Neighborhoods

The former Carmelite Monastery at 1810 Volney Road has witnessed many changes throughout the years.

Ian Beniston, Executive Director of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation, stated that the property was renovated and completed in late 2020.

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

Legislation moving through the house and senate aims to get rid of dilapidated and abandoned homes and improve low-income neighborhoods. 

The Neighborhood Homes Investment Act would give a tax credit incentive to private investors to build new or renovate homes in run down neighborhoods.

Congressman Bill Johnson has signed his support of the act. 

"I come from a rural community myself and so I'm very familiar with the struggle that rural and urban areas face," he said. "Places like Youngstown and even further south in the rural parts of our state often times they get overlooked."

The tax credit would cover the difference between the cost it took to build the house and the appraisal value. 

The legislation would help the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation continue its projects. They've renovated 200 homes to try and bring people back to the city.

To see the full story from WFMJ, click here. 

Monday, August 14, 2023.  

The City of Youngstown has awarded Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) funds to YNDC for multiple housing and neighborhood improvement projects:
HOME49 Strategic Acquisition and Rehabilitation - $300,000
CDBG49 Roof Replacement  - $311,947
CDBG49 Emergency Repair - $335,000
CDBG49 Foster Theater Renovation - $50,000

Many thanks to the City of Youngstown, Community Planning and Economic Development, City Council, and Mayor Brown for the support and partnership!

Ohioans who have dedicated their lives to the conservation and preservation of Ohio’s natural resources received top honors July 26 from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Family, friends, and fairgoers watched as Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, ODNR Director Mary Mertz, and other ODNR officials inducted seven people into the Ohio Natural Resources Hall of Fame and awarded seven others with ODNR’s Cardinal Award. The Ohio Natural Resources Hall of Fame was created in 1966 to celebrate individuals who have made significant contributions to protecting Ohio’s natural resources. With the most recent inductions, the number of people presented with this honor is 193. The Cardinal Award, created in 1971, honors individuals and organizations that demonstrate exceptional awareness and concern for ideals reflected in the department’s mission statement: “To ensure a balance ‘tween the wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all. Cardinal Award recipients have included outdoor writers, educators, farmers, biologists, naturalists, businesses, sporting organizations and volunteers across the state of Ohio.”

HALL OF FAME
Denis Case. Case was employed by ODNR as Chief of the Division of Research from 1973 to 1975. In 1975, he recommended to the Director of ODNR that his division and position be eliminated and that each division should conduct their own research. From 1975 to his retirement in 1996, he was a wildlife biologist with ODNR’s Division of Wildlife, responsible for developing and prioritizing terrestrial endangered species and biodiversity programs. Case was the driving force behind Ohio’s first bald eagle recovery program as well as recovery of the river otter, peregrine falcon and a host of other endangered species. Since his retirement, he and his wife Rita have worked with the Appalachian Ohio Alliance to protect land parcels, and since 2006 they’ve volunteered their time radiotracking timber rattlesnakes.

D’Arcy Patrick Egan. Egan began his journalism career as an editor and sportswriter in Coshocton, Medina County, and Cleveland in the 1960s and 1970s. Later, Egan was the full-time outdoors editor for the Cleveland Plain Dealer for 40 years and full-time editor of The Beacon (Port Clinton) for the last five years of his career leading up to his retirement in 2023. He focused on Lake Erie and northern Ohio woods and waters in his coverage. Egan spearheaded a successful movement to ban gill nets in Ohio waters, fighting invasive species such as Asian carp and promoting sound research to advance Ohio fisheries, especially Lake Erie walleye and the highly successful steelhead trout program. He extensively wrote about hunter safety, safe boating practices and, as a licensed Lake Erie fishing guide, introduced anglers to safe and ethical fishing. In 2008, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources presented Egan with the Cardinal Award.

Tom Kashmer. Kashmer, who died in June, was a dedicated conservationist with more than 40 years of service in Ohio. He started banding birds in 1983 and founded the Green Creek Wildlife Society in 1984. His educational and research organization focused on bird education and conservation, something he also promoted as an Ohio History and World Geography teacher at Gibsonburg High School for 28 years. Under Kashmer’s direction, Green Creek Wildlife Society members installed more than 1,000 bluebird boxes, leading to the banding of more than 16,000 eastern bluebirds and 26,000 tree swallows. He was also involved in small stream research, colonial wader banding and graduate research programs on rails and shorebirds. After retirement from teaching and up until his passing, he led numerous bird, eagle, and kayak tours as a research coordinator for the Sandusky County Park District.

