Students at Youngstown State University are improving Mahoning Valley neighborhoods through work with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation.
Part of the role students have had with the YNDC recently has been helping set up the fresh market in the newly renovated Neighborhood Retail Plaza at Glenwood Avenue and Canfield Road. Ian Beniston, executive director of the YNDC, explained the work that has gone into refurbishing the building.
“That building was vacant and fire-damaged for a number of years, and now we’re putting the finishing touches on it. It’ll have five businesses in it,” Beniston said. “I would say [there were] 50 or more of YSU students that participated in that project, helping clean the building out over a period of years and get it to where it is now.”
Beniston said there are five businesses that will run out of the newly developed building, including the fresh market, a youth organization and an urgent care.
Susan Payton, Manager of the Glenwood Fresh Market, said there are plenty of opportunities for students to get involved.
“There’s a lot of different brackets of students who could benefit from [volunteering]. Social workers could benefit from that — coming here, giving their time because a lot of folks are looking for help and they don’t sometimes know where to find it,” Payton said. “It’s really like, how can I as a student benefit by talking to clients that [are] relevant to the major that I’m in? I would love it if I had students that would be interested to come here and talk to clients, get to know them and benefit from this program itself.”
The YNDC, which started in 2009, revitalizes and develops neighborhoods around Youngstown. Beniston said they are focused on bringing life back to every part of Youngstown neighborhoods — including housing services, neighborhood cleanups, data collection and commercial stabilization.
To see the full story from The Jambar, click here.
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