Neighborhoods

A crowd of people walking up and down Midlothian Boulevard  isn’t a typical site to see on a Sunday afternoon.

This Sunday, the street looked a little different, with outdoor cafes, art galleries and some fresh landscaping.

The idea of Midlothian Boulevard Better Block is to create a vision of what the busy Youngstown City road could look like with few a changes to attract more people to the area.

Several businesses took part in the effort and some even offered freebies for neighbors, from coffee to apples and pierogies.

Nancy Martin, one of the Midlothian Better Block organizers, is involved in her community. She’s the president of Brownlee Woods Neighborhood Association and wants to see her neighborhood become vibrant like it used to be.

“We’ve accomplished having people out walking, making it look like a return back to the walking neighborhood,” she said.

Helen Donofrio is one of those people, checking out the stands and enjoying company with others.

“I lived here for 30 years…and I think they’ve come a long way,” Donofrio said.

Nicholas Bates moved to Youngstown three years ago with his wife. The couple participated in today’s event to spread the word about their Bible fellowship.

“Youngstown was a great place to go and do that because of the fact that it has that drive,” he said. “That heart to want to move forward.”

Bates says he’s already seen the changes in Youngstown since he moved to the city, especially downtown.

“Watching that move forward and seeing it become…the next Silicon Valley,” he said. “The sky’s the limit when the individual feels empowered.”

Martin wants the city to keep growing, but thinks there’s a different philosophy for Youngstown.

“Youngstown needs to start thinking more of a small town, or a group of small towns, rather than a big city because the mentality isn’t there anymore,” Martin said.

Everyone at Midlothian Better Block wants to see more revitalization in Youngstown and events like this help start a conversation, showing what could be.

To view the full coverage, click here.

Monday, November 2, 2015

On Saturday, October 31, neighborhood residents, YSU students, and YNDC worked to create a new greenspace at the corner of Alameda and Ford, near Crandall Park.

Volunteers planted 8 trees, which were donated for the project, cleaned up overgrown sidewalks and curbs, trimmed overgrown street trees, and removed brush at a nearby vacant home. The project will beautify a prominent corner in the neighborhood where two dilapidated houses once stood, one of which was demolished earlier this year. The new greenspace will be complete by the end of the year. Crandall Park South Neighborhood Association has taken the lead on the project, with support from YNDC, the Mahoning County Land Bank, and the Raymond John Wean Foundation.

Monday, November 2, 2015

YNDC has launched a crodwfunding campaign to continue 45 Oneta Street improvements and seeks to raise $10,000 to complete additional construction and rehabilitation work at the facility.

This facility will serve as a base of operations for our efforts to FIGHT BLIGHT citywide by boarding up, cleaning up, and rehabilitating vacant properties.

The garage will be used:

· to cut and paint boards to board up vacant homes on a scale that we've never been able to accomplish before,

· to safely store bulk building materials in order to cut costs and increase the number of homes we can rehabilitate across the city each year,

· to perform routine maintenance on our vehicles and equipment, such as oil changes, filter replacements, tune-ups, and other repairs we have the skills to perform in-house, which will improve the sustainability of our fleet of blight fighting vehicles

Please consider a donation and DONATE NOW!

https://www.generosity.com/fundraisers/yndc-blight-fighting-base-camp

What happens when you restore rundown buildings that contribute to violence?

Camden is about to find out.

The Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center has received $6 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue its studies on how improving vacant properties affects violence, property crimes and intentional injuries among youth.

The Michigan center, based at the University of Michigan School of Public Heath, will focus on the effects of engaging residents, particularly youth, in caring for properties in their neighborhoods.

The study will be done in Camden, Flint, Michigan, and Youngstown, Ohio over the span of five years.

Camden gets 4 miles of bike trails.

Marc Zimmerman, professor of health behavior and health education at University of Michigan, says the study will test a "greening" hypothesis — becoming more active in protecting the environment — and "busy streets theory" — which suggests that by taking care of abandoned, empty lots within inner cities, safer streets will be created.

"This change occurs because people will interact in positive ways, develop greater connection and take pride in their neighborhoods," Zimmerman said.
The "busy streets theory" was developed by Zimmerman and his Youth Violence Prevention team in 2010.

Zimmerman said the Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center has been working with Flint for years and chose Camden and Youngstown because they are comparable in size and have similar crime issues.

Could Camden soon be in full bloom?

