Neighborhoods

Monday, September 16, 2024

On Sunday, September 15, AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team Oak 7 arrived in Youngstown to complete neighborhood improvement projects and tree planting with YNDC and multiple partners.

The team is composed of Team Leader Monte Edwards, Naomi Winters, Jahari Henry, JC Sargeant, and Quinn Toebes. The team will be cleaning up and securing vacant property, planting trees, and completing other neighborhood improvement projects.
 

A seven-stop bus tour Saturday is designed to highlight efforts to revitalize and bring economic development to the city’s South Side.

“The South Side is filled with incredible people, thriving nonprofits, healthy businesses and faith-filled church communities,” said Vicki Vicars, a tour organizer who also is Thrive Mahoning Valley’s director of advancement and Ursuline Sisters Mission’s director of mission, equity and resilience.

The tour costs $10 with tickets available at Glenwood Grounds Coffee House, 2906 Glenwood Ave., or by calling Vicars at 330-717-8953. The tour is 8 a.m. to noon Saturday. The bus can hold up to 80 people and tour guides and site hosts will be on hand to provide information.

The tour starts at the former South High School, 1833 Market St., which Youngstown City School District closed in 1993. It has changed hands a few times and operated as charter schools.

Youngstown Jubilee Urban Development bought the property Oct. 26 for $500,000 and started a revitalization project to restore the former school. One of its first projects is renovating the former auditorium, including restoring the wood floors, replacing 800 broken seats and updating stage lighting and the audio system.

From there, the tour stops at the Oak Hill Collaborative and St. Patrick Church, both on Oak Hill Avenue.

The collaborative includes a maker space, a small business incubator and computer training courses through its Digital Advantage Initiative.

St. Patrick has long been an anchor in the Oak Hill neighborhood with the church built in 1926.

The tour stops at the Ford Nature Center at 840 Old Furnace Road in Mill Creek Park. The facility completed a $4 million improvement project last year, including a new natural exhibit hall, history room and bird observation room.

The bus continues to the Youngstown Playhouse at 600 Playhouse Lane, off Glenwood Avenue. The playhouse is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

The playhouse started in 1924 in a converted barn on Lincoln Avenue and moved to Market Street in the 1940s before building its current home in 1959.

The tour visits the Bernard Street Housing Development, which is underway on the Glenwood Avenue corridor.

The development encourages home ownership near the north end of Glenwood Avenue. In its first phase, three new homes are under construction by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. on Bernard Street, which used to be called Cliff Street and was closed by barricades for years. YNDC is also planning three additional homes on the street.

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

Monday, September 16, 2024

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:
HOME50 Strategic Acquisition and Rehabilitation - $141,779
HOME50 New Construction - $470,649
CDBG50 Roof Replacement  - $300,000
CDBG50 Emergency Repair - $300,000
CDBG50 REVITALIZE - $40,000
CDBG Neighborhood Improvements - $540,000

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

Monday, September 16, 2024

YNDC has begun a large-scale clean up effort in the Lincoln Knolls neighborhood of the Second Ward. The initial clean up efforts have included the surveying of dead street and vacant lot trees, the removal of 58 dead street and vacant lot trees, the clearing of vacant lots including a large dumping site that has resulted in the removal of more than 845 yards of vegetative debris, the clearing of overgrown and totally covered section of sidewalks on Rutledge Drive. Planning for additional clean up efforts is underway. This work is supported by 2nd Ward American Rescue Plan funding allocated by Councilman Jimmy Hughes.

The city and a Mahoning Valley nonprofit organization want to lay out a welcome mat for people moving into the community – legal immigrants and refugees and all newcomers.  City Council’s Community Planning and Economic Development Committee in mid-August approved sponsoring legislation to join Welcoming America. That’s a preliminary step to pursuing a Welcoming City designation. “The first step was the city joining Welcoming America, which is the national organization, which we’re also part of,” says Christopher Colón, executive director of Thrive Mahoning Valley, a nonprofit organization that works to make the Valley a welcoming community. Certified Welcoming is a designation that says a city or community has policies in place signifying it’s open and willing to accept newcomers into the community, he says. “And for purposes here, specifically, it’s immigrants and refugees.” Even though Thrive Mahoning Valley is a Welcoming America member, a governmental entity must take the lead to earn a Welcoming designation through Welcoming America. Welcoming America “is a nonprofit leading a movement of inclusive communities becoming more prosperous by ensuring everyone belongs, including immigrants,” according to the organization’s website.  Thrive approached Stephanie Gilchrist, Youngstown economic development director, earlier this year and arranged a meeting to talk about welcoming status. Thrive met with Gilchrist as well as Nikki Posterli, the mayor’s chief of staff, and the city agreed to sponsor the move to join Welcoming America.  Gilchrist says the city is developing a strategic plan including economic development and sees an increase in the number of immigrants and non-native English speaking citizens coming  into the community.

“I think a lot of folks have the misconception of what that looks like for us and who that includes,” she says. “And so I believe this is a way to bring unity to the community and to become more inclusive and to ensure that everyone has a place in the city of Youngstown, through workforce, through economic growth, through home ownership. ”The department will prepare legislation and present it to city council for approval.

Benefits

For First Ward Councilman Julius Oliver, chairman of the Community Planning and Economic Development Committee, becoming a Welcoming City is practical. “Your alternative is people continuing to leave the city so it gets to the point where there are no longer enough people here for us to actually be a charter city anymore,” he says. “If we make Youngstown a welcoming city to whoever would like to live in Youngstown, for me, it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the broader perspective of who people assume will be moving here.” It has to do with people who have left the city and are thinking about coming back, Oliver says. He wants the city to welcome them. “That’s the perspective I’m coming from,” he says. Oliver hears from people who have relocated and want to come back but don’t for a variety of reasons. The councilman points to the six houses being built by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. on Bernard Street.

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

Monday, September 23, 2024

On September 18, YNDC completed the construction of two duplexes along Glenwood Avenue. Each duplex has two, two bedroom, two bathroom apartment units that are approximately 1,100 square feet each. The duplexes were constructed on lots acquired from the Mahoning County Land Bank with financial support from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh Affordable Housing Program and the City of Youngstown. Construction financing for the project was provided by PNC Bank. The project also received support from The Raymond John Wean Foundation, Sixth Ward Councilwoman Anita Davis, surrounding neighbors, and the Glenwood Neighbors Business Association. YNDC is planning a second phase that may begin in the spring of 2025.

Monday, September 23, 2024

On September 18, Common Wealth Inc. (CWI) broke ground on a new duplex at 107 Baldwin Street. YNDC began working in partnership with CWI in the summer of 2024 to develop new housing. This project is the first result of those efforts. YNDC is managing the construction of the project. The duplex is financed by CWI and they will own and operate it. The duplex should open in spring 2025. 

Monday, September 23, 2024

YNDC is seeking proposals for the design-build construction of three new single-family homes on Bernard Street in Youngstown, Ohio. Please see attached specifications and proposal submission instructions for download.