Neighborhoods

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.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) and the Mahoning County Land Bank broke ground on a new home in Sebring Thursday.

To read the full story from WFMJ, click here.

The Mahoning County Land Bank and Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) are transforming another vacant lot into a single-family home. It is only the third time in the last several years that a new home is being built in the village of Sebring.  Leaders from the village joined executives with both the Land Bank and YNDC Thursday morning to formally break ground on this project on 15th Street.

To read the full story from WKBN, click here.

Remediation of the former Royal China site is complete, and receipt of a letter from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is the final step before the property can be redeveloped.

“There is a need to obtain a no further action letter from the Ohio EPA,” said Debora Flora, executive director of the Mahoning County Land Bank. 

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

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation broke ground on two new development sites offering building affordable housing options for the Mahoning County community.

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

Allen Williams is a Construction Team Member for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. Allan works with a team to complete housing rehabilitation projects to improve the quality of life in strategic Youngstown neighborhoods.

To address the gap in market knowledge in Youngstown and surrounding communities that form Youngstown’s laborshed (economic region), YNDC and partners will develop a customized data-driven model to determine the market viability of residential development. This model will allow YNDC to confidently assess and invest in the local housing market, reducing reliance on external market analyses that are often inadequate in understanding local context and true demand. This model will incorporate variables such as the health of a neighborhood, property conditions and vacancy rates of existing housing stock, market draw, birth rates, population change, demographics, and traditional site selection factors like proximity to community assets. It will also take into account lifestyle preferences, aligning housing types with what residents actually want, rather than relying solely on income or household size metrics that currently drive subsidized affordable housing construction. This approach recognizes the need for housing choice and flexibility, including the potential to help validate and position YNDC into the development of larger, multifamily housing options.

This proposal builds upon YNDC’s previous technical assistance partnerships to build community development capacity with the Center for Applied GIS at Youngstown State University and Alan Mallach, Senior Fellow with the Center for Community Progress, who previously contributed to the development of the market segmentation model that drives neighborhood-by-neighborhood service deployment. Additionally, it will strengthen relationships with the City of Youngstown and Mahoning County Land Bank and other key stakeholders to support targeted infill development. By breaking down housing needs and demand with localized conditions, YNDC and its partners will be better able to target services, investment, and outreach, ensuring that new housing construction directly addresses real community needs, is financially sustainable, and contributes to long-term neighborhood stabilization and growth.

ORCHID: 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. The corps, whose partners include the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, CityScape and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., is working to enhance the tree canopy in the Valley’s two largest metro centers.

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