Neighborhoods

A campaign to repair the marquee of the historic Foster Theater already has raised nearly $1,800 as of Wednesday morning.

The GoFundMe fundraiser was launched a week ago by Jack Daugherty, neighborhood stabilization for Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. YNDC purchased the former adult movie theater, which was built in 1938, last month for $99,999.

To see the full story from The Business Journal, click here.

The word "Revitalize" on the marquee of the iconic Foster Theatre is doing a lot of work.

For starters, just a few weeks ago — before the building was purchased by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation on June 9 — "Revitalize" replaced an enduring advertisement for pornographic films. 

Still, the sign itself is begging for attention: The burgundy accent paint is faded and chipped. Some of the neon that once illuminated "Foster" on two sides of the triangular overhang is missing. 

Not for long: Updating the marquee is the first phase in YNDC's plan to renovate the building.

To see the full story from Mahoning Matters, click here.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation is planning on fully restoring the marquee and façade at the historic Foster Theater on Youngstown’s south side.

While the building is structurally sound, the marquee and façade have fallen into disrepair, according to YNDC.

Once restored, the marquee will display inspirational messages while the future reuse of the building is planned and developed.

To see the full story from WKBN, click here.

In the next couple of weeks, Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. officials will take possession of a house on Old Furnace Road from the city.

The Youngstown Board of Control voted Thursday morning to approve a purchase and sale agreement between the city and the Mill Creek MetroParks Board of Commissioners to acquire 900 Old Furnace Road for $1.

City Council approved an ordinance authorizing the purchase of the property and subsequent transfer to YNDC last month. The city will transfer the property to YNDC in a week or two, city Law Director Jeff Limbian said following the Board of Control meeting.

To see the full story from The Business Journal, click here.

The city’s board of control approved the $1 purchase of a West Side property from Mill Creek MetroParks and will turn it over to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. for future development.

The board voted 3-0 Thursday to obtain the title to 900 Old Furnace Road, the former longtime home of the Mill Creek superintendent. It was last used for that purpose about 20 years ago.

The park has since used the property for storage and office space.

YNDC plans to renovate the property and is looking at the best use for it.

To see the full story from The Vindicator, click here.

It's Friday, July 9, 2021, and after three years of living in the Mahoning Valley, I’ve learned nostalgia plays a major role in Valley residents’ relationships to the region.

There’s even a Facebook Group titled: Good old days in Youngstown, Ohio in which current Valley residents and members of the Youngstown diaspora post vintage Valley advertisements and wax poetic about lunch at Woolworth’s. “Does anyone remember….?” many a post begin. 

The sweet achy pangs of Mahoning Valley nostalgia have a hold on me, too. Heck, after the old Vindy closed, I even purchased an orange plastic newspaper box someone posted on Facebook about having found. (Shout-out to MM supporter Lori Factor!)

This week, I was working on a story about Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation’s latest project, the renovation of the old Foster Theatre, which, for the last few decades, has shown porno flicks — much to the dismay of nearby South Side residents. YNDC is now tasked with the unenviable job of literally and figuratively scrubbing the iconic structure of its unseemly past. One of the first things the organization did was change the marquee, which for years, has read “XXX videos,” to YNDC’s tagline, “Revitalize.” It got me thinking: For a town that loves to look back, what do we do with the seedier elements of our past? 

To see the full story from Mahoning Matters, click here.

A ranking by U.S. News and World Report cites Cincinnati as the best Ohio city for people to live.

The study ranked cities in Ohio on desirability, value, job market, quality of life, net migration.

After Cincinnati, Columbus was ranked second, Dayton third, Cleveland fourth, Toledo fifth and Youngstown sixth.

According to U.S. News and World Report, data was used from U.S. Census Bureau, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Labor along with the publication's own internal resources. The answers were weighed following the answers from a survey where people voted for the most important factor to consider when deciding where they should live.

To see the full story from The Columbus Dispatch, click here.

Two community organizations, ACTION and GROW Urban Farm, a project of Flying High, Inc., have set out to diminish the food deserts in our community.

They've been doing pop up markets for several years, but now realize the need is greater than they had imagined.

"We've been doing pop up markets all over the city but everybody cannot get to those markets," said Rose Carter, executive director at ACTION. "So we want to be able to get to all the outline areas in a mobile truck," she said.

The pop up markets usually last four months out of the year, but the truck will run year-round, going into neighborhoods and allowing people to enter and shop.

Just like a regular grocery store, the food is going to cost but prices will be low.

To see the full story from WFMJ, click here.

The Mobile Market Initiative in Mahoning Valley aims to deliver groceries to the city's most vulnerable residents by 2022. 

The initiative launched Tuesday with a goal to secure a bus to set up shop in different areas of the city to allow people to purchase healthy groceries at low prices. 

Rose Carter, executive director of ACTION, said Youngstown has been in a food desert for the past six years.

“We want to be able to make it as comfortable and convenient, especially our most vulnerable and handicapped people, as possible,” Carter said. 

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown has acknowledged the city is in a food desert, she said. Brown has also discussed luring a grocery store to Youngstown through the $82.7 million the city is receiving from the American Rescue Plan. 

To see the full story from Mahoning Matters, click here.

Friday, July 23, 2021

Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation is holding an auction that will give you the opportunity to purchase vintage items from the Foster Theater.

Proceeds from the auction will benefit the revitalization of the Foster Theater.

This event will run from Thursday, July 22, 2021 to Thursday, August 5th, 2021 until 11:59pm.

To bid, please visit auctria.com/auction/fostertheaterauction