Neighborhoods

Thursday, January 27, 2025

The Boardman Rotary Club made a $2,000 donation to the Foster Theater project. The funds will be used for the restoration of the marquee. Thank you very much to the Boardman Rotary Club!
 

Monday, January 27, 2025

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) is seeking proposals from Licensed Occupational Therapists (OT) to provide Mahoning and Trumbull County-wide in-home services as part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Older Adults Home Modification Program (OAHMP). 

Interested parties should review and respond to the RFP below.

William Crues is a Grass Cutting and Clean Up Team Member for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. William collaborates with a team of professional and labor staff in the implementation of large scale grass cutting and clean up of vacant homes, boarding of vacant housing, vacant lot management, basic construction, and other field and maintenance projects to improve the quality of life in strategic Youngstown neighborhoods.

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Premier Bank Foundation has awarded a $25,000 grant to YNDC for the Essential Home Repair program. The essential home repair program assists residents of owner-occupied, single family homes with essential repairs such as furnace and plumbing repairs at NO COST to owners. Many thanks to the Premier Bank Foundation for the continued support!
 

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation released the annual report highlighting its accomplishments in 2024, including new housing, neighborhood cleanup and health initiatives.  Among some of the major accomplishments was the construction of a new neighborhood on Bernard Street on the city’s South Side.  One of the houses has been completed with a new resident already settled in. They plan to complete construction on two more single-family homes on the street, breaking ground at the beginning of the year.

To read the full story from WKBN, click here. 

The city’s board of control approved a $1.35 million development site grant for a planned defense and aerospace manufacturing center in the former Vindicator building.

The board, which consists of Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, Lori Shells Simmons, law director, and Kyle Miasek, finance director, approved the grant to the Youngstown Business Incubator to support redevelopment of the building at 107 Vindicator Square. The grant will be made in four $337,500 installments.

“I think that’s a big piece for us,” Brown said. “When we continue to talk about the economic investment that’s downtown, that just continues to add to that. I think that sets Youngstown on the next path of where we’re going.”

Barb Ewing, YBI CEO, told The Business Journal in November that YBI wants to use the center as a way to ramp up the already strong impact of the U.S. Department of Defense through its presence at America Makes.

Brown said the investment marks a turning point for the city with a new industry.

“Now we’re turning a corner with the city,” the mayor said. “From the steel town to manufacturing and now aerospace – how big and how great of an opportunity is that for us.”

YBI hopes to lease the former newspaper building and convert it into a center for defense and aerospace manufacturing, research and development. It’s dependent on a $26 million grant from the Ohio Department of Development toward the development of an Ohio Innovation Hub. About $11 million in local matching funds would add to the project.

The project is estimated to have an economic impact of $191.7 million, creating an estimated 271 full-time jobs with an average salary of $81,806, and another 481 indirect jobs.

The center is tentatively dubbed the Youngstown Innovation Hub for Defense and Aerospace.

If the $26 million grant is successful, a portion of the money would be used to renovate the former Vindicator building, allowing the expansion of JuggerBot 3D and Ursa Major, two portfolio companies that have outgrown their space in Tech Block Building No. 5. The building was also part of the former Vindicator operations.

Other Business
The board of control also increased by $14,388 the contract with TransDev Services Inc. for an accessible automated vehicle shuttle. That increases the contract amount to $696,435. The funds are coming from a Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grant.

“Within two weeks it should be on the road,” said Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works. “They’ll be testing it.”

The increase was to add software, he said.

Transdev is a global transit services provider that has its U.S. headquarters in Lombard, Ill. It is the same company that Western Reserve Transit Authority has entered into an agreement with to provide similar services for WRTA’s one-year demonstration project.

The board also approved a $20,000 professional service agreement with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation for the Sixth Ward Glenwood Avenue Corridor Project. It also increased the allocations to YNDC for two other initiatives in the 6th Ward.

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

A housing study of Mahoning and Trumbull counties recommends regional coordination to help modernize zoning codes to encourage development. Jim Kinnick, executive director of Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, said the agency plans to invite representatives from townships, cities and villages who deal with zoning to a meeting in early March to begin discussions. Eastgate is leading the recommendation from the housing study released earlier this month that dealt with zoning. It recommended regional coordination on zoning adjustments.

The housing study by the Greater Ohio Policy Center and the Reinvestment Fund, funded by Eastgate and initiated in cooperation with the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, listed five regional recommendations. The others are establishing a housing consortium, developing a downpayment assistance program, instituting an emerging developers program and assembling land proactively. An agency or organization was identified to spearhead each one. Eastgage is guiding the zoning recommendation. The study said modernizing zoning codes will legalize development on small, currently nonconforming parcels “to help drive development to existing communities where there is ample vacant land and existing utilities. By making these sites more viable for development, zoning adjustments can help eliminate the need to develop on the urban fringe, where expensive utility extension is often required.” It will also allow for a range of missing middle types of housing that better match regional income levels, the study said. It defines missing middle as housing types that are comparable in size to single-family homes but contain multiple units and are located in walkable neighborhoods. “The actual nuts and bolts of changing zoning codes will happen at the local level, but a regional emphasis on encouraging development-supportive updates, striving for consistency across local governments and providing technical assistance could provide the momentum and support needed to generate greater impact more quickly across the region,” the study said.

Kim Mascarella, Howland planning director, said officials in that township are willing to sit down with Eastgate and the housing consortium to take their recommendations into consideration. “… I think that the zoning resolution here in Howland is a living, breathing document,” she said. “It can accommodate the emerging trends.” Howland updated its comprehensive community plan in late 2023. And we’ve identified a lot of these issues in the plan that are echoed in the regional housing plan,” Mascarella said. Township officials are looking at areas of Howland that can serve as infill housing, for example. “We’re looking at some of the older neighborhoods to see if they can accommodate workforce housing, particularly in our Bolingdale neighborhood that’s situated adjacent to the Kimberly Clark site,” she said. That neighborhood is also adjacent to a planned greenway trail. The township’s comprehensive plan also recommends looking at mixed use, the planning director said. Township officials also are examining East Market Street to determine if mixed use and higher density residential fits within the land uses in the future. “I do think we’re really well-positioned to collaborate with the housing study,” Mascarella added. Howland has mostly single-family zoning homes, and most of them are three- to five-bedroom houses. But Howland’s median age is about 49. “They’re aging in place,” she said. “We don’t want them to leave Howland. They’ve established friendships. They go to church here. They sent their kids to school here. We want them to stay.” Those people are looking for housing options such as one- to two-bedroom homes with characteristics to help them age in place, Mascarella explained. “So I think a lot of what’s come out of our comprehensive plan is items that they’re already talking about in the housing strategy,” she said.

Ian Beniston, executive director of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation, said while zoning is complicated and varies between jurisdictions, it needs to be adjusted. 

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

The City of Youngstown is working to identify community development priorities, fair and affordable housing needs, and factors that shape equal access to housing. The City would like to invite residents of the general public to attend a virtual meeting for its 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan and 2025 Annual Action Plan Workshop to be held on February 6, 2025. All information regarding the Workshop can be downloaded below. There is also a Survey and a Frequently Asked Questions flyer for residents to review and complete.

PUBLIC MEETINGS
Attend one of the following public meetings:
Virtual Public Needs Hearing
February 6, 2025, 5:30 P.M.
https://meet.goto.com/775040773
You can also dial in using your phone.
Access Code: 775-040-773
United States: +1 (872) 240-3212

ONLINE SURVEY
Take our survey at SurveyMonkey.com/r/Youngstown2025 by February 28, 2025.
Realice nuestra encuesta antes del 28 de febrero de 2025
es.SurveyMonkey.com/r/Youngstown2025-S

Access to capital is one of the things Emerald City Construction owner Keland Logan has struggled with since starting his business in 2020. He believes an emerging developers training program, as recommended in a housing strategy study released last month, could help.

“My issue has been consistent opportunities that make this business sustainable,” Logan said. “Construction is a cash-heavy business. You do have to have a bank, so to speak – either have to have access to funds or hard capital that you can access to do the jobs that you want to bid on.” Emerald City, based in Austintown, has its Disadvantaged Business Enterprise certification, which qualifies the business for set aside opportunities.“But being able to access the resources to do these, you know, million dollar jobs, it still might as well be on the moon,” Logan said.  He often struggles to compete – and to make a profit.  “Having access to an entity or something that could help us to identify and become more proficient and effective would be huge,” Logan said.

The housing report was completed by the Greater Ohio Policy Center and the Reinvestment Fund and paid for by Eastgate Regional Council of Governments. The report said an emerging developers training program “would grow the ecosystem of local developers, builders, general contractors and subcontractors, expanding the region’s capacity to build.” The Mahoning Valley suffers from a lack of affordable housing that’s in good condition and meets the needs of the people who need it.

Spearheading It
Valley Partners is leading that recommendation’s implementation, but Theresa Miller, Valley Partners executive director, pointed out it’s early in the process. She said Valley Partners is working with an intern from Youngstown State University to research and determine what developers need.  Part of Valley Partners’ mission is helping small businesses. Though affordable housing technically isn’t part of the mission, Miller said organization officials recognize affordable housing is required if jobs are going to be created. “It’s all connected,” Miller said.

The study listed several programs in the region that focus on emerging developer training or similar initiatives. Pittsburgh’s Centralized Real Estate Accelerator and Cleveland’s Contractors on the Rise are among them. And both have a Valley connection.

Other Programs
Presley Gillespie, the first executive director of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation, has been leading Neighborhood Allies for the past 10 years. Neighborhood Allies launched the Centralized Real Estate Accelerator in 2020.

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

A population report from the Ohio Department of Development presents grim news for the future of Ohio and the Mahoning Valley. If the department’s projections come true, Ohio will lose nearly 6 percent of its residents by the year 2050. In the Mahoning Valley, the slide is much more severe.  Mahoning County will lose a full 22 percent of its 225,000 residents over the next 25 years; Trumbull County will lose 20 percent of its 200,000 residents, according to the projections. Given that there is strength in numbers, Ohio will be a much weaker state if those numbers prove to be accurate. Therefore, a collective multi-pronged effort to disprove those forecasts must be a clear priority for state and local leaders and economic development groups in the coming years and decades.

Fortunately the Mahoning Valley is off to a great start to do just that.

Just earlier this week, for example, the Youngstown / Warren Regional Chamber announced it is working with eight state chambers of commerce to promote issues focused on strengthening Ohio’s metropolitan areas. The focus areas include expanding Ohio’s labor force, attracting and developing talent and increasing housing opportunities. Each of those areas plays critical roles in population growth.

First, the size of a labor force is directly proportional to any given region’s population. In the Valley, that relationship is painfully clear. According to the state Department of Development, Trumbull County has 78,000 jobs today compared with 98,000 in 2000. Mahoning County’s job numbers have tumbled from 105,000 to 93,000 over the past quarter century.

Clearly, the Valley has its work cut out for it. Toward that end, our region is blessed with a multitude of job-creation and economic development agencies led by the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber, the Lake to River Economic Development District, JobsOhio and others. Those partnerships already have logged considerable success. Gov. Mike DeWine recently lauded the Valley for its gargantuan gains over the past five years, including a 34% increase in business deals, a 23% increase in new jobs, a 61% increase in new payroll and a 140% increase in retaining jobs. That incredible momentum must continue and expand. As for the goal of developing and expanding the pool of labor talent, the Mahoning Valley also stands on firm ground. A multitude of public workforce development and training agencies offers services to tens of thousands.

They include the Mahoning and Trumbull chapter of Ohio Means Jobs, Mahoning and Columbiana Training Association, programs at county career centers, the Regional Chamber’s JobsNow Workforce Initiative, Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries and the Youngstown State University Excellence Training Center that focuses on comprehensive training in a variety of cutting-edge advanced manufacturing skill sets. A final piece of the strategy to increase Valley population rests on ensuring adequate affordable housing for employees of new business and industry. Here, too, considerable progress has been logged.

Take Youngstown, for example. Over the past 18 years, about 7,000 vacant and blighted homes have been demolished to pave the way for new residential construction. A variety of public and private programs involving city government, the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and the Mahoning County Land Bank is working to build new and affordable homes. Similar initiatives have taken root in Trumbull County as well.

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