Neighborhoods

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) has more money now to help fix and repair homes area. Executives with Premier Bank presented a check Wednesday for $25,000 to directors of YNDC The money will be used to pay for much-needed improvements for existing houses.

To read the full story from WYTV, click here.  

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

On February 12, 2025, YNDC and project partners celebrated the completion of phase one of the Bernard Street revitalization project and the start of phase two with a groundbreaking. Phase one of the project included: the assembly of land on the street; clearing of more than 500 cubic yards of debris; installation of new infrastructure: sidewalks, curbing, street paving, and other infrastructure; completion of home repair for existing property owners; construction and sale of three new homes; and preparation of three additional lots. Phase two will include the construction of three additional homes. The homes will be completed in early summer 2025.

The project is made possible through funding support from the City of Youngstown including the HOME Investment Partnership and First Ward American Rescue Plan funding. PNC Bank provided construction financing for phase one and Premier Bank for phase two. The vacant lots were assembled by and acquired from the Mahoning County Land Bank. The builder for both phases is Joe Koch Construction. The project also received support from The Raymond John Wean Foundation, City of Youngstown, and the Glenwood Neighbors Business Association. 
 

Premier Bank on Wednesday presented a $25,000 check to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation.  The YNDC will use the funds for its Essential Home Repair program.

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

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) has been awarded a $25,000 check from Premier Bank on Wednesday.  The funds from the check will be used for YNDC's Essential Home Repair Program, which provides low-income homeowners in Mahoning County with necessary home repairs free of charge.

To read the full story from WFMJ, click here.

Two years ago, a single-block street on the east side of Mill Creek Park, just off Glenwood Avenue, was closed to traffic, most of it overcome by brush and weeds.  Bernard Street, as it was then named, was also consumed with debris, and at one time became a refuge for errant dumping.  “It was overgrown. There wasn’t much here,” said Ian Beniston, executive director of Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation.

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

A major makeover is taking another step forward on Youngstown’s South Side.  Wednesday morning, the ground was broken on phase two of the Bernard Street Project. This is off Glenwood Avenue, just three blocks south of Interstate 680.  The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation has already built three new homes in the area, and now, crews are getting started on three more.

To read the full story from WKBN, click here.
 

What was recently a desolate, debris-strewn, deserted and neglected two-block street closed to traffic now represents what city leaders and many other stakeholders hope will be symbolic of the city’s continued regrowth and rebirth.  “I’m never getting tired of this — never, never,” Deb Flora, the Mahoning County Land Bank’s executive director, said. “This is the result of tenacity, the spirit of collaboration and hope.”

Flora was referring to the completion of the first phase and start of the second phase of the Bernard Street revitalization project, for which an outdoor news conference and groundbreaking ceremony took place Wednesday morning on the South Side road (recently renamed Cliff View Street) off Glenwood Avenue on the South Side.

The land bank, Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and other project partners gathered to celebrate the completion of three homes on Cliff View Avenue and the start of three more to be constructed, all of which will be on the same side and have an elevated, bird’s-eye view of downtown Youngstown and beyond.

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

Organizations from both Mahoning and Trumbull Counties came together for a summit on greenspace at the Mill Creek Metroparks Farms on Thursday.  The summit was organized by The Healthy Community Partnership Mahoning Valley (HCP) and encouraged recreation professionals, community partners and elected officials to trade ideas to better than Mahoning Valley.  Some organizations who attended include the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC).

To read more from WFMJ, click here.

Monday, February 17, 2025

The Raymond John Wean Foundation awarded a $600,000 grant to YNDC for 2025. The grant provides support for general operating, neighborhood organizing, and a Community Engagement Fellow.

The Raymond John Wean Foundation is a private foundation that has a vision of empowered residents, creating a healthy, vibrant, equitable, and economically stable Mahoning Valley. The mission of the Foundation is to advance community building in the under-resourced communities of Warren and Youngstown, in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley, through a powerful combination of grantmaking, capacity building, convening, and partnerships.

YNDC is sincerely grateful for the ongoing support and strategic partnership with The Raymond John Wean Foundation since YNDC was created!

Community leaders and organization representatives celebrated completing the first phase of a major revitalization project on Bernard Street in Youngstown. According to Ian Beniston, the executive director of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation, phase two of the Bernard Street’s new look is ready to begin. The first completed phase of the project included building three new homes.

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