Neighborhoods

With thousands of vacant properties in the city of Youngstown, making sure the grass gets cut is a big task. One that before Tuesday, the city didn't know who it would fall to. 

A release from mayor Tito Brown's office on Tuesday announced that the majority of vacant lot grass cutting will be done by Youngstown City Street Department workers and a number of private contractors. 

Mayor Brown says the city will have 7 to 10 tractors out cutting every day. 

In late April, Councilwoman Lauren McNally began to question why the city did not have a contract for an organization to mow the vacant lots. To read the full article from WFMJ, click here.

Dan Dickten, who resigned as director of aviation for the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport last month, will receive a severance package from the Western Reserve Port Authority.

At a meeting earlier this week, the port authority board authorized Executive Director John Moliterno to negotiate the severance package, which officials said is stipulated in Dickten’s contract.

“That’s a normal package that’s built into his contract, as it is with a number of our contracts,” Moliterno said.

The payout has yet to be negotiated, and Dickten’s contract was not immediately available.

Dickten resigned April 23 after eight years as director. His two-year contract with the authority was up at that time.

In other business, the board approved a new three-year contract with its American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union employees.

The contract, which includes four authority employees, does not include any wage increases. It includes a clause that a wage increase will be considered after one year. The board heard an update from economic development Director Anthony Trevena about the WRPA’s acquisition of the former rescue mission building at 2246 Glenwood Ave. The authority plans to lease the South Side building to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. for 18 months, at which time YNDC plans to buy it. The 19,000-square-foot space will be used as a hub for small business entrepreneurship, Trevena said. To read the full story from The Vindicator, click here.

Monday, May 21, 2018

On Wednesday, May 9, the William Swanston Charitable Fund awarded a $100,000 grant to YNDC.

The grant award will be utilized by YNDC and its partners to reduce childhood obesity in Youngstown’s neighborhoods through strategic investments in the built environment at four city parks that serve the highest numbers of children in the city. These improvements will make physical activity easier, more attractive, and more accessible to the city’s most vulnerable youth populations. Encouraging physical activity and active living is a primary Ohio Department of Health recommendation for the reduction of childhood obesity. Many thanks to the William Swanston Charitable Fund for the support!

The William Swanston Charitable Fund’s mission is to provide support and assistance to abused, neglected and dependent children. Its board of directors is determined to translate that mission into charitable giving that will have a positive impact in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

The Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley is operated exclusively for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes which effectively assist and promote the well-being of residents of Mahoning and Trumbull Counties. Information can be found here.

Monday, May 21, 2018

On Wednesday, May 16, YNDC Housing Director Tiffany Sokol participated in a panel presentation moderated by YNDC Executive Director Ian Beniston at the Center for Community Progress’ Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with Cheryl Wilson and Adam Rogers from CIBC Bank about Market-Sensitive Models to Finance Vacant Property Rehabilitation and Support Homeownership.

The presentation described YNDC's market-rate market-ready rehab process in detail, sustaining the program without the use of government subsidy, and strategies for building the market in Youngstown. YNDC's presentation is available for download below. 

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

On Saturday, May 19, thirty volunteers participated in the
Idora Neighborhood Workday at the Youngstown Playhouse.

Volunteers from AutoSoft
Inc., Freedom Church, Friends of the Mahoning River, JJC, Own Ski Roofing, Tabernacle
Evangelical Presbyterian Church/Hope for Renewal, Ursuline High School, The
City of Youngstown, The Youngstown Playhouse, YSU, and YSU Honors helped to
remove 65 cubic yards of debris! We would like to thank all the volunteers for
their time and dedication.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

On Tuesday, May 22, YNDC and the Western Reserve Port Authority (WRPA) began a partnership to revitalize 2246 Glenwood Avenue.

YNDC has entered a short term lease with the WRPA and will purchase the property at the end of that lease. YNDC will make improvements to the property and develop a plan to attract businesses to locate in the facility. More information on this exciting project will be shared in the coming months. 

The Young Philanthropist Fund and the Fund for Warren’s Future, both component funds of the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, made $67,500 in combined grants during the first part of this year.

The Young Philanthropist Fund was established in 2006 to introduce young leaders to philanthropy, and the G.I.V.E.S. Committee of the Mahoning Valley Young Professionals club directs grant making from the fund.This year, the committee selected four projects to give grants to. These are the Butler Institute of American Art’s Summer Visual Arts Day Camp, Boys & Girls Club of Youngstown, Piggyback Foundation of Youngstown and Making Kids Count. The Fund for Warren’s Future, opened in 2017 by three local businessmen in collaboration with the City of Warren, chose five projects from four organizations to support this year. Inspiring Minds received the largest grant of $15,000 for its We Are Warren initiative. A pilot model, the program will provide an immersive workforce learning experience for eligible Warren residents between the ages of 18 through 24. The coordinator will find paid internships for 15 local, post-high school youth enrolled in college or who demonstrate other career aspirations. Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County, Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership and Warren Redevelopment & Planning Corp. all received grants from the fund as well. To read the full story from The Business Journal, click here.

Thursday, May 24, 2018

YNDC is getting the work done in 2018! Here are some highlights
of our work to date this year:

114 new clients were enrolled in HUD-approved housing
counseling

384 volunteers cleared 1,111 yards of debris and removed 236
tires at 7 workdays

8,057 linear feet of sidewalk scraped

414 students attended 29 Safe Routes to School events

11 vacant homes were rehabilitated

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Work has begun at 650 Clearmont Drive, a 90-year-old 4-unit apartment building on the Greater Glenwood Avenue Corridor - YNDC’s largest rehabilitation project to date.

New roofs are being installed on the building. New vinyl windows, glass block, and doors were installed last week. Trees and stumps have been removed from the surrounding yard. Work has begun on the electric inside the building and all units have been cleared out and prepared for rehabilitation. The building will serve as four residential housing units upon completion. Check back for updates as we continue to work on this historic Greater Glenwood Avenue Corridor building. 

“We had developed a reputation as an organization that just says no to people,” Executive Director Steven McGarrity said. “Legal Aid for a long time has not been focused on going out into the community. We sort of waited in our offices for the phone to ring.”

Over the past year, attorneys with the nonprofit law firm serving the legal needs of low-income people in central and northeast Ohio have been busy getting out into the community -- rather than sitting behind desks waiting for the community to come to them.

One such community lawyering endeavor is the Neighborhood Law Project, a partnership between Legal Aid and other organizations. The goal of the NLP is to help residents overcome legal problems that are getting in the way of their work, education or health – in a very concentrated and strategic way.

Legal Aid attorneys have been going out into Youngstown’s neighborhoods to meet clients where they live, work and play for the pilot project. Two attorneys are working full-time on it, with plans for another to be hired soon.

The project, which was funded by a $350,000 Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation’s Neighborhood Stabilization Grant, provides holistic legal services to families within the Taft Promise Neighborhood.

“We are focusing on the neighborhood around Taft Elementary to raise the educational outcomes around that school,” McGarrity said. “There are lots of barriers in kids’ lives that affect their ability to get a good education, such as food and housing stability. Jumping from school to school is obviously going to affect their education.”

The goals of the NLP are to improve neighborhoods, increase affordable housing opportunities, remove barriers to employment and education and support entrepreneurial efforts for low-income neighborhoods. Lawyers can help resolve issues with housing, work, custody and family needs, finances and education. The idea is that families can focus more on being present at work, school and home when these problems are fixed. To read the full story from the Daily Legal News, click here.