According to Zimmerman, the five-year grant will fund the collaborative effort involving the University of Michigan School of Public Health, University of Michigan Medical School, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, Genesee County Land Bank in Flint, Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation, Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, the Center for Community Progress and other community-based organizations in each city.

During the project, which began Oct. 1, the center will be working with Camden to share initial results and lessons learned from previous work in Flint and Genesee County, Michigan to help the city enhance its community-youth engagement efforts in its "greening" work.

Rutgers University School of Public Health Instructor Bernadette C. Hohl was active in bringing the Michigan Youth Violence Prevention study to Camden. She said the academic partners funded for this grant have worked with larger cities to learn about the effects of greening on their communities.

"Rutgers University has a strong commitment to improving the health and well-being of residents in New Jersey, particularly in low-resourced communities like Camden," Hohl said.

"We believe that there is growing empirical support for high-impact, scalable programs that address physical features of the neighborhoods to improve health and safety in disadvantaged communities," Hohl added.

Hohl believes the social impact associated with the project can be duplicated in Camden.

Camden Jam celebrates culture and community.

When Hohl and members of the Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center approached the city — including the mayor’s office, police, and health department — about being part of the project, they responded with great enthusiasm.

"Like our counterparts in the grant, youth violence is an issue of special concern in the City of Camden, of which Mayor Dana Redd has instituted a number of strategies to combat," said Anthony Perno, chief executive officer of Cooper's Ferry Partnership.

CFP has been working in partnership with Camden for over a decade on several neighborhood programs and initiatives, including the Camden Special Services District, the Camden SMART Initiative, and Connect the Lots, to address abandoned properties that often become magnets for crime and disorder.

"We welcome the opportunity to apply the lessons learned from the other two cities on the most effective ways to engage community members, especially youth, in maintaining, activating, and improving these vacant properties," Perno added.

To view full coverage, click here.

Friday, November 6, 2015

YNDC is offering a new series of small business classes for aspiring and operating business owners.

Unlike the 7-week Bright Idea to Business Plan course, these classes can be taken a la carte. Topics include Cash Flows and Spreadsheets, a Q and A session with an attorney, Managing Employees, and Marketing for Small Businesses. Classes will be taught by YNDC staff and community business owners. Small Business Loans are also available! For more information or to RSVP, please contact Liberty Merrill at 330.480.0423 or via email at lmerrill@yndc.org

Friday, November 6, 2015

In late April 2015, YNDC began cutting all unmaintained vacant homes in the City of Youngstown.

Prior to 2015, the City of Youngstown used multiple contractors and was making 2,500 to 3,000 unique cuts per year.

YNDC began this season after significant preparation utilizing a new data and partnership driven model with the goal to increase the efficiency and scale of the overall vacant home cutting. This goal has been more than realized with the number of unique cuts increased more than three fold, recently surpassing 10,000 unique cuts. Please join us in saluting the City of Youngstown, YNDC Property Maintenance Team, MCTA Summer Youth workers, and AmeriCorps REVITALIZE, who have all assisted with the project and made it a great success. REVITALIZE.

Monday, November 9, 2015

On Saturday, November 7, members of the YNDC team and Idora Neighborhood Association including: Ian Beniston, Jack Daugherty, Tiffany Sokol, James "Big Jim" London, and Authur Croom participated in the first Pittsburgh Blight Bootcamp sponsored by Neighborhood Allies, GTECH, PCRG, the City of Pittsburgh and the Design Center.

Ian Beniston, YNDC Executive Director served on the morning panel and provided the keynote address; Jack Daugherty, YNDC Neighborhood Stabilization Director, trained participants in stabilizing vacant properties; and James "Big Jim" London shared his story and provided participants with the basic steps to begin fighting blight in their own neighborhoods. More info on the event can be found here.

FIGHT BLIGHT!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

The renovation of the historic triplex at 928 Canfield Road has begun.

The property will be fully renovated and both two-bedroom units will be available for rent. The third floor unit will be listed on Airbnb. Please check out our REVITALIZE Rentals page if you are interested in renting.

Cedar 2 just finished their final service project with NCCC.

They served with Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) in Youngstown, Ohio from September 22-November 6. During this time the NCCC team assisted YNDC on a number of projects to aid in the improvement of neighborhood decay.

