Neighborhoods

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

The Idora Neighborhood Farmers' Market opened on June 7th and will run through October 4th, and has grown significantly in its third year.

Market vendors sell products including fruits and vegetables, jams, granola, sauces, and prepared foods. Every market has events such as kids' games, a pop up library, or wellness and gardening classes. In 2016, the market has become a site for the Mercy Health Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program, through which doctors prescribe patients fresh produce that they can purchase at the market. The market also doubles SNAP purchases up to $20 per visit and accepts WIC Farmers' Market coupons. The market is open every Tuesday from 4:30pm - 7:00pm, and is located at 2600 Glenwood Avenue.

Thursday, June 30, 2016

On Saturday, June 25, YNDC and the members of the Lincoln Knolls Community Watch installed landscaping beds and planted flowers around two "Welcome to Lincoln Knolls" signs.

One of the signs was installed in November of 2015 with funding through a grant from the Raymond John Wean Foundation. Volunteers also re-secured 5 vacant houses in the neighborhood that had previously been boarded at a community workday.

A home on E. Boston Avenue was boarded up Thursday after complaints of drug activity there.

Youngstown Police and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation were called to the home after the city prosecutor’s office filed a nuisance abatement order. Investigators said the home has a troubled past.

The home’s owner has been indicted on various charges. Police say he rented the home to a tenant who was selling drugs from the home, bringing gunshots and crime to the neighborhood.

A new family was moving into the home Thursday as police were called to the scene. They were offered assistance but have decided to stay with a neighbor.

“The house was raided at least two times for drugs and it was shot up in the past. There were home invasions at the house and a lot of community complaints came in regarding the house,” said Youngstown Police Lt. Brian Butler.

The house is located near Taft Elementary School, in a neighborhood that the department prioritizes to keep drug and crime free.

“It being very close proximity to a school was definitely a high priority to get boarded up and abated,” Butler said.

Larry Allen, who lives in the neighborhood said he is happy to see something being done about crime. He said more needs to be done to revitalize the community, however.

“If the house is a nuisance, lets tear it down. If the landlord, if he doesn’t want to be responsible for whom he puts in it, tear it down,” he said.

Police agree and say progress in cleaning up neighborhoods is only possible with the community’s help.

“There’s a lot of community involvement straight from the citizens from each ward and each council member that each officer is assigned to, and this is the result of that,” he said.

There will be a hearing in 10 days on the status of the home.

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

A home on E. Boston Avenue was boarded up Thursday after complaints of drug activity there.

Youngstown Police and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation were called to the home after the city prosecutor’s office filed a nuisance abatement order. Investigators said the home has a troubled past.

The home’s owner has been indicted on various charges. Police say he rented the home to a tenant who was selling drugs from the home, bringing gunshots and crime to the neighborhood.

A new family was moving into the home Thursday as police were called to the scene. They were offered assistance but have decided to stay with a neighbor.

“The house was raided at least two times for drugs and it was shot up in the past. There were home invasions at the house and a lot of community complaints came in regarding the house,” said Youngstown Police Lt. Brian Butler.

The house is located near Taft Elementary School, in a neighborhood that the department prioritizes to keep drug and crime free.

“It being very close proximity to a school was definitely a high priority to get boarded up and abated,” Butler said.

Larry Allen, who lives in the neighborhood said he is happy to see something being done about crime. He said more needs to be done to revitalize the community, however.

“If the house is a nuisance, lets tear it down. If the landlord, if he doesn’t want to be responsible for whom he puts in it, tear it down,” he said.

Police agree and say progress in cleaning up neighborhoods is only possible with the community’s help.

“There’s a lot of community involvement straight from the citizens from each ward and each council member that each officer is assigned to, and this is the result of that,” he said.

There will be a hearing in 10 days on the status of the home.

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

Larry Allen said he liked what he was seeing as city police and the law department boarded up a South Side home on a nuisance complaint because of drug activity.

Allen, a member of the Taft Block Watch, looked on Thursday as members of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. nailed the boards over the windows and doors of the 574 E. Boston Ave. home, which is less than 50 yards from Taft Elementary School.

The YNDC is a neighborhood development group that works to improve the quality of life in the city.

Allen, another neighbor and the Community Police Unit officer assigned to the neighborhood said the home is a haven for illegal activity from fights to loud music to drug sales to gunfire.

“This is what we need,” Allen said as he watched the show from the porch of another neighbor two doors down. “We need more of this to shut these houses down.”

City prosecutors got a temporary restraining order Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to have the home boarded up. They will have a hearing within 10 days to determine if the order should remain permanent.

