Neighborhoods

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

On Monday, May 23, YNDC sold the fully revitalized home at 3309 Glenwood to a new homeowner.

The interior of the home has an open floor plan and includes 3 bedrooms, 1 full bath and 1 half bath, a large living room, and kitchen. Updates include a new roof, new gutters and downspouts, new windows, refinished hardwood floors throughout, a new high-efficiency furnace and hot water tank, new light fixtures, fresh paint throughout, insulation, and more.The home was acquired and rehabilitated with HOME Investment Partnership funds from the City of Youngstown. 

As soon as water from a new splash pad at John White Park shot straight into the air, 6-year-old Marlon D’Altorio was off and running.

Marlon ran through and around the water. He also danced and spun around Wednesday with a big smile on his face.

The city opened splash pads Wednesday at John White on Kimmel Street on the East Side and at Homestead Park on Dewey Avenue on the South Side.

“This is great for the kids,” said Carolyn Taylor, his grandmother who helps take care of Marlon when school is closed. “There’s not too many things to do around here, and there’s not too many kids on my street [Miami Avenue] for him to play with. He’ll enjoy coming here to play in the water. I may join him.”

With Youngstown’s only public swimming pool on the North Side, not every kid can get there, said Robert Burke, the city’s park and recreation director.

“The kids on the East Side now have a place to go to enjoy playing in water,” Burke said of those at John White.

The same can be said for those on the South Side who will use the splash pad, which shoots and sprays water, at Homestead, he said.

The city spent $140,000 for the two splash pads. Also, a $35,000 grant from the Hine Memorial Fund was used to build sidewalks near the pads to allow kids with medically diagnosed disabilities to have access to the water.

The pads can be used daily until around Labor Day from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Lauren Gordon, who lives on the West Side of the city, says she spends a lot of time on the East Side, and her four children will use the splash pad at John White.

Three of them were with her Wednesday.

“The kids like it, and it’s nice to have it in the city,” Gordon said.

Her 9-year-old daughter Ezraiel said, “I like running through the water. It’s a lot of fun.”

Burke said his department will search for additional grants to pay for other splash pads in the city, but there are no definite plans right now.

At John White with his wife and four daughters, who range in age from 1 to 9, Councilman T.J. Rodgers, D-2nd, said, “You hear that nothing is going on the East Side, so it’s good for the East Side kids to have this. It’s great for the kids in the summer.”

His ward includes John White Park.

Councilwoman Basia Adamczak, D-7th, whose ward includes Homestead Park, said: “It’s wonderful for the kids who are not able to go across town to the North Side Pool to have an opportunity to enjoy the water. It keeps them busy, and keeping them busy keeps them out of trouble.”

To read the full story on vindy.com, click here.

Families looking to beat the heat are in luck as two new splash pads open in Youngstown.

The city, along with The Youngstown Foundation, Vortex, Hine Memorial Fund and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation held ribbon cuttings to declare the splash pads open on Wednesday.

The splash pads are in John White Park, 2300 Kimmel Avenue, and Homestead Park, 829 Dewey Avenue.

To read the full story on wfmj.com, click here.

Friday, June 3, 2016

On Wednesday, June 1, splash pads opened in two city playgrounds, one at John White Park on the East Side and one at Homestead Park on the South Side.

The pads were paid for, in part, with funding from the Hine Fund. The Hine Fund is administered by the Youngstown Foundation, with a focus on youth with disabilities. The splash pads are fully ADA-accessible and are able to be used by children of all abilities. The pads will be open daily from 11am to 8:30pm.

The Raymond John Wean Foundation approved grants totaling nearly $729,400 at its June 2 meeting to organizations committed to its strategic priorities of community revitalization and educational opportunity.

Funding includes $115,000 for Western Reserve Land Conservancy, which along with Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership and Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., will support the education of residents in tree stewarding practices and enhance technology for an accurate accounting of the housing stock. The work will utilize the previous property inventories of the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative, TNP and YNDC.

“The success of the Land Conservancy, along with the local partner’s capacity to impact change, makes aligning these organizations an obvious choice,” Jennifer Roller, president of The Raymond John Wean Foundation, said in a statement. It’s consistent with the foundation’s priority to promote a “spirit of collaboration” and will increase the long-term sustainability of the Valley’s neighborhood revitalization work.”

Toward these efforts, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress was awarded $20,000 in support of a study that seeks to understand and compare the impact of residential rehabilitation to demolition in strengthening neighborhood revitalization.

Educational grants demonstrate the foundation’s support to achieve school, college and career readiness. These grants include:

Eastern Ohio Education Partnership: $200,000 a year for two years to strengthen the organization, which seeks to serve as the center of community collaboration around education.

Inspiring Minds: $75,000 a year for two years for its after-school and college and career readiness programming for students in Warren.

Invent Now Inc.: $13,750 to provide full scholarships for 50 Youngstown Chaney middle school students to participate in its Invention Project STEM program.

Warren City School District: $30,649 to build on the success of its 2015 pilot that transitions students from primary to intermediate grades and middle to high school with year-long engagement of youth and their families.

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

The Raymond John Wean Foundation approved grants totaling nearly $729,400 at its June meeting to organizations committed to its strategic priorities of community revitalization and educational opportunity, including early childhood for children through age 5.

Funding included $115,000 for Western Reserve Land Conservancy, which along with Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership and Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., will support the education of residents in tree-stewarding practices and enhance technology for an accurate accounting of the housing stock.

The work will use the previous property inventories of the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative, TNP and YNDC.

The Cleveland Neighborhood Progress was awarded $20,000 in support of a study that seeks to understand and thus compare the impact of residential rehabilitation to demolition in strengthening neighborhood revitalization.

Educational grants demonstrating the foundation’s continued support to achieve school, college and career readiness are:

Eastern Ohio Education Partnership, $200,000 a year for two years to strengthen the organization that seeks to serve as the center of community collaboration around education.

Inspiring Minds, $75,000 a year for two years for its after-school and college and career readiness Warren programming for eighth- to 12th-grade students.

Invent Now Inc., $13,750 to provide full scholarships for 50 Youngstown Chaney middle-school students to participate in its Invention Project STEM program.

Warren City School District, $30,649 to build on the success of its 2015 pilot that transitions students from primary to intermediate grades and middle to high school with intentional yearlong engagement of both youth and their families.

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

Monday, June 6, 2016

YNDC will partner with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy's Thriving Communities Institute thanks to a grant from The Raymond John Wean Foundation.

The grant from the foundation supports the Thriving Communities Institute's work with Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership in Warren and Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation to enhance housing property survey capacity and to build a more comprehensive property conditions database. Thriving Communities will also work with TNP, YNDC, MVOC and other community partners to increase capacity for community reforestation. Stay tuned for more info.

When you think of Summer in the Valley you may think of festivals and fireworks, but probably not farmers markets.

With the increase in popularity of movements like 30 mile meal and the Lake to River Food Co-op, bringing local food to local communities has become increasingly popular.

One vendor said it's a way to give back to the community he grew up in. "It's a win win for everyone to not have to travel to Boardman,or Poland. You can come right here on the south side of Youngstown get fresh local food."

This is the third year the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation has hosted the Idora farmers market; bringing local vendors to an area constantly trying to enhance the neighborhood image.

"A lot of these farmers started them from empty lots in the neighborhood," says Market Manager Megan Lamarca. "They saw an empty lot and started making a farm. It shows this is a safe neighborhood, you can bring your kids here there's kids activities."

Over in Trumbull County, The Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership kicked off it's weekly farmers market in downtown Warren. They offer fresh produce,a variety of jams, baked goods, and even activities like yoga and cooking demonstrations. Their message is simply that healthy alternates to everyday food are never out of reach.

"In addition to giving people healthy alternatives to what they can get at some of the stores in their neighborhoods, we want them to be able to buy directly from producers that are from this area," says Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership Executive Director Matt Martin.

Both farmers markets will run weekly, now until early October.

To see the full story from WKBN, click here. 

The Idora Neighborhood Farmers’ Market opened for the season in Youngstown Tuesday afternoon.

The farmers’ market is located at the corner of Glenwood and Sherwood Avenues, and runs every Tuesday through October 4.

The kick-off event for the market’s third year featured face painting and games for kids.

Eleven vendors showed up on Tuesday, some selling out of their products within the first hour.

Along with offering fresh, farm-to-table foods, the market is providing lots of activities for kids and adults.

“This year, we really tried amping up the events at each market. So we’re going to have cooking demos, gardening demos, we’ll have yoga at the market, drum circles…a lot of different events,” said Director Megan LaMarca.

Ohio EBT cards, food stamps, SNAP cards, and WIC farmers’ market coupons are accepted. Individual vendors may also accept Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program coupons.

For those using food stamps, the market will double purchases up to $20. If they take $20 off their card, they will receive $40 to spend at market vendors on eligible foods.

To see the full story from WKBN, click here.

The third season of the Idora Neighborhood Farmers Market opens at 4:30 p.m. today at 2600 Glenwood Ave., at the corner of Glenwood and Sherwood Avenue. The opening day will feature face painting and games for children.

The market will continue outdoors each Tuesday from 4:30 to 7 p.m. through Oct. 4.

Products available at the first market will include goods from Zaney Pearl Farm, Pancake Maples, Carol’s Homemade Baked Goods, Iron Roots Urban Farm, Lady Buggs Farm, Marcie’s Jams and More, Truffle Laboratory, Rocky Ridge Gardens, Gardenview Acres and more. The Big Green Thing food truck will serve prepared food.

The market will double purchases for individuals using their food stamp (EBT/SNAP) cards up to $20 per market visit, thanks to the Mercy Health Foundation.

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