There is a tremendous need in Youngstown to eliminate neighborhood blight created by dramatic population decline and chronic economic decline. While not the historic cause of disinvestment in neighborhoods, the vacant, blighted properties left behind by these forces have created an unstable living environment that reduces quality of life and stifles reinvestment and economic opportunity for the city’s neighborhoods. This is where YNDC comes in. 

YNDC is a citywide multifaceted neighborhood development organization launched to catalyze strategic reinvestment in neighborhoods throughout the City of Youngstown. The mission of the organization is to improve the quality of life in Youngstown by building and encouraging investment in neighborhoods of choice for all.

While there, Cedar 2 primarily worked to board, secure, and otherwise clean up vacant properties in strategic areas throughout the City of Youngstown. This also included cleaning up and improving vacant lots in neighborhoods where demolitions have occurred. Vacant properties have been cleaned up and secured in accordance with city-adopted neighborhood stabilization plans or other neighborhood-driven improvement initiatives. Cedar 2 assisted in boarding up more than 40 houses throughout Youngstown. 

Spencer Liechty, Cedar 2 team leader, had this to say about their service with YNDC, “Our service boarding up vacant homes with YNDC has impacted the community in a major way by removing a safe haven for criminal activity and cleaning up vacant lots which increases the appeal of the neighborhood. It’s been really educational to learn about the social issues surrounding Youngstown that YNDC addresses as an enthusiastic, grassroots, non-profit operation.”

Cedar 2 also supported two community service days in which local volunteers were invited to assist the team and YNDC in vacant lawn clean-ups and boarding up houses.

To view the full coverage, click here.

Becoming an entre- preneur isn’t easy.

It takes patience, perseverance and a product with potential.It also takes people.

“You want to work with people who are going to help you get to where you need to be,” said Elijah Stambaugh, founder of Lightning Grader. “That’s a very important part of the process.

”Today starts Global Entrepreneurship Week – the world’s largest celebration of innovative creators who help spur economic growth.

“Entrepreneurship is critical to a healthy economy,” said Barb Ewing, chief operations officer at the Youngstown Business Incubator.

YBI celebrates entrepreneurship every day, but this week special events will be dedicated to entrepreneurship.

Ideas will churn. Words of advice will be given. Dreams will start.

An idea to better his career as a teacher is how Stambaugh entered entrepreneurship.

Stambaugh was a teacher in Youngstown when he took notice of how much time he spent grading papers. He wanted to find a tool to help him better assess what his students knew – one that would also allow him to spend more time with the students and less time grading.

He couldn’t find that tool, so he decided to develop it. “For me, it is not necessarily being here because of the business,” he said. “It’s really a calling.

”His idea was to build a program that would allow a teacher to scan tests and grade them. In 2010, Stambaugh talked to YBI CEO Jim Cossler about his idea. Stambaugh’s Learning Egg company, better known as Lightning Grader, formed that year within YBI’s space on West Federal Street.

The Lightning Grader provides a way for teachers to scan and grade tests, and gives them rapid essay grading capabilities and flexible assessment options, to name a few features.

The company now has 15 employees and works with hundreds of school districts. Development on the Lightning Grader is constant. Next year, there will be a launch for a Lightning Grader app. 

 “Now, we are a break-even software company looking toward the future,” Stambaugh said.

His advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is to not only have the support system, but to also keep up the grind of getting your product and your business out there. “I was always involved in something,” Stambaugh said. “I am definitely wired for risk.

”Those like Stambaugh who are wired for risk use the resources of YBI, the Tech Belt Energy Innovation Center in Warren and other organizations, such as the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. – all of which support entrepreneurial endeavors. There’s a perception that the Mahoning Valley isn’t as robust as other areas because of its inability to attract new companies to the area, but that’s a misconception, Ewing explained.

“We actually have a lower rate of startups than the national average,” Ewing said. “I think it is dramatically better than it was less than a decade ago. There’s some things we need to do as a community. We need programs like YBI and TBEIC to have community support.”

George Mokrzan, senior economist for Huntington Bank, doesn’t think it’s a coincidence the state and regional economies are doing well.

“That didn’t happen by itself,” he said. “That is a function of the small businesses. They are ones implementing new technologies and hiring workers. They are breaking ground.

”In the past, reliance on larger companies and larger employers created competitive pressures, and that has helped bring out entrepreneurship.

Mokrzan said. “Entrepreneurs, as a group, do not get the claim and credit they need.”

To read the full story at Vindy.com, click here.