The home is owned by Wayne Martin, 34, who is in the county jail on several charges that he beat and shot at the tenant, Brandon Treharn, 28, who has a felony drug case pending in common pleas court. Martin’s case has been bound over to the grand jury.

Martin’s brother, Terrell, 36, also faces similar charges for his role in an attack on Treharn.

In their complaint, the city said informants have made 13 undercover drug buys at the home within a five-month period. Vindicator files show vice officers served a search warrant at the home June 9. Police found two guns, both reported stolen, $995 cash, and small amounts of suspected crack cocaine and heroin. Both Wayne Martin and Treharn were named in the complaint the city filed asking for the home to be declared a nuisance.

Detective Sgt. Pat Kelly, head of the Community Police Unit, said drug dealers would take advantage of a drive in a neighboring yard to help make the drug sales go quicker.

“It was actually a drive through,” Kelly said.

Phil Skowron, the Community Police Unit member assigned to the neighborhood, said he has received numerous complaints about the home.

Allen said his block watch met Wednesday evening and the No. 1 item on the agenda was discussion about the home. He said he had no idea the city would take the action it did, but it was a pleasant surprise.

“I’m glad to see it shut down,” Allen said.

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

Friday, July 1, 2016

The Frank and Pearl Gelbman Foundation has awarded $10,000 to YNDC for the development of its workshop and storage facility at 45 Oneta Street.

The 1440 square foot, 1.5 acre facility provides YNDC with space to maintenance its fleet of vehicles and professional landscaping equipment, and improvements made with these funds will enable the organization to expand the number of vacant home board-up and rehabilitation projects completed each year, the number of volunteers engaged, and the number of seasonal jobs that can be sustained through the winter months.

Day of Caring

YOUNGSTOWN

The United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley’s 19th Annual Day of Caring sponsored by Huntington Bank and Hometown Pharmacy will take place Sept. 2.

The 2016 campaign kicks off with a breakfast at the Covelli Centre on East Front Street. After breakfast, volunteers will head out to volunteer projects across the Mahoning Valley.

Local nonprofit agencies will submit projects, and the United Way will be teaming up again with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., the city of Youngstown, Green Youngstown and the American Red Cross for a “fight blight” project on Youngstown’s South Side.

 For information email rsebest@ymvunitedway.org or call 330-746-8494.

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

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

On Thursday, June 30, YNDC Executive Director, Ian Beniston provided guidance to Danville, Virginia in establishing a citywide neighborhood revitalization organization.

Danville suffers from many of the same challenges as Youngstown and has begun bringing together diverse partners to form a high functioning community development corporation. Ian provided information and guidance on YNDC's initial development and programming. This work was conducted as part of Ian's service on the national steering committee of the the National Resource Network. For more information on the National Resource Network, please check out their website: http://www.nationalresourcenetwork.org/en/home .

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

YNDC is proud to announce the publishing of its 2nd quarterly performance report of 2016!

The performance report highlights the work of YNDC over the 2nd quarter. An electronic copy can be downloaded below.

Over the past quarter century, the number of farmers markets – both in the Mahoning Valley and across the country – has taken off.

Consumers have turned away from produce grown on the opposite side of the country or in foreign soil to food grown right down the road.

The reasons buyers and farmers cite for this shift are simple. People want fresher foods. They want to know who’s growing what they put in their mouths. They want to support the local economy.

“Some of it’s philosophical,” says Steve Gyomber, owner of Ginger Gorge Organics in Greene Township.

“We’ve lost the local farmer who grows all your vegetables. We all want to know where it’s coming from and how it’s grown,” Gyomber says.

Farmers markets have sprung up in almost every municipality in the Mahoning Valley, from Austintown to Warren. With the surge of opportunities, more and more growers are finding their way into the circuit, selling everything from traditional produce such as lettuce, tomatoes and corn to foodstuffs less commonly found at farmers markets, such as mushrooms and homemade candies.

For some, traveling to these markets is a hobby. For others, it’s a full-time job.

Either way, almost all farmers say that there’s nothing they’d rather do than sell what they plant, tend and pluck from the vine.

“We grow what we’d want to eat,” says Brooke Lancey, co-owner of 3 Maples on Market in North Lima. “Every year it got bigger. Just sharing it with our families blew up into trying out these markets.”

Along with Lancey and Gyomber, The Business Journal talked to six other farmers, bakers and confectioners to assemble a collage of who’s manning the booths at the farmers markets held daily throughout the region.

They come from all walks of life, from students to teachers, from former factory workers to lifelong farmers.

All have one thing in common: They love what they do.

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