciative of the dedication of our volunteers who spend countless hours, reviewing funding requests and agencies to ensure that donors’ contributions are invested most wisely.”

United Way will provide $1,120,605 in funding to 36 area organizations, ranging from ACLD Learning Center to YWCA of Youngstown, whose programs deal with emergency services and early-childhood education. Several agencies will receive future funding as part of the Success After 6 program, which will be held in five school districts in the 2018-19 school year – Youngstown Community School, Youngstown City Schools, Girard City Schools, Liberty Local Schools and Campbell City Schools. To read the full story from The Business Journal, click here.