Neighborhoods

The city hired MS Consultants Inc. today to provide professional engineering and survey services for one of four areas it is looking at potential redevelopment.

The Board of Control this morning approved the $70,500 agreement with the Youngstown engineering consulting firm for services related to the Youngstown Near Eastside Neighborhood Renewal Area. The 23-acre site is between Oak Street, Himrod Avenue, the Madison Avenue Expressway and Hine Street.

The administration proposed to City Council “some time ago about repurposing areas throughout the city from current land uses to industrial green to make room for redevelopment and to have property that we can make available for businesses,” said T. Sharon Woodberry, director of community planning and economic development.

In February, the city hired CT Consultants, Youngstown, to perform a slum and blight analysis on the four areas totaling 135 acres that had been identified for potential redevelopment. Other areas covered included the “Wick Six” area along Wick Avenue and several blocks bordered by Market Street and Oak Hill Avenue.

The city received the last of the four studies this week, Woodberry reported.

Once the Eastside area survey work is finished, a budget will be developed . The residential area has several vacant structures and six occupied houses.

Residents “will be encouraged to relocate” and the city already has started to make offers to property owners, Woodberry said.

The city next will move forward with a “full-blown plan” for the Wick Six property, an area populated by several former automobile dealership buildings, she said.

The board also entered into a neighborhood planning service agreement with Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. for $30,000. YNDC will continue to coordinate with neighborhood action teams and monitor implementation progress for the 10 neighborhood action plans.

“It’s been very well received from the neighborhood groups,” Woodberry said. “I think most members are pleased with how things have been progressing so we want to continue that ongoing engagement.”

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

Friday, June 10, 2016

On Thursday, June 9, Huntington Bank made a $12,500 grant to support YNDC's Healthy Homeownership programming.

The funds will support YNDC's comprehesive homeownership development services, including HUD-Approved Housing Counseling and Education. Thank you, Huntington for your continued support!

Friday, June 10, 2016

On Tuesday, June 7, the Western Reserve Health Foundation awarded YNDC a $30,000 grant to implement non-infrastructure programming identified in the Citywide Safe Routes to School Travel Plan that YNDC and the City of Youngstown completed in the winter of 2016.

The programming will include strategies such as hosting regular “walk to school” events at elementary schools, educating students, teachers, and parents on the health benefits of walking and biking to school, working with school staff and parents to understand and address barriers to safe walking and biking, and cultivating local school support for all safe routes projects to ensure their long term sustainability. These encouragement, education, enforcement, and evaluation activities will strengthen competitive funding applications from the City of Youngstown to the Ohio Department of Transportation for critical funding to repair infrastructure and enhance pedestrian and bicycle facilities particularly for students.

Six health and wellness initiatives in Mahoning County received a total of $101,900 in grants from the Western Reserve Health Foundation on Thursday.

The Neil Kennedy Recovery Center was granted $20,000 to help support patients with mindfulness yoga classes and a wellness garden.

The programs are designed to develop greater self-confidence and self-reliance to help patients continue their recovery outside of treatment.

The yoga classes will relate yoga to recovery, and will be taught by professional instructors trained in 12-step yoga.

The classes will be taught in the outdoor wellness garden. The wellness garden is designed to help patients connect to and find peace in nature. The patients will build and cultivate the garden, using their creativity to make it a reflection of the people that use it.

The Youngstown area Goodwill Industries received $23,000 for their vision screening program for at-risk children.

The grant will allow the program to purchase new computerized testing equipment.

The screenings, which take place at community events and health fairs, look for amblyopia, or lazy eye, among 3- to 5-year-old children.

Currently, the program is using standardized screening instruments that have several drawbacks. Children that are unable to identify shapes cannot correctly respond during the assessment. The results are also interpreted by the screener and recorded manually, which increases the possibility of inaccuracy. In addition, the current testing time is 5 minutes per child.

This new equipment will help overcome these obstacles. Since no response from the child is needed, it is effective for non-verbal, non-compliant and developmentally challenged children. The equipment has a very low number of inconclusive results, with much faster testing time. In addition, the equipment is effective for children that are afraid of ocular glasses, unable to identify shapes and those with other barriers, according to the Western Reserve Health Foundation.

Other grants given will support several initiatives, including physical activity, nutrition, and the reduction of infant mortality.

Youngstown State University was granted $27,900 for their health disparities partnership with Midlothian Free Health Clinic.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation received $15,000 for the Safe Routes to School Program to hire a coordinator to lead the educational piece of the project.

Akron Children's Hospital was granted $10,000 for a Pediatric Cancer Family Support Fund that will help families of pediatric cancer patients with urgent expenses.

The hospital received an additional $6,000 for their Safe Sleep Program to support the Safe Sleep Summit, provide Safe Sleep Kits to families with newborns as well as expand training to area day cares, pediatricians, family practitioners and community agencies that serve low-income families and minority populations.

To see the full story from WFMJ, click here. 

The Western Reserve Health Foundation will donate nearly $102,000 to six area health and wellness initiatives, the foundation announced Thursday.

“We are pleased to support a broad range of heal-related programs with this round of grants,” said foundation Chairman Phillip Dennison in a statement. “For the first time, applicants could direct their request to the issue-specific areas that align with the specialized areas the foundation supports.”

