Neighborhoods

Monday, October 4, 2021

YNDC is proud to announce the publishing of its performance report from the 3rd Quarter of 2021! 

The performance report highlights the work of YNDC from July to September 2021. An electronic copy can be downloaded below.

Nearly 100 students in the Sokolov Honors College at Youngstown State University recently participated in the Global Day of Service at multiple sites throughout the Mahoning Valley.

“Global Day is a long-standing tradition in the Honors College that not only introduces students to serving others but also helps them get to know the community, which is especially helpful for our students who aren’t from the local area,” said Lexi Rager, assistant director of the College.

Students participated in projects ranging from cleaning and packaging materials for Silly Science Sunday at OH WOW! to planting trees with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and doing landscaping and clean-up at St Angela Merici Parish, the Jewish Community Center and Ursuline Ministries.

To see the full story from Youngstown State University, click here.

The city has expanded its partnership with the company tasked with selling and redeveloping 20 Federal Place with a new contract approved Thursday by the Board of Control. 

Under the contract, the city will pay $25,000 to Steadfast City Economic & Community Partners for technical assistance and strategic counsel related to redevelopment of the former Strouss’ department store building. The contract runs through Dec. 30.

St. Louis-based Steadfast was initially hired under an Appalachian Regional Commission initiative last year to assist the city with the sale and redevelopment of the 332,000-square-foot building. 

Under the new contract, Steadfast will provide its expertise once the city administration and City Council make their choice regarding how they will proceed with the property, said city finance director Kyle Miasek. 

The city received two proposals this summer from potential developers. Warren developer Mark Marvin withdrew his company’s proposal following a July 6 walk-through of the property, leaving the proposal submitted by Desmone, a Pittsburgh architectural firm, as the sole active one. The city’s request for proposals, however, left open the possibility of accepting other submissions submitted following its June 1 deadline. 

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

Monday, October 4, 2021

The PNC Foundation has awarded a $7,500 grant to YNDC for emergency home repair.

The funds will be used to assist low income homeowners with emergencies such as roof replacement, furnace, and plumbing repairs at no cost. Thank you PNC Foundation for the support!

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.