Neighborhoods

Monday, April 24, 2023.

On Thursday, April 20, the Citizens Bank 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 prepares them for future homeownership; and provides 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 Citizens Bank for their support!

Monday, April 24, 2023.

Beginning on April 17, YNDC's TreeCorps program began planting trees throughout Youngstown.

To date, 138 two-inch caliper trees have been planted.

TreeCorps is a collaboration with the Healthy Community Partnership and multiple groups including: Common Wealth Inc., Youngstown CityScape, Youngstown Parks Department, Mahoning County Land Bank, Handel's Neighborhood Association, 7th Ward Citizens' Coalition, Idora Neighborhood Association, Lincoln Knolls Community Watch, Northeast Homeowners and Concerned Citizens Association, Know Your Neighbor Block Watch, Upper North Heights Neighborhood Association, Crandall Park South, Boulevard Park Block Watch, Treez Please, and Plant Ahead Ohio.

This work is funded by the Western Reserve Health Foundation. More plantings will be completed this fall!

Monday, April 24, 2023.

On Wednesday, April 19, the Glenwood Neighbors Business Association hosted its first meeting at YNDC's Neighborhood Action Center.

The business owners spent the first meeting introducing themselves, organizing around mutual concerns, and discussing and prioritizing issues for improvement along the greater Glenwood Avenue corridor. The group will continue meeting quarterly. 

The Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley and its three supporting foundations have awarded more than $693,000 in grant awards to 36 nonprofit organizations in the first round of funding for 2023. 

Through the CFMV’s general grant, fundholders awarded $179,300. The Trumbull Memorial Health Foundation awarded $175,000, the Western Reserve Health Foundation awarded $205,000, and the William Swanston Charitable Fund awarded $133,800.

“This is a great start to the year, with lots of exciting work being done across the Valley,” said Shari Harrell, president of the Community Foundation. “This work is much-needed and vital to building a Mahoning Valley that’s the best it can be for all of us.”

Remaining deadlines for the year are July 15 and October 15. Organizations can see grant opportunities and start their applications HERE.

Here are the grants that were awarded in the first quarter of 2023:

Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley

• Boardman Park: $5,000 for the addition of public restrooms at the Maag Outdoor Arts Theatre;
• Classroom 2 Capitol: $5,000 for civic engagement programs for Youngstown City Schools students;
• Community Legal Aid: $20,000 for legal services and advocacy for low-income residents of the Valley;
• Direction Home of Eastern Ohio: $10,000 for the Caring for Caregivers program;
• Diva Donations: $5,000 for operating support;
• Easter Seal Society of Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana Counties: $7,500 for their specialized preschool for children with disabilities;
• Eversight: $2,500 for surgeon education and support for surgeries and research;
• Finer Things Academy: $7,500 for the social skills program for local youths;
• God’s Warehouse: $10,000 for operating support;
• Leadership Mahoning Valley: $1,000 to support the relaunch of the program;
• Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past: $5,000 for student trips to civil rights movement sites;
• National Inventors Hall of Fame: $7,800 for the Camp Invention summer education program;
• Nikki’s House: $10,000 for operating support and rent assistance for women in recovery;
• OCCHA: $10,000 for operating support;
• Our Community Kitchen: $7,500 for kitchen support;
• Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County: $8,000 for the creation of a sensory space and outreach;
• Shepherds of All God’s Children Learning Center: $10,000 for building maintenance;
• Stambaugh Chorus: $2,500 for community outreach performances;
• The Needle’s Eye Christian Life Center: $10,000 for operating support and building upgrades;
• Tri-County Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates: $10,000 for academic interventions and career pathway program;
• TriYou Cares: $10,000 for its summer youth program;
• Youngstown Business Incubator: $10,000 for the Elevating Every Entrepreneur program;
• WYSU-FM: $5,000 to match listener gifts.

Trumbull Memorial Health Foundation

• ACTION: $25,000 for the Trumbull County Mobile Market initiative;
• Down Syndrome Association of the Valley: $5,000 for health and wellness initiatives;
• Easter Seal Society: $20,000 for integrated therapy services;
• Healthy Community Partnership: $50,000 for operating support;
• Kidney Foundation of Ohio: $5,000 for direct assistance to patients with kidney disease;
• Inspiring Minds: $25,000 for its health and wellness programs;
• Nikki’s House: $35,000 for operating support and rent assistance;
• The Salvation Army: $10,000 for its mental health drop-in center.

Western Reserve Health Foundation

• American Cancer Center: $10,000 for Hope Lodge Cleveland patient support;
• Full Spectrum Community Outreach: $20,000 to support its LGBT+ housing project;
• Easter Seal Society: $30,000 for its specialized preschool;
• Healthy Community Partnership: $50,000 for operating support;
• Kidney Foundation of Ohio: $5,000 for direct assistance;
• Our Community Kitchen: $5,000 for kitchen support;
• Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.: $60,000 for the creation of the Youngstown TreeCorps program.

