Neighborhoods

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

The Florence Simon Foundation awarded a $20,500 Grant to YNDC for clean and green equipment. The grant will be used to purchase a van and hydroseeder to significantly increase our neighborhood cleanup and vacant lot greening activities. Many thanks to the Florence Simon Beecher Foundation for their support!

The need to add housing for people who will come to the area to fill jobs at Ultium Cells, Kimberly-Clark and other companies has become increasingly apparent.

The problem is not unique to this region; lack of affordable, quality housing is a national issue. But for an area that is looking to capitalize on its prospects, it’s acute.

Among the local organizations addressing the problem are Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. in Youngstown and Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership in Warren. 

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

Thursday, July 31, 2025

Mahoning Valley TreeCorps (TreeCorps) has completed its spring tree planting and a large-scale dead and dying tree removal. The most recent work of TreeCorps has resulted in the planting of 606 trees. TreeCorps has also completed a dead tree survey and the removal of 1,342 dead and dying hazardous street trees. This is the most significant removal of dead trees in the Mahoning Valley in decades. More updates will be provided in the coming months.  

Changes are coming to the Youngstown Playhouse. A local artist is working to bring two murals back to the building. 

Christian Mrosko was hard at work on Monday. The Liberty native said he completed two murals before: one in 2012 and another in 2013. But over time, they faded, and there was also repair work done on the building.

He finished one mural in November, and will be done with the second one in a couple of weeks.

“I was kind of happy with the designs, people liked them, so it’s, like, a positive thing,” Mrosko said. “Well, they wanted something that related to the playhouse, theater, and so that’s why on the front I put the word ‘live,’ which, you know, could mean live or live, you know, it’s like live theater.”

The work is being done as a collaboration with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. 

To read the full story from WKBN, click here.

A second-generation local builder works with nonprofit organizations to revitalize and build new homes in the Mahoning Valley region his family calls home. 

Joe Koch Jr. the vice president of Joe Koch Construction and a lifelong Austintown resident. 

Joe Koch Construction has built over 1,500 homes in the Valley since 1988 and is on track to complete 50 more this year, including four homes on the former Emerson Elementary site in Warren.

Joe Koch Construction is contracted with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation and the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership to revitalize neighborhoods through strategic property redevelopment.

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

Perhaps nowhere in the Valley are the signs of residential growth more visible than in Youngstown. Sixteen new homes are now under construction and Joe Koch Construction, a member of the housing council, is working with both the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership to complete 50 additional houses this year. 

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

Monday, August 18, 2025 

The Thomases Family Endowment of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation awarded a $10,000 grant to YNDC's Community Safety program. The program works with residents, neighborhood groups and the police to build infrastructure among neighbors to prevent crime by building cooperation and mutual trust between residents, corridor business owners, and the police. The program establishes partnerships with households and businesses in violent crime hotspot areas in Youngstown to install doorbell cameras and installs new LED lighting at businesses along corridors in hotspot areas.

Many thanks to the Thomases Family Endowment of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation!

August 18, 2025 

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition Field Empowerment Fund has awarded a $10,000 grant to YNDC for Housing Counseling. YNDC's 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 prepares them for future homeownership; and provides 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.

Many thanks to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition for their support!

Todd Graff is a Grass Cutting and Clean Up Team Member for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. Todd 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.

August 27, 2025

YNDC has completed the second phase of the Bernard Street project. Phase two of the Bernard Street revitalization project included the construction of three new single family homes at 1048, 1016, and 1008 Bernard Street now known as Cliff View Street. The homes will be sold to homeowners.

Phase one of the Bernard Street revitalization 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, water boxes, etc; completion of home repair for an existing homeowner; construction of three new homes; and preparation of three additional lots for a second phase which will construct three additional homes and break ground in the coming months.

Phase one and two were made possible through funding support from the First Ward American Rescue Plan funding from the City of Youngstown allocated by Councilman Julius Oliver and HOME funds from the City of Youngstown. PNC and WesBanco provided the construction financing for the project. The vacant lots were assembled by and acquired from the Mahoning County Land Bank. The builder for the project was Joe Koch Construction. The project also received support from The Raymond John Wean Foundation, City of Youngstown, and the Glenwood Neighbors Business Association.