Neighborhoods

The Brownlee Woods Neighborhood Association will host its monthly meeting Thursday at Faith Community Church, 1919 E. Midlothian Blvd.

The evening will begin with refreshments/social time at 6 p.m. and the general meeting will start at 6:30. Councilwoman Basia Adamczak, D-7th, and police officer Phil Skowron will be in attendance. The speaker will be Michael Durkin, city blight remediation and code enforcement superintendent. To read the full story from The Vindicator, click here. 

There's another Southside Summer Experience planned for Wednesday evening.

This one will be at 308 Lucius Avenue in Youngstown.

Along with free food, there will be games, a bounce house and a video game truck. To watch the video from WKBN, click here. 

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Gary enrolled in YNDC’s HUD-Approved Housing Counseling program while living in an apartment on the North Side after the VA connected him with our Housing Counselor Tammi.

After a few short months in Housing Counseling, Gary said things came together and he was ready to buy his home. Gary, a veteran of the United States Navy, was born in Warren but spent over 30 years of his life living elsewhere. He returned to the area from Florida with only the clothes on his back, homeless, and suffering from lingering health issues due to an injury. He said he is incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunity to once again own a home and work towards improving his ability to walk. He says he feels stronger every day, having once only been able to crawl around his apartment, struggling to reach the doorknob. Gary said he was drawn to 1823 Fifth Avenue after seeing the fireplace and spacious living room. Gary moved into his new home in late May. Congratulations, Gary, and thank you for investing in Youngstown’s neighborhoods!

The Western Reserve Port Authority is moving forward in turning the Harshman Building in Youngstown into space for Eastern Gateway Community College.

The college would occupy the basement and first floor of the building at 101 E. Boardman St.

Anthony Trevena, director of economic development for NEO Development and Finance Authority, a division of the port authority, said the board authorized $952,000 to be spent toward the project. The organization has also received a grant from the state’s capital appropriations budget.

Trevena said the port authority has awarded the construction contract to Brock Builders of North Lima, with the beginning of construction targeted for Aug. 1. Work continues to secure a tenant for the second floor of the building, Trevena said.

Also Wednesday, the port authority board reported the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. has taken possession of property at 2246 Glenwood Ave., Youngstown, to house micro-entrepreneurs and new entrepreneurs.

Trevena said the property will be occupied by four to six tenants. To read the full story from the Tribune Chronicle, click here. 

Friday, June 29, 2018

The third South Side Summer Experience was held at the corner of E. Lucius and Rush Blvd. on the south side. 

These pop-up events are a partnership between the Youngstown Police Department, YNDC and the ICU Block Watch and they are intended to provide activities for youth on the south side who do not have access to a park or playground in their neighborhood.  Activities included basketball, music, line dancing, painting, kite-flying, playing catch, a bounce house, and a video game truck.  The event took place on two formerly overgrown vacant lots that were cleaned up ahead of time by the YNDC crew.  The pop-up events are part of the US Department of Justice South Side Revitalization Project, which seeks to improve neighborhood quality of life through increased police presence and interactions, community engagement, neighborhood revitalization, and positive youth activities.  The fourth South Side Summer Experience will be held on Thursday, July 5 just east of the intersection of South Ave. and E. Lucius.

The Youngstown Foundation has awarded grants for the second quarter of the year to 13 area organizations totaling $928,553.

The grants were awarded from the unrestricted funds, Mahoning Valley Sports Charities and Hine Memorial Funds. Additionally, donor advised funds collectively dispersed $266,500 to several 501(c)3 organizations while over $370,000 was distributed to local nonprofits through the support fund program. The Youngstown Foundation, founded in 1918, is the largest community foundation in the Mahoning Valley and the fourth oldest in the country. To read the full story from The Business Journal, click here. 

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

On Monday, July 2, The Huntington Foundation awarded YNDC a $10,000 grant for the Community Financial Literacy Initiative.

The funds will support YNDC's HUD-Approved Housing Counseling and Education programs, as well as the organization's small business development programming. Thanks to The Huntington Foundation for their support!

Friday, July 6, 2018
Chemical Bank has helped YNDC access an additional $22,860 for owner-occupied home repairs through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis's Neighborhood Improvement Program.

With the funding, YNDC is able to provide new roofs for four low- to moderate-income homeowners at no cost. Thank you to Chemical Bank and FHLB Indianapolis for supporting neighborhood revitalization in Youngstown!

The city’s board of control signed a $155,617 contract with a Youngstown company to improve deteriorated concrete sidewalks around and near Harding Elementary School on the North Side.

Thomas Pallotta & Sons had the least expensive proposal of six companies that bid for the work. The board of control approved the contract Thursday.

Eighty percent of the project cost is coming from state funding with the city paying the rest from its motor-vehicle license taxes.

The project includes removing and replacing sidewalks on Cordova Avenue between Benita and Granada avenues, Benita between Fifth and Ohio avenues, Dennick Avenue between Cordova and Elm Street, Curry Place between Cordova and Ohio avenues, Granada between Fifth and Ohio avenues, Ohio between Upland Avenue and Benita and Lauderdale avenue between Ohio and Elm. To read the full story from The Vindicator, click here.

Jeannie Oquendo was the first to move to North Central Park Avenue in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago in winter 2016.

Amid frigid temperatures, the block had seven abandoned houses since the foreclosure crisis. It was the type of neighborhood that could attract crime, not necessarily first-time homebuyers. But Oquendo, a single mother of three, didn't see any trouble on several visits to the street where she found a vacant two-unit building with potential. She got an affordable mortgage and bought the building. It gave her a chance to live in her old neighborhood and to be close to her aging parents. "It's been two years now and you can see the neighborhood is changing so fast," Oquendo says. Those six other empty buildings have since been bought and rehabbed and families are living there now.  West Humboldt Park is among several Chicago neighborhoods that needed an intervention after the foreclosure crisis peaked around 2010. Vacant lots and so-called zombie buildings were left empty and in disrepair, community leaders said. In 2011, Chicago officials created the Micro Market Recovery Program (MMRP) to jump start individual blocks that had a high rate of vacant buildings due to foreclosures. MMRP sought to transform those abandoned, dilapidated buildings into affordable homes for renters or first-time homebuyers. It would help to re-settle diverse communities and attract businesses. Chicago had already spent about $169.2 million from the Housing and Urban Development's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) for areas hit hardest by foreclosures. MMRP would take the next step and include several community groups, such as Local Initiatives Support Corporation Chicago – known as LISC Chicago – to attract investors and families, according to the Chicago Department of Planning and Development. Besides West Humboldt Park, MMRP has reoccupied nearly 1,000 buildings, including about 2,900 units, in Englewood, Auburn Gresham, West Pullman, Woodlawn and other neighborhoods. Also, more than 400 families received help with loans or obtained financial assistance to keep their existing homes. To read the full story from USNews, click here.