The Neil Kennedy Recovery Center was awarded $20,000 to support yoga classes and a wellness garden, where the classes will take place. Classes will be taught by professional instructors and relate yoga to recovery. Patients will cultivate the garden “using their creativity to make it a reflection of the people that use it.”

Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries was awarded $23,000 for its children’s vision screening program to test for amblyopia, or lazy eye. Goodwill will purchase new testing equipment, replacing old machines that require verbal responses and testers interpreting answers, which can lead to inaccuracies.

Four other awards were also announced: $27,900 to Youngstown State University for its partnership with Midlothian Free Health Clinic, $15,000 to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. to hire a coordinator for its Safe Routes to School program, and $16,000 to Akron Children’s Hospital for two programs.

The Safe Sleep Program was given $6,000 for its Safe Sleep Summit, to provide safe sleeping kits to families, and to train area day cares, pediatricians, family practitioners and community agencies. Another $10,000 was given to the hospital’s Pediatric Cancer Family Support Fund.

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

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.’s Iron Roots Urban Farm is earning clientele for its organically raised produce, including flowers that are edible.

“We’re not certified as organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but we’re known for using all organic practices,” said Jodi A. Vencik, lead urban farmer at Iron Roots.

Located on 1.7 acres at 822 Billingsgate Ave. in Youngstown’s Idora Neighborhood, Iron Roots has four greenhouses and a demonstration kitchen where cooking classes and other activities take place.

“All of our plants are started from seeds in the kitchen,” said Vencik, a graduate of Ohio State University’s Agriculture Technical Institute in Wooster. A YNDC employee, Vencik was raised in North Lima and comes from a long line of farming families.

Iron Roots has been conducting plant sales on Saturdays since April 30. The final plant sales for the season are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and June 25. Cash, checks, debit cards and Ohio electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards are accepted.

And, only at the Idora Farmers Market, 2600 Glenwood Ave., which operates from 4:30 to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays through Oct. 4, there is a double-up EBT program whereby customers who use their EBT cards for up to $20 worth of merchandise qualify for $40 worth of tokens to spend on fresh produce, fruits, jams and jellies and baked goods at the market.

Vencik noted that items available at the farmers market vary from season to season.

At the Iron Roots plant sales, plants available include a variety of vegetables, herbs and flowers; tomatoes, including heirloom tomatoes; and strawberries, and four different blueberry plants that bear fruit at different times of the season.

Vencik said Iron Roots also is becoming known for its colorful mixes of carrots, beets and lettuce.

The carrots are orange, red, yellow and white; the beets are blond, magenta and burgundy, deep purple, pink and purple, and orange and purple combined that look like they are tie-dyed. The lettuce blend contains six different types of leafs, Vencik said.

“Our primary purpose is to educate and train the community about why they should grow their own produce and/or purchase locally grown food. The taste is incomparable, it is healthy, and it saves money,” Vencik said.

Also, she said, gardening is good exercise and purchasing from a local farmer supports the local economy.

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

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

The opening day of the Idora Neighborhood Farmers' Market on June 7th featured face painting, games, and great food.

The turnout was high despite cloudy weather, with many vendors selling out of some products during the first hour. EBT users at the market can double their purchases up to $20 per visit, and the market also participates in WIC Farmers' Market coupons and the Mercy Health Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program. The market is open every Tuesday from 4:30pm - 7:00pm, and is located at 2600 Glenwood Avenue.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Approximately 25 residents and community volunteers came out to clean up 3 vacant homes and a vacant lot on Clarencedale and Erie Avenues in the Pleasant Grove neighborhood.

This event was supported by the Handel's Neighborhood Association, the Boulevard Park Block Watch, 614 Church, and neighborhood residents. Nearly a tractor trailer of brush and overgrowth was cleared from the yards of vacant homes and chipped up using a wood chipper and all 4 properties were mowed. This workday event was planned and organized by the Pleasant Grove Neighborhood Action Team as part of broader community-based efforts to implement the Pleasant Grove Neighborhood Action Plan. YNDC's AmeriCorps VISTA Anika Jacobs assisted with coordinating volunteers for the event. Special thanks to Dunkin' Donuts for providing donuts for the event!

FIGHT BLIGHT.

Friday, June 17, 2016

On Monday, June 13, YNDC began another year of participation in Mahoning Columbiana Training Association's Summer Youth Employment Program.

10 young men are assigned to YNDC and will learn basic construction and landscaping skills over the summer while assisting with vacant home grass cutting and boarding throughout the City of Youngstown. We anticipate more young people to begin in the coming weeks.

As of the end of day Thursday, June 16, 2016 our grass cutting teams have made 3,180 unique cuts at vacant homes in the city. Please note this number does not include any vacant lots.

As a comparison to last year at the end of the day on June 16, 2015, we had completed 2,634 unique cuts at vacant homes and for a comparison to 2014 (prior to YNDC vacant home grass cutting program management) less than 3,000 total unique cuts at vacant homes were made through the grass cutting season.

Fight Blight.

Monday, June 20, 2016

On Saturday, June 18, volunteers from Tabernacle Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Victory Christian Center, the Idora neighborhood, and YNDC scraped and painted a house on Winona Drive and weeded and mulched neighborhood signage throughout the neighborhood.

Many thanks to Cornersburg Pizza Joes for providing pizza. REVITALIZE.