Neighborhoods

East Liverpool Rotary Club Rotarian Sue Giambroni (center)
hosted the program for club members at the weekly meeting on April 25.

She
introduced Executive Director Ian Beniston (left) and Housing Director Tiffany
Sokol of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. Sokol described the
means and methods the organization employs to maintain and revitalize
Youngstown neighborhoods (submitted photo).

To read the whole story from The Review, click here.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

On Saturday, May 20, 42 volunteers helped prepare the YNDC property at 3726 Glenwood Avenue for full rehabilitation at the Idora Neighborhood Volunteer Workday.

Volunteers from Boulevard Park, Cardinal Mooney, The Colony, Hope For Renewal, Idora Neighborhood, ProgressMV, Rocky Ridge Neighborhood Association, Tabernacle Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Valley Christian Schools, Victory Christian Church, and YSUscape collectively removed over 40 cubic yards of debris from inside and outside the house.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

More than 100 new clients have enrolled in YNDC's HUD-Approved Housing Counseling program to date in the year 2017.

YNDC's FREE HUD-Approved Housing Counseling program assists those looking to improve their credit or financial situation to achieve sustainable homeownership. Through one-on-one pre- and post-purchase homebuyer counseling sessions, YNDC assists clients with identifying and resolving the barriers to homeownership. If you're ready to become a homeowner, call Tammi at 330.480.0423 to learn how YNDC can help you take the first steps. 

Monday, May 22, 2017

On Saturday, May 20, The William Swanston Charitable Fund has awarded YNDC a $150,000 grant.

The funds will be used to make improvements at Homestead, John White, Glenwood, and Crandall Parks. These parks were selected because high concentrations of youth live within close proximity to each park.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

On Saturday, May 20, five volunteers helped clean up the Mineral Springs Community Garden.

They weeded and mowed to prepare the garden for the upcoming growing season. The garden is located at the corner of Glenwood Avenue and Mineral Springs Avenue. 

Friday, May 26, 2017

Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation closed on the sales of four rehabilitated houses in May.

1736 Overlook closed on May 2 for $63,000 and is located on the West Side of the city near Mill Creek Park. 460 Francisca closed on May 8 for $65,000 and is located in the Crandall Park Neighborhood on the city's North Side. 504 S. Hazelwood closed on May 19 and was sold for $38,000 to an income-eligible homeowner. The home is located on the city's West Side. 2144 Gregory is also on the city's West Side and closed on May 25 for $78,501. Congratulations to the new homeowners and thank you for your investment in Youngstown’s neighborhoods! Several new homes are currently under construction and will be for sale soon. For a complete list of projects in progress, check out our Homes For Sale section. 

The Better Business Bureau serving Columbiana, Mahoning and
Trumbull counties will have the Torch Awards for Marketplace Trust take place
at 11 a.m. June 15 at The Lake Club, 1140 Paulin Road.

The event celebrates BBB
Accredited Businesses and leaders that exemplify BBB Standards for Trust. The Torch Awards for Marketplace Trust winners this year
are: Butech Bliss; Rulli Bros.; William Price Heating Co.Inc.; and CKC Cleaning
Specialist. The Torch Award for Nonprofit Excellence will go to the
Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. The Torch Award for Civic Leadership
will go to Suzanne Fleming.

To read the whole story from The Vindicator, click here.

The William Swanston
Charitable Fund awarded $50,000 to Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership toward
building a playground at the Highland Terrace housing complex in Warren.

Area organizations such as Team Sanders Inc., Ignite
Ministry and the Warren G. Harding High School basketball program already
pledged to support the multi-year Project Play by hosting programs at the new
playground on the city’s southwest side, according to a news release from the
Swanston fund. Project Play is a collaborative effort between Trumbull
Neighborhood Partnership and the Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority, the
release states. The fund awarded $374,900 in grants for eight initiatives
aimed at improving the health and wellness of at-risk children, according to a
press release from the agency. The William Swanston Charitable Fund is an
affiliate of the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley. The other Trumbull County organization receiving a grant was
the Children’s Rehabilitation Center Inc. in Howland