Paul E. Knoop, Jr. Knoop’s career spanned 35 years as education director at Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm. In 1995, Aullwood opened the Paul Knoop Prairie adjacent to the farm near Dayton International Airport. After retirement, Knoop and his wife Cathy moved to Hocking County and continue to be involved in nature education. They both teach natural history field classes for Ashland University and lead wildflower hikes at the Land Conservancy Arc of Appalachia. Knoop co-wrote “The Birds of Hocking County, Ohio”, published in 2016. Knoop has earned many honors, including the George B. Fell Award, given by the Natural Areas Association. He is a founding member and the inaugural secretary of the Appalachia Ohio Alliance. Founded in 2001, the Alliance preserves and restores natural ecosystems, facilitates the protection of historical landmarks, and supports educational and outreach activities in Ohio’s Appalachia region.

Dr. Larry B. Mixon, Sr. Mixon, who died in March, discovered a love for Ohio’s natural resources at a young age. Mixon grew to be an avid outdoorsman, enjoying rabbit and wild turkey hunting, bow hunting for deer, and fishing. In 2003, recognizing Mixon’s passion for the outdoors and his commitment to serving the public, Gov. Bob Taft appointed him to the Ohio Wildlife Council, an eight-member board that approves proposed rules and regulations by the ODNR Division of Wildlife. Mixon was very involved in Wildlife Council proposals and presentations, taking all of the information into consideration and providing positive feedback to the Division of Wildlife on rule proposals. Mixon served in positions of increasing responsibility and authority in the U.S. Army. He held positions as interviewing officer, executive officer and company commander. Later, he held many roles as an administrator for Columbus Public Schools, serving as superintendent from 1993 to 1997.

Eric Partee. Partee led the Little Miami Conservancy for 40 years as executive director and played a big role in saving a national treasure right here in Ohio. He oversaw the protection of 2,000 acres of land along the river and its tributaries, hundreds of river sweeps involving thousands of volunteers to clean up hundreds of tons of river debris, implementation of water quality programs to monitor the overall health of the river and the planting of over 50,000 native trees and over 100 acres of prairies to preserve the water and floodplain habitat. Post-retirement, Partee continues to be a valuable advisor for the welfare of the river and helps monitor wildlife and water quality.

Carolyn Watkins. Watkins has been an exceptional advocate for environmental and conservation-focused education for more than 30 years. As chief of the Office of Environmental Education at the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency since 1998, Watkins has played a pivotal role in securing millions of dollars in grants for conservation efforts and has personally taught various curricula to thousands of students and educators. Along with her contribution to Project WET, Project WILD and many other nature-based learning programs, she’s worked alongside ODNR as a facilitator for Project Learning Tree, the Division of Forestry’s environmental education standard. Watkins is also the recipient of the Division of Forestry’s John Hug Award for outstanding leadership in environmental education, the Environmental Education Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award for environmental education in Ohio, and many other awards.

CARDINAL AWARD

Dave Apsley. Apsley founded A DAY IN THE WOODS, a program designed to educate and promote good stewardship and active management for all forestland in Ohio. Twice a month from May through November, he can be found teaching private woodland owners everything from identifying trees to understanding local wildlife. A DAY IN THE WOODS celebrated its 100th educational event at Vinton Furnace State Forest in June. Currently a natural resources specialist at Ohio State University Extension, Apsley has been an advocate and educator for forest management in Ohio for over 20 years. Apsley also serves as the Outreach Coordinator for the Collaborative Oak Management Initiative and helped develop Call Before You Cut Ohio, a public program that connects landowners with resources and professionals to manage their woodlands.

Kristen Beck. Beck has been rehabilitating our native wildlife since the early 1980s. In 2013, she established North Canton’s Clover Field Wildlife Center. Beck operates this center herself and does not have any staff to assist her. She has been instrumental in conservation efforts around the state by rehabilitating species of concern such as the gray fox and four different species of bats. In 2022, her donation-based rehab center admitted almost 900 injured, orphaned or ill animals. Beck has been an outstanding member of the Ohio Wildlife Rehabilitator Association board for 13 years and a critical component in educating thousands of Ohioans about wildlife and mitigating human-wildlife conflicts to help protect our natural resources.

Burr Oak Alive! More than a decade ago, Burr Oak Lodge & Conference Center was slated to be demolished and Burr Oak Alive! was founded by locals determined to save it. They rallied enough support to encourage ODNR leadership to shift gears and route the funds intended for demolition to renovation, instead. The friends group for Burr Oak is an invaluable asset to the visitor experience at the park, proven by the incredible work they’ve continued to do ever since the lodge was saved. Just a couple of weeks ago, Burr Oak Alive! and ODNR cut the ribbon on the Lodge to Lake Trail, a concrete trail behind the lodge. From assisting with naturalist programs, sponsoring events such as the Halloween Spooktacular and Boat Flotilla, organizing tree plantings, and manning aide and water stations during long trail hikes and runs, this organization does it all.

