Neighborhoods

More than 200 community development professionals from across Ohio will gather in Youngstown and virtually Wednesday through Friday. 

The occasion is the 37th annual Conference of the Ohio CDC Association. Meeting at the DeYor Performing Arts Center, DoubleTree by Hilton Youngstown Downtown, and The Youngstown Flea, this year’s community development corporations conference highlights the Mahoning Valley’s resiliency, community economic development and partnerships and collaborations, its organizers said.

“Community development corporations across the state are empowering communities to take local action creating local results. Given the pandemic’s disparate impacts on low-income and communities of color, the work of community developers is increasingly vital to an equitable recovery,” Nate Coffman, executive director of the Ohio CDC Association, said. “We’re excited to visit Youngstown to shine a light on their collaborative spirit and innovative strategies that are improving the quality of life and creating economic opportunities throughout the Mahoning Valley.”

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

Tuesday, October 5, 2021

2,273 Linear Feet of Sidewalk Replaced

47 Owner Occupied Home Repairs/Rehabilitation

16 Trees Planted

1,212 Cubic Yards of Debris Removed

145 Emergency Repairs

47 Housing Counseling Clients

REVITALIZE

More than 200 community development professionals from across the state will gather in the city and virtually Wednesday through Friday for the Ohio CDC Association’s 37th annual conference.

This year’s conference will highlight the Mahoning Valley’s resiliency, community economic development and partnerships and collaborations. Meetings will take place at the DeYor Performing Arts Center, DoubleTree by Hilton Youngstown Downtown and The Youngstown Flea.

“Community development corporations across the state are empowering communities to take local action creating local results. Given the pandemic’s disparate impacts on low-income and communities of color, the work of community developers is increasingly vital to an equitable recovery,” Nate Coffman, executive director of the Ohio CDC Association, said in a news release. “We’re excited to visit Youngstown to shine a light on their collaborative spirit and innovative strategies that are improving the quality of life and creating economic opportunities throughout the Mahoning Valley.”

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

The 37th annual conference of Ohio’s Community Development Corporations is being held this week in Youngstown.

On Thursday afternoon, a busload of people from the conference toured a plaza at Glenwood Avenue and Canfield Road that’s being renovated by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation.

The conference was a chance for the various development groups around Youngstown to show off what they’ve done. One woman from Cleveland praised the YNDC.

To see the full story from WKBN, click here.

Speaking to more than 130 people Thursday morning, Youngstown native Evelyn Burnett said she is surprised by the revitalized part of downtown.

As she sat outside on Phelps Street with her parents Wednesday, Burnett was “blown away” by the area.

“What was most striking was not only the physical development of the building… But there was a lot of diversity of people sitting outside,” especially Black people, she said.

That wasn’t always the case. In the 1950s, there were still segregated entrances that her parents used, she said.

Burnett was the keynote speaker at the Ohio Community Development Corporation Association 37th annual conference. Community development isn’t limited to restoring structures, Burnett said.

“The role of the CDC is to introduce a lifelong resident, or re-introduce a lifelong resident, to their city,” she said.

It’s also a responsibility of CDCs to encourage engagement from lifelong residents to feel a sense of belonging, Burnett said.

For Burnett, a sense of belonging for her and her family to their community is her parents sitting outside, having a meal and not worried about being treated differently because of their skin color.

Burnett lives in Cleveland and is co-founder of ThirdSpace Action Lab, a grassroots cooperative dedicated to prototyping creative place-based solutions to complex socioeconomic problems in low-income communities of color.

The greater Youngstown area is on the cusp of greatness, Burnett said after a campfire-type conversation Thursday in the Ford Recital Hall at the DeYor Performance Center.

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

Over 200 community development professionals from across Ohio and the region gathered at the DeYor Performing Arts Center for the 37th annual conference of the Ohio CDC Association.

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

Monday, October 11, 2021

On Thursday, October 7, the Thomases Family Endowment of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation approved a $15,000 grant to YNDC for the renovation of 2915 Glenwood Avenue.

 The funds will be used to renovate the vacant retail plaza into a modern retail facility with multiple units for neighborhood serving businesses. This project is part of ongoing efforts to improve the greater Glenwood Avenue corridor.

Monday, October 11, 2021

On Friday, October 8, the Wells Fargo Foundation awarded YNDC with a $10,000 grant for Housing Counseling.

The Housing Counseling Program empowers low- to moderate-income residents to identify and overcome barriers to homeownership, including inadequate savings, income, credit history, and understanding of the home buying process, and prepare them for future homeownership; and to provide existing low- to moderate-income homeowners with resources to maximize their limited incomes and minimize repair costs so that they can avoid foreclosure and improve their living conditions. Thank you to the Wells Fargo Foundation for their support!

Efforts are underway to bring a year-round fresh food market to Youngstown.

If completed, this will be the first market of it's kind within city limits and will help bring relief to a city that has struggled to attract and maintain grocery stores, and provide access to fresh produce to it's residents.

According to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation, the non-profit organization is currently renovating the Glenwood Avenue Plaza located at 2915 Glenwood Avenue. 

YNDC said in a social media post, "we are renovating the vacant retail plaza into a modern retail facility with multiple units for neighborhood serving businesses. The Glenwood Fresh Market will be one of the first businesses to go in."

To see the full story from WFMJ, click here.

A major renovation project is underway on a vacant commercial plaza in the Idora Park neighborhood.

The project is being welcomed by Youngstown residents who have not seen significant redevelopment there in years.

The project is expected to help end a food and quality of life desert for neighbors who live in the area. Currently there are no grocery stories with fresh produce or restaurants in the area. But working is being done to attract business to the city's Southwest side.

At the intersection of Glenwood Avenue and Canfield Road work is underway to transform and bring life back into this vacant 70 year old, 12,000 square foot plaza in the Idora Park neighborhood.

"We've replaced the roof, started to paint it, added lighting, replaced the sidewalks. We will be doing more here of course," said Ian Beniston Executive Director of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation.

There are plans for a restaurant, and retail space in the building, but the most highly anticipated and first business expected to open is a fresh food market in an area that has been a food desert.

To see the full story from WFMJ, click here.