Neighborhoods

Tuesday, October 17, 2023. 

On October 12 the Mahoning County Commissioners approved a $50,000 predevelopment grant to YNDC for affordable housing. YNDC will work collaboratively with Mahoning County Continuum of Care (Continuum), Family and Community Services, Inc. (FCS), and Mahoning County Land Bank.

The funding will be used for predevelopment expenses necessary to develop  a project and prepare to obtain the necessary financing and funding commitments. Many thanks to the Mahoning County Commissioners!

According to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation, Mahoning County commissioners awarded a $50,000 grant to YNDC. The award was approved Oct. 12 by the commissioner’s office for the pre-development costs of affordable housing in Youngstown.

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

The Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley’s Fund for Women and Girls recognized five local women for their contributions to the community. Jana Coffin is a member of the Fund for Women and Girls Guiding Circle. “All of these women do what they do because they’re passionate about it, not because they’re trying to win awards,” said Coffin, who is also co-director of Project MKC. “The Gems of the Valley award exists to say, ‘We see you.’ This work matters and impacts so many people. Our communities are better for having women like Meghan, Dee, Jennifer, Allison and Lynn in them.”

The Guiding Circle selected the following five women to highlight as Gems of the Mahoning Valley: 

Lynn Anderson, activist and organizer for Sustainable Youngstown 

Meghan DeGregory, director of operations for Thrive 10:10 

Jennifer Evans, housing program manager for Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.

Allison Smith, artist and founder of Outreach Quilt and Artist Guild 

Dee Traylor, manager of the Resource Mothers program at Mercy Health

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

The Fund for Women & Girls, a community-led fund at the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, put the spotlight on the work of five incredible women at its Gems of the Valley event on Oct. 12.

The honor recognizes women doing important work to make the Valley a better place for all, especially when that work is overlooked or underappreciated. Selected by the Fund for Women & Girls Guiding Circle, this year’s Gems are:

Lynn Anderson, activist and organizer for Sustainable Youngstown
Meghan DeGregory, director of operations for Thrive 10:10
Jennifer Evans, housing program manager for Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.
Allison Smith, artist and founder of Outreach Quilt and Artist Guild
Dee Traylor, manager of the Resource Mothers program at Mercy Health

To read the full story from the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, click here. 

Thursday, October 19, 2023. 

On October 18, YNDC's TreeCorps completed its fall planting of 112 two inch caliper trees. Trees were planted in multiple neighborhoods in collaboration with: Seventh Ward Citizens Coalition, Handels Neighborhood Association, Know Your Neighbor Block Watch, Lincoln Knolls Community Watch, Northeast Homeowners and Concerned Citizens, and the Upper North Heights Neighborhood Association.

The fall planting brings the total number of trees planted by YNDC and partners in 2023 to 251 two inch caliper trees.

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 in 2024 with the Mahoning Valley TreeCorps. Mahoning Valley TreeCorps plans to plant 1,000 trees per year for five years beginning in 2024!

In Youngstown, New Bethel Baptist Church is using $100,000 dollars of American Rescue Plan Funds that the city received to create a community center and they say it'll be useful in more ways than one. "It's important that the church provides relevant, meaningful impactful programming for youths, forums, workshops, townhall meetings, banquest, weddings you name it," said Reverend Kenneth Simon of New Bethel Baptist Church.

Over in Warren, Grace AME church is working to get $10,000 dollars reimbursed for a back to school event they hosted for the youth back in August, but when all is said and done, how will we know that these private organizations are using the money properly? How will we know it's not being pocketed or misused? "It's going to be operated by a separate board, detached from the church," said Simon.

That board could consist of members of the community or other local officials, but the church never even touches the money. Instead, it goes to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation who pays the contractor. 

To read the full story from WFMJ, click here.

October 26, 2023.  

On October 26, 2023, YNDC completed its biennial Citywide Property Conditions Survey. This process surveyed every residential and commercial property in the City of Youngstown. The survey determined occupancy and if there were any exterior condition issues. The survey noted the following:
Vacant and Tax Delinquent Residential Properties - 740
Vacant and Taxes Paid Residential Properties - 1,030
Occupied Residential Properties with Roof Issues - 1,738
Occupied Residential Properties with Other Exterior Issues - 622
Vacant and Tax Delinquent Commercial Properties - 53
Vacant and Taxes Paid Commercial Properties - 222
Occupied Commercial Properties with Exterior Issues - 56

A map of the survey results can be downloaded below. 

City council will consider legislation Wednesday to spend $8 million in American Rescue Plan funds on building new houses and rehabilitating existing ones in Youngstown. Also on Wednesday’s agenda are requests to have the board of control spend up to $800,000 in ARP money to hire multiple consultants for design work on city parks as well as a second effort to spend up to $2 million to repair the roof on the city-owned Covelli Centre and a seventh attempt to seek proposals for a city-run ambulance feasibility study. The $8 million request represents nearly 10% of the city’s total $82,775,370 ARP allocation.

The legislation states the money “will be used to support and facilitate the city’s housing strategy, which is built around a framework that includes new housing construction and rehabilitation of homes throughout the city. Execution of the strategy is based upon development-ready parcels and continuous stretches of land holdings owned by the city of Youngstown, city land bank, Mahoning County Land Bank and the Youngstown City School District.” It adds: “Housing development efforts will also include a comprehensive assessment of all seven wards to identify specific and unique housing expansion needs, commercial opportunities and environmental readiness of potential development sites.”

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward and chairman of the community planning and economic development committee, said: “The focus is on building new affordable homes all over the city. I support this, and I hope my colleagues do, too. Demolitions of old, vacant houses are great, but it leaves empty neighborhoods. It’s good to put money into building the city. It will pull more people back into the city from the suburbs.” The effort will be handled through the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and Habitat for Humanity of Mahoning Valley, Oliver said.

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

Monday, October 30, 2023. 

On October 19, 2023, the PNC Foundation awarded YNDC with a $8,000 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 PNC Foundation for their support!
 

Tuesday, October 31, 2023.

In October 2023, YNDC sold one fully revitalized home in the Indian Village Neighborhood to a new homeowner.

3049 Kiwatha Road sold for $160,000. Congratulations to the new homeowners, and thank you for your investment in Youngstown’s neighborhoods!