Neighborhoods

The Raymond John Wean Foundation has announced the 15 members of its first Nonprofit Leadership Cohort. The members, picked from nearly 40 applicants that serve organizations in Warren and Youngstown, will participate in an eight-month course next year that provides coaching, peer-to-peer learning and opportunities to implement skills learned within their organizations.

The curriculum will focus on cultivating key competencies that are vital for personal and programmatic leadership, including transformation and inclusive leadership skills, strategic thinking and planning, financial management and fundraising, team building and cohesion, and board governance and compliance.

The members of the cohort, presented in partnership with Gradient, a consulting firm that focuses on developing human equity, are:

● Alex Hertzer, executive director, Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition.

● Angelica Diaz, executive director, Organizacion Cívica y Cultural Hispana

Americana Inc.

● Audrey Novotny, CEO, Trumbull Mobile Meals.

● Bryant L. Youngblood, Jr., founder, Evolve Innovation Center.

● Christopher Colon, executive director, Thrive Mahoning Valley / Northeast Ohio regional dzirector, Ohio Environmental Council & OEC Action Fund.

● Deon Stubbs, founder and CEO, Hyer Merit Association.

● Elisa Nicole Hosey, re-entry support specialist, Home for Good Re-Entry Center.

● Jalaya Provitt, high school program coordinator, Inspiring Minds.

● Kevin Stringer, community engagement coordinator, Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership.

● Lea Dotson, co-founder, Warren Forward.

● Markisha Parker, executive director, Parker Farms.

● Melissa Phillips, executive director, Sunshine-Warren Homes.

● Michaela Write, mission officer, YWCA Mahoning Valley.

● Norman Carter, founder and executive director, The Carter House Inc.

● Violeta Aguirre, community engagement manager, Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.

To read the full story from the Tribune Chronicle, click here. 

The Raymond John Wean Foundation has announced the 15 members of its first Nonprofit Leadership Cohort. The members, picked from nearly 40 applicants that serve organizations in Warren and Youngstown, will participate in an eight-month course next year that provides coaching, peer-to-peer learning and opportunities to implement skills learned within their organizations.

The curriculum will focus on cultivating key competencies that are vital for personal and programmatic leadership, including transformation and inclusive leadership skills, strategic thinking and planning, financial management and fundraising, team building and cohesion, and board governance and compliance.

The members of the cohort, presented in partnership with Gradient, a consulting firm that focuses on developing human equity, are:

● Alex Hertzer, executive director, Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition.

● Angelica Diaz, executive director, Organizacion Cívica y Cultural Hispana

Americana Inc.

● Audrey Novotny, CEO, Trumbull Mobile Meals.

● Bryant L. Youngblood, Jr., founder, Evolve Innovation Center.

● Christopher Colon, executive director, Thrive Mahoning Valley / Northeast Ohio regional dzirector, Ohio Environmental Council & OEC Action Fund.

● Deon Stubbs, founder and CEO, Hyer Merit Association.

● Elisa Nicole Hosey, re-entry support specialist, Home for Good Re-Entry Center.

● Jalaya Provitt, high school program coordinator, Inspiring Minds.

● Kevin Stringer, community engagement coordinator, Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership.

● Lea Dotson, co-founder, Warren Forward.

● Markisha Parker, executive director, Parker Farms.

● Melissa Phillips, executive director, Sunshine-Warren Homes.

● Michaela Write, mission officer, YWCA Mahoning Valley.

● Norman Carter, founder and executive director, The Carter House Inc.

● Violeta Aguirre, community engagement manager, Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.

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

The Raymond John Wean Foundation recently announced the 15 members of its inaugural Nonprofit Leadership Cohort, presented in partnership with Gradient, a consulting firm focusing on developing human equity. The 15 mid-career nonprofit professionals were selected from a pool of nearly 40 applicants serving organizations throughout Warren and Youngstown. TOP VIDEOS The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard Beginning in 2025 and over the course of eight months, the program will provide cohort members with coaching, peer-to-peer learning and opportunities to implement skills learned within their organizations. The dynamic curriculum will focus on cultivating key competencies that are vital for personal and programmatic leadership, including transformation and inclusive leadership skills, strategic thinking and planning, financial management and fundraising, team building and cohesion, and board governance and compliance. The members of the first Nonprofit Leadership Cohort are: 

• Alex Hertzer, Executive Director, Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition 

• Angelica Diaz, Executive Director, Organización Cívica y Cultural Hispana Americana Inc. 

• Audrey Novotny, CEO, Trumbull Mobile Meals 

• Bryant L. Youngblood, Jr., Founder, Evolve Innovation Center 

• Christopher Colón, Executive Director, Thrive Mahoning Valley / Northeast Ohio Regional Director, Ohio Environmental Council & OEC Action Fund 

• Deon Stubbs, Founder and CEO, Hyer Merit Association 

• Elisa Nicole Hosey, Re-Entry Support Specialist, Home for Good Re-Entry Center 

• Jalaya Provitt, High School Program Coordinator, Inspiring Minds 

• Kevin Stringer, Community Engagement Coordinator, Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership 

• Lea Dotson, Co-founder, Warren Forward 

• Markisha Parker, Executive Director, Parker Farms 

• Melissa Phillips, Executive Director, Sunshine-Warren Homes 

• Michaela Write, Mission Officer, YWCA Mahoning Valley 

• Norman Carter, Founder and Executive Director, The Carter House Inc. 

• Violeta Aguirre, Community Engagement Manager, Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.

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

Sara Daugherty is the Reinvestment Director for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. Sara works with a professional team and relevant partners to lead neighborhood and corridor planning, economic development, evaluation, and other organizational improvement projects.

Sara brings forth a career in strategic and operational planning and capacity building for nonprofits in development, external relations and program design and implementation. She previously served in multiple roles at BRITE Energy Innovators, one of the only incubation programs for energy technology companies in the United States. In the public sector, she has supported economic development and transportation planning, having facilitated over $25 million in successful competitive grants for the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments.

She is a graduate of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where she received her Master of City and Regional Planning with a focus in land use and transportation. She completed her undergraduate at Miami University. She has also obtained an Economic Development Finance Professional Certification from Grow America,  and is a Project Management Professional through Google, a LEED Green Associate through the U.S. Green Building Council, and is a Certified Planner through the American Planning Association.

Sara was a National Fellow in 2021 with the Clean Energy Leadership Institute and has been recognized as a nominee for 25 Under 35 in 2016 and Athena in 2021. Sara resides in Youngstown and is committed to empowering residents of her community, serving as Chair of the YWCA of the Mahoning Valley.

Contact Sara at sdaugherty@yndc.org
 

Jon Howell is a Youngstown native with strong community roots. He grew up on the south side of Youngstown. After graduating from South High School, Jon earned a bachelor’s degree from Oral Roberts University, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. From Oklahoma, he moved to Illinois, rising through the ranks in the insurance industry. He spent 33 years at State Farm Insurance’s corporate headquarters, in Bloomington, Illinois, serving as a technology manager from 2007 until his retirement in 2023.
 

Jon always knew he would eventually return to Youngstown. For more than a decade, while still living in Illinois, he frequently returned to Youngstown and worked alongside Youngstown community leaders and organizations on
numerous projects aimed at advancing the quality of life for Youngstown’s citizens. Now, as a proud resident on the city’s south side, Jon also serves on the Hope for Renewal board of directors, volunteers with Youngstown Jubilee Urban Development (South High School restoration), and is a member of the Boardman Rotary Club. Jon’s professional industry certifications include Fellowship Life Management Institute (FLMI), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designations, and AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner. Jon is a past president of the Bloomington/Normal, Illinois, Optimist Club and was a State Farm loaned executive to the United Way of
McLean County.

Dollaine Holmes has worked for various social service agencies including the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority, YWCA of Youngstown, and Warriors, Inc. She is currently the Board Chair for Precious Ones Family Resource Center and the Youngstown Office of Minority Health Advisory Board. Dollaine is also a committee member for the Brides Out of Poverty of Mahoning County. She is a lifelong resident of Youngstown.

With about 7,000 vacant houses demolished in Youngstown in the past 18 years, those who have played major roles in that effort are working on programs to bring people back to the city and help current residents.

“It’s all part of a housing strategy started years ago to remediate the blight and start working to build new housing in the city,” said Michael Durkin, Youngstown’s code enforcement and blight remediation superintendent. “We’re not there yet, but we’re heading in the right direction.”

Since 2007, 6,939 vacant houses have been demolished with more than 500 taken down in six of those years. The most was 646 in 2018.

There will be 405 demolished by the end of this year, Durkin said. That is the most since 2019 – and greatly helped by a state grant, he said. Demolitions have slowed in recent years because such a large dent was put into the number of houses that needed to come down, particularly between 2015 and 2019, Durkin said.

There aren’t that many left to take down, Durkin said.

Also, some houses that were slated to be demolished have been saved through city programs, largely funded by its American Rescue Plan dollars, and efforts by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., Durkin said.

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

Monday, December 16, 2024

On December 16, 2024, the PNC Foundation awarded YNDC with a $7,500 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!
 

With time running out to spend American Rescue Plan dollars, city council on Wednesday will consider allocating $2.28 million for numerous projects, decreasing a previous land acquisition fund by $1.8 million and setting aside whatever money is left toward the purchase of a new fire truck.

Several of the funding requests to be considered at Wednesday’s meeting come from the $2 million council gave each of its seven members in April 2023 — $14 million in total — to use for projects in their wards. 

Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th Ward, is proposing legislation to spend $705,000 of his ward’s allocation. Of that amount, $400,000 would be for a program to educate property owners about zoning and code violations and provide resources and recommendations for repairs and compliance; $100,000 each for improvements to a lot at the northwest corner of Steel Street and Mahoning Avenue for the police department’s community policing headquarters, and to upgrade and improve building access to the Stephanie Jenkins Resource Center, 2214 Mahoning Ave.; $80,000 for sidewalk improvements in the ward; and $25,000 for additional rehabilitation work at the Roy Street Park-West End Field.

Councilman Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward, is seeking to spend $667,500 for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. to manage “various 2nd Ward revitalization projects,” according to the ordinance.

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

On Monday, December 16 the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley awarded YNDC a $12,500 grant for neighborhood clean up, a targeted corridor and neighborhood stabilization program focused on cleaning up and transforming neighborhoods. The support was provided by the Kennedy Family Fund, Rick Shale Fund, and The Arnett Family Fund.

Funds will be used to purchase tools, materials, and supplies needed to clean up vacant properties, clean up and green vacant lots to bring them back into productive use, and make other neighborhood and corridor improvements. Many thanks to the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley!