Neighborhoods

The KeyBank Foundation awarded a $20,000 grant to YNDC for home repair. The funds will be used for the essential home repair program to assist low income homeowners with critical repairs such as furnace and plumbing repairs at no cost.

Many thanks to the KeyBank Foundation for the support!
 

It's an exciting time in the Mahoning Valley as many municipalities are breaking ground on new homes for their communities. Deb Flora with the Mahoning County Land Bank joins Lindsay McCoy to talk more about the new homes.

To read the full story from WFMJ, click here.

The City of Youngstown is experiencing a mini housing boom.

Wednesday, the Mahoning County Land Bank and Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) broke ground for a new house on Upland Avenue on the city’s North Side.

To read the full story from WKBN, click here.

Some neighborhoods across the city are seeing something unusual this summer – 16 new homes being built.

The Mahoning County Land Bank, the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., Mercy Health – Youngstown, Ohio’s Welcome Home Ohio program and the city celebrated with other partners at 215 Upland Ave. on Wednesday, the site of a future single-family, three bedroom, two bathroom home.

“YNDC has the data that indicates we’ve had next to no housing development in the last 20 years,” said Debora Flora, executive director of the Mahoning County Land Bank. “And so that is a contributing factor in the lack of affordable housing and the lack of housing in general here.”

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

YNDC has been awarded a nationally competitive $61,000 Enterprise Section 4 Capacity Building grant to increase its new construction capacity. The funding will allow YNDC to vertically integrate and increase efficiency for the entire development process. This capacity building effort will allow YNDC to decrease the total cost of housing development and increase production over time to more significantly meet regional housing demand, while becoming less reliant on gap and other public subsidies. This work follows best practice models developed by other community development corporations and non-profit housing developers. The project builds on YNDC’s current work and partnerships. More information on this exciting opportunity will be provided in the months to come. Big thanks to the Enterprise Section 4 program!
 

To Trumbull County Central District Court Judge Thomas Campbell for contributing $100,000 to the county’s Mental Health and Recovery Board so that drug and alcohol treatment services for inmates at the county jail can continue. Those dollars represent surplus funding from his court’s Indigent Driver program that state law permits judges to transfer to addiction treatment programs for convicted criminals. TCMHRB Executive Director April Caraway was understandably pleased with the thoughtful donation as plans to scale back vital and often life-changing services to inmates — 80% of whom have problems with addiction or mental health — can now be canceled.

ORCHID: To Cortland City Council President Kevin Piros for his pledge to work with the mayor and service department for solutions to an utterly stinky problem in that community. At last week’s council meeting, residents complained about large numbers of skunks in neighborhoods. Resident Rita Dodd told council, “The smell is so bad you can’t use your air conditioner and have to keep windows closed. My dog and other people’s dogs have been sprayed.” We hope Piros and other city leaders will work seriously and quickly, perhaps in part by cracking down on those who feed the odiferous critters, to clear the air in town for good.

ONION: To former Vienna Township Fiscal Officer Linda McCullough for the mayhem and financial chaos she singlehandedly inflicted on the community through her devious criminal acts. At long last, McCullough last week finally fessed up and pleaded guilty to 10 criminal counts against her, which included two counts of theft in office, one count of telecommunications fraud and seven counts of tampering with records. The value of the property or service stolen was $116,370, according to her February indictment. But here’s the rub: The grand jury chose to indict her on only 10 of 35 possible suspicious illicit fund transfers, according to Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Charles Morrow. When sentencing occurs next month, we urge Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Cynthia Westcott Rice to spare no mercy.

ORCHID: To the Trumbull County-based Beta Chi Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society for reaching its milestone 70th anniversary this year with a celebration at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Warren. The international organization promotes professional and personal growth of women teachers and excellence in education. We congratulate the society and wish it well as it continues its noble mission of developing model classroom teachers in our region.

ORCHID: To Rick Stockburger, CEO of BRITE Energy Innovators incubator in downtown Warren, for eight years of energetic, solid and successful leadership. Stockburger is leaving the incubator to assume an as-of-yet unidentified “prominent national role in the energy sector,” BRITE reported. Under Stockburger’s astute leadership, BRITE helped its portfolio companies raise more than $200 million in capital in 2024, has supported more than 650 energy-tech startups, catalyzed more than 2,100 jobs and raised more than half a billion dollars in third-party investment. Clearly his giant leadership shoes will be hard to fill.

ONION: To those careless cable and telecommunications companies that are wreaking havoc on properties in the Mahoning Valley in their expansive quest to install state-of-the-art fiber optic lines. Boardman Township trustees recently got an earful from angry residents about the damage and destruction such work has caused on private properties. Attorney John Shultz was one of the loudest: ”They have destroyed driveways … they have knocked out street lights” and parked heavy equipment in yards without permission. Because of limited government rules of townships, trustees unfortunately are relatively powerless to deal with the mess. We join trustees in urging affected property owners to report such destruction to the Federal Communications Commission. 

ORCHID: To the Mahoning Valley Tree Corps and its partners for their successful efforts to beautify Youngstown and Warren.

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

The Mahoning County Land Bank and YNDC have broken ground on sixteen new single family homes in multiple locations on the north, south, west, and east sides of the City of Youngstown.

The sixteen new homes will include multiple design models including: a cape cod, two story models, and two ranch models. All homes will have at least three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open concept living, kitchen, and dining area, first floor laundry room, front porch, and two-car garage. The homes will be listed for sale for no more than $180,000 and will include a 100 percent, fifteen year property tax abatement on the new construction. Down payment assistance of $10,000 will be available for eligible homebuyers through the City of Youngstown’s At Home in Youngstown down payment assistance program. Additional downpayment assistance of up to $18,000 is also available to eligible homebuyers through a partnership with Huntington Bank.

This project is made possible by a grant award to the Mahoning County Land Bank from the Ohio Department of Development’s Welcome Home Ohio grant program. Mercy Health Youngstown provided a community investment loan to finance the construction of the project. The loan was made at a below market interest rate. The vacant lots were assembled by the Mahoning County Land Bank. The City of Youngstown has provided funding for neighborhood improvements on the target blocks where the new construction will take place. The improvements include new sidewalks, dead street tree removal, tree planting, and other improvements. The builder for the project is Joe Koch Construction. The project also has support from the City of Youngstown, The Raymond John Wean Foundation, and other stakeholders.

A full list of the new construction sites is provided below.

New Construction Sites:
1. 3253 Glen Oaks Dr
2. 1275 S Meridian Rd
3. 970 Bonnie Brae Ave
4. 966 Bonnie Brae Ave
5. 950 Bonnie Brae Ave
6. 753 Mineral Springs Ave
7. 727 Wilkinson Ave
8. 728 Wilkinson Ave
9. 206 Beachwood Dr
10. 459 N. Schenley Ave
11. 472 Wesley Ave
12. 1208 Aberdeen
13. 1210 Aberdeen
14. 257 Outlook Ave
15. 215 Upland Ave
16. 210 Granada Ave

The Trumbull County Land Bank board on Tuesday voted to support a letter-writing campaign to block a series of legislative actions that could reduce funding to programs that assist lower and moderate income families.

“Proposed cuts being made will impact the land banks, counties, townships and cities,” Julie Green, a member of the land bank board and director of the Trumbull County Planning Commission, said. “They are talking about a lot of the programs we use as community development partners to rehabilitate homes.”

Matt Martin, director of Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, said one of the programs at risk of losing federal dollars through proposed cuts is the HOME program, which often is used to rehabilitate properties.

These funds often are used to bridge the gap in dollars needed to cover the cost of rehabilitation of homes and the sale of the properties.

The last eight properties rehabilitated used an average of $31,000 in HOME funds, according to Martin. On average, there are four properties renovated per year.

“The average sale price of the properties was $112,000,” Martin said. “One of the things these properties have in common is they are too nice for demolition.”

Green is worried there are some legislators who are interested in clawing back grant funds that already have been approved.

“These are all major concerns that should be discussed,” she said.

She noted that Warren city leaders and Trumbull County commissioners have submitted letters opposing these cuts for next year.

“These cuts are doing nothing to help any of us,” said Trumbull County Treasurer Sam Lamacusa, executive director of the Trumbull County Land Bank.

REEVES BUILDING DEMO

In other business at the land bank meeting, Martin said the ongoing demolition of the Reeves Building, 295 W. Market Street, is an example of the work being done to push for improvement of commercial and residential sites around the county.

The demolition of the historic Reeves Building is being done, in part, with funding from a $6.3 million grant awarded to Trumbull County in September to knock down 168 properties in Trumbull County. Of the total properties targeted for demolition, 34 are in Warren.

The funding is from the Ohio Department of Development Building Demolition and Site Revitalization program. ProQuality Demolition won a $522,000 bid to demolish the building.

TREE PLANTINGS

Martin also highlighted a USDA grant being used by TNP for the restoration of the tree canopy in urban locations in Warren as well as other areas throughout Trumbull and Mahoning counties. The $5 million federal grant obtained by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation was part of the Inflation Reduction Act. TNP is a partner organization.

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

The City of Youngstown and YNDC have begun neighborhood improvement projects across the city. This work is focused on blocks with new housing development underway or planned in the near term. The work includes the replacement of broken and failing sidewalks, removal of dead and dying street trees, planting of new street trees, and other targeted improvements. Huge thanks to the City of Youngstown for making this happen!

The Trumbull County Land Bank board on Tuesday voted to support a letter-writing campaign to block a series of legislative actions that could reduce funding to programs that assist lower and moderate income families.

“Proposed cuts being made will impact the land banks, counties, townships and cities,” Julie Green, a member of the land bank board and director of the Trumbull County Planning Commission, said. “They are talking about a lot of the programs we use as community development partners to rehabilitate homes.”

Matt Martin, director of Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, said one of the programs at risk of losing federal dollars through proposed cuts is the HOME program, which often is used to rehabilitate properties.

These funds often are used to bridge the gap in dollars needed to cover the cost of rehabilitation of homes and the sale of the properties.

The last eight properties rehabilitated used an average of $31,000 in HOME funds, according to Martin. On average, there are four properties renovated per year.

“The average sale price of the properties was $112,000,” Martin said. “One of the things these properties have in common is they are too nice for demolition.”

Green is worried there are some legislators who are interested in clawing back grant funds that already have been approved.

“These are all major concerns that should be discussed,” she said.

She noted that Warren city leaders and Trumbull County commissioners have submitted letters opposing these cuts for next year.

“These cuts are doing nothing to help any of us,” said Trumbull County Treasurer Sam Lamacusa, executive director of the Trumbull County Land Bank.

REEVES BUILDING DEMO

In other business at the land bank meeting, Martin said the ongoing demolition of the Reeves Building, 295 W. Market Street, is an example of the work being done to push for improvement of commercial and residential sites around the county.

The demolition of the historic Reeves Building is being done, in part, with funding from a $6.3 million grant awarded to Trumbull County in September to knock down 168 properties in Trumbull County. Of the total properties targeted for demolition, 34 are in Warren.

The funding is from the Ohio Department of Development Building Demolition and Site Revitalization program. ProQuality Demolition won a $522,000 bid to demolish the building.

TREE PLANTINGS

Martin also highlighted a USDA grant being used by TNP for the restoration of the tree canopy in urban locations in Warren as well as other areas throughout Trumbull and Mahoning counties. The $5 million federal grant obtained by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation was part of the Inflation Reduction Act. TNP is a partner organization.

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