Lola Lewis. Lewis was part of ODNR’s Division of Forestry’s Regional Urban Foresters team for 28 years, representing 13 counties in east central Ohio. Her job focused on helping elected officials, staff, and volunteers better understand the importance of trees in their communities. Lewis hosted annual urban forestry conferences, pruning workshops and led tree commission meetings. She also took the lead when the emerald ash borer was first found in Ohio. Lewis was a member of the Ohio Urban Forest Strike Team, designed to work with FEMA and assist communities after a storm event. After retirement, Lewis now advises the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation’s TreeCorp program, helping plant and maintain healthy trees in the city of Youngstown. She was recently recognized as a True Professional Arborist by the International Society of Arboriculture.

To read the full story from Farm and Dairy, click here. 
 

Buying a home has never been more financially out of reach than it is now. Despite mortgage rates hovering around 7%, US home prices remain high as supply-and-demand imbalances intensify competition among potential buyers. First-time homebuyers, largely consisting of millennials and Gen Zers, are really getting a raw deal. That's because starter homes are disappearing from the market as homeowners with low, locked-in monthly payments refrain from listing their homes for sale, and homebuilders focus on more lucrative projects. 

It means the few that are making their way to the market are priced way higher than they once were. Coupled with slower wage growth and a cooling labor market, it has become even more difficult for first-time buyers to break into homeownership. "The most affordable homes for sale are no longer affordable to people with lower budgets due to the combination of rising prices and rising rates," Sheharyar Bokhari, a senior economist at Redfin, said in a statement. "That's locking many Americans out of the housing market altogether, preventing them from building equity and ultimately building lasting wealth."

Here's the state of starter homes right now. Starter homes commonly refer to smaller, more budget-friendly houses primarily acquired by first-time buyers or individuals with constrained finances. In June, the median sale price for the typical starter home, defined by Redfin as the 5th to 35th percentile of homes by sale price, was $243,000 — up more than 45% from before the pandemic, Redfin reported. The income now needed to afford a $243,000 home is roughly $64,500 per year, an increase of 13% since 2022. To determine the income needed to afford the typical starter home, Redfin used the rule of thumb that a homebuyer taking out a mortgage should spend no more than 30% of their income on their housing payment. The median household income in the US was $70,784 in 2021, according to the most recent Census data.

Referred to by real-estate agents as "entry-level" residences, starter homes enable buyers to accumulate equity gradually and subsequently upgrade to a nicer or newer property. What were once considered transitional properties to permanent residences have now become an appealing choice for buyers from all walks of life, largely due to a pervasive shortage of housing across the nation. "Before the housing crash of 2008, inventory peaked at about a 13-month supply — twice what we would see in a healthy market," Rick Sharga, founder and CEO of real-estate consulting firm CJ Patrick Company, told Bankrate, a personal finance company. "Today, we have about a three-month supply, which is about half of what we need."

The US housing shortage has been exacerbated by homeowners who, unwilling to give up their locked-in, low mortgage rates, opt to stay put and refrain from selling their homes. This coupled with a pullback in new home construction has left buyers competing for the few homes that remain available for sale. Starter homes are quickly disappearing from the market. According to Redfin, the number of starter homes for sale fell 15% on an annual basis in June, also translating to the biggest decrease since the start of the pandemic. Their absence has made it difficult for many first-time buyers to afford homeownership, especially in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Newark, New Jersey; and Miami, where the income needed to purchase starter homes increased the most. In these cities, a typical starter home now costs $220,000, $335,000 and $300,000, respectively.

In addition to dissuading homeowners from moving, elevated mortgage rates are also driving starter homes beyond the grasp of many would-be buyers. According to Freddie Mac, the average US fixed interest rate for a 30-year mortgage rose to 6.96% this week, marking the third consecutive week of increases. During the same period in 2022, the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.22%. The uptick in rates has added hundreds of dollars to prospective buyers' monthly mortgage payments. It's helped to push housing affordability to an all-time low. "There is no doubt continued high rates will prolong affordability challenges longer than expected, particularly with home prices on the rise again," Sam Khater, the chief economist at Freddie Mac, said in a statement. Predictions of mortgage rate declines in 2023 might offer some incentive for homeowners and buyers to reenter the market, though elevated housing costs are expected to keep many buyers on the sidelines. 

Bucking a national trend, there are only three US metros where the median cost of a starter home has declined in 2023: San Francisco, Austin, and Phoenix. Though these cities still remain among the least affordable in the country, they've seen a pullback in buyer demand as homebuyer migration slows and the remote-work wave dies down. The cost of a typical starter home in San Francisco decreased 13.3% to $910,000; in Austin, decreased 12.2% to $347,300; and in Phoenix, decreased 9.7% to $325,000. The incomes now needed to afford those homes amount to $241,200, $92,000, and $86,100, respectively. "Home prices in these cities rose the fastest in the country when interest rates were low, but when interest rates went up really high and quickly, those prices were not completely sustainable," Bokhari, of Redfin, previously told Insider. "So, they're moving first, in terms of price declines."

Amid a growing sense of disillusionment among first-time buyers, a glimmer of hope emerges: A handful of small cities across the US still have many affordable homes available to middle-income earners — a segment teeming with prospective first-time homebuyers. Some cities in Ohio, particularly, are a sweet spot, according to data from the National Association of Realtors and realtor.com. An analysis from the companies shows that among the 100 largest US metropolitan areas, three cities in Ohio — Youngstown, Akron, and Toledo — have the most homes affordable to middle-income buyers.

In Youngstown, buyers earning at least $75,000 can afford to purchase 72% of listings, while those in Akron and Toledo can afford to buy 61%. In each of these cities, the median home listing price for all kinds of homes, not just starter homes, is more than $300,000 below the national median of $445,000, as of June, according to data from realtor.com. The median home price in Akron is $125,000, in Youngstown it is $119,900, and in Toledo it is $120,000.

"Youngstown is a weaker market in terms of home values," Ian Beniston, who has been the executive director of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation for 14 years, previously told Insider. "Since housing is much more affordable here at all times, your money can definitely go further here."

To read the full story from Business Insider, click here. 

Tuesday, August 15, 2023. 

Jesica has lived in Youngstown since she was five years old. After living in a YNDC rental for three years, she purchased a YNDC home in April. She takes great pride in her home and has put a lot of work into making it look fantastic, inside and out! Her yard is adorable, with numerous flowers and plants and matching red mulch. “I love my nice cozy yard,” she said.

Her favorite part about her new neighborhood is how peaceful it is.  She had been looking for a Cape Cod style home to share with her son, and she was so happy to find this one. Jesica had been building her credit for years, making good financial choices and saving money so she could purchase her own home. She would recommend a YNDC home to others because everything had been updated and upgraded, and the home was ready for her to put her finishing touches and move right in. She said, “I love the house. It’s comfy.”

Congratulations Jesica! Thank you for your investment in Youngstown’s neighborhoods and best wishes in your new home!

Looking for something fun to do this weekend? Festivals and events are taking over the greater Mahoning Valley area. Here are a few to check out: 

BRIER HILL ITALIAN FESTIVAL The Brier Hill Italian Festival celebration takes place right where the first Italian immigrants settled in the Mahoning Valley – in the Brier Hill neighborhood on the north side of Youngstown. The festival remembers Italian immigrant history. Vendors and live entertainers will set up shop below St. Anthony Catholic Church at the corner of Calvin and Victoria Streets starting Thursday at 4 p.m. through Sunday. 

GLENDI IN BOARDMAN Head to St. John the Forerunner Greek Orthodox Church for the summer festival Glendi. Guests can enjoy live music and Greek cuisine during St. John’s Glendi staring Friday at noon - 9 p.m. in Boardman. The festival continues through Sunday, so you can pick up homemade Greek gyros and pastries for dinner throughout the weekend. 

GLENWOOD AVENUE FESTIVAL The Glenwood Avenue Festival is a free get-together organized by Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation.

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

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation and Glenwood Neighbors want the community to come together this weekend.

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

Festival season is still here in the Valley, and this year, festivalgoers have a brand new one to check out. The First Annual Glenwood Avenue Festival hosted by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC), will kick off Saturday, August 19 at noon and will last until 5:00 p.m. 

To read the full story from WFMJ, click here. 

Jahzara Cotton might not be getting rich selling lemonade, but she was happy about the return on her investment. “I enjoy it because it puts a smile on people’s faces and helps them enjoy their day,” Jahzara, 10, of Columbus, said. Jahzara and her older brother, David Durrle, 17, of Youngstown, were busy selling jars and cups of regular and strawberry lemonade on a picture-perfect summer day, and as part of Saturday’s first Glenwood Avenue Festival.

Hosting the five-hour family- and community-oriented gathering outside of the Youngstown Playhouse was the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.

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