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

Youngstown CityScape joined with TreeCorps, an initiative of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation as part of a more extensive planting project of 250 trees throughout Youngstown. 

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

More trees are being planted in the city of Youngstown, this time at Wick Park and various areas on the North side. 

Tuesday afternoon, Youngstown CityScape and the Parks and Rec Department joined forces with members of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation’s TreeCorp Program.

To read the full story from WKBN, click here. 

Chris Keaton celebrated turning 20 first by being in the right place at the right time, then deriving far more pleasure from giving than receiving. 

“It’s my 20th birthday and I decided to help,” Keaton, of Youngstown, said. “It worked out perfectly. I feel pretty good to help with this.”

Keaton and several friends were walking on Park Avenue on the North Side when curiosity got the better of him. Specifically, he inquired about what a group of 25 or so people was doing in Wick Park before he became part of Tuesday’s North Side tree-planting event, set up to beautify the storied park and surrounding neighborhoods.

Keaton, who has worked at various restaurants and volunteers at the St. Vincent de Paul soup kitchen, extended his volunteer efforts by helping to plant a few berry trees at Park Avenue and Elm Street, the park’s southeast entrance. 

Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. partnered with Youngstown CityScape, Youngstown Tree Corp., the city’s parks and recreation department and other entities to plant mostly native trees in the park, as well as at Beatitude House and Fairgreen Neighborhood Garden. A group from Youngstown State University also assisted.

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

In preparation for Earth Day on April 22, Youngstown Environmental Sustainability Society hosted an Earth Day event and presentation April 18 at The Cove in Kilcawley Center. 

This event is held every year by YESS to educate students about the importance of improving the environment.

Adriana Devitt, a senior environmental science and environmental engineering major, said YESS teaches students how they can live more sustainably and participate in local environmental organizations.

“We just want to try and educate the students about what is going on locally that they can contribute and participate [in]. It doesn’t take much out of their day to like, just drop off the recycling to the Green Team dumpsters,” Devitt said. “We want people to have a better understanding and better appreciation of where these things are coming from.”

Companies and organizations like the Green Team, the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, Plant Ahead Ohio and Wild You had tables set up at the event to show students different ways to protect the environment.Lola Lewis, president of Plant Ahead Ohio, explained how the organization contributes to sustainability efforts in the Mahoning Valley.

“We work with communities to plant trees in order to help with decreasing carbon dioxide in the air,” Lewis said. “We help in organizing planting events throughout the Mahoning Valley.”
Lewis also said it’s important to collaborate with others when making a difference for the environment.

“[Plant Ahead Ohio wants students to know] how important collaboration is. To also understand that, one of the best things to do is to put back. To be good stewards of the land and to man it, and to remember if we work together and collaborate, we can truly make a difference. That’s very important,” Lewis said.

Julie Bartolone, founder of Wild You, said her organization offers different programs and lets people reconnect with the outdoors. “We offer all kinds of programming, our most popular is our nature school and nature preschool program,” Bartolone said. “We focus on nature-based education, getting people outdoors, reconnecting with nature.”

Lynn Anderson, a volunteer for Treez Please and paid staffer for SOBE Concerned Citizens, said Treez Please is another organization that plants trees with a special twist. “It’s an urban, reforestation program in Youngstown. We plant trees now that are primarily memorial trees and we have a collaboration with [Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation]. We’re going to plant some TreeCorp trees in the fall,” Anderson said.

To read the full story from The Jambar, click here. 

Year-to-Date REVITALIZATION Recap 

Wednesday May 3, 2023

59 Emergency Repairs

2,210 Linear Feet of Sidewalks Scraped

1,146 Yards of Debris Removed

16 New Clients Enrolled in HUD-Approved Housing Counseling

1,189 Participants in 33 Healthy Activities at the Glenwood Fresh Market

#REVITALIZE 

The city’s Design Review Committee approved $60,000 in grants Tuesday morning for exterior improvements for three local organizations, including a nearly $2 million renovation to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Youngstown. 

The $20,000 grant awarded to the youth organization will help cover exterior costs, including two signs and new asphalt for the 2105 Oak Hill Ave. building’s sidewalk and parking lot, according to city documents.

The club has raised more than $1.1 million toward the project, James Bird, CEO and executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Youngstown, said. That includes $750,000 awarded by Ohio Mental Health and Substance Abuse. Design work was completed recently, and the project will go out for bid within the month.

“The entire project now is well over $1.5 million. It’s approaching $2 million,” he said. The goal is to make the façade more attractive to local youths and increase the building’s visibility, “but also to highlight and be a beacon to the South Side.”

Once the renovation is completed, the club will move forward on creation of a community park behind the building, funded by a $1.5 million appropriation through the office of former U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan.

The other two exterior improvement grants – also for $20,000 each – were awarded to Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation and Congregation Ohev Beth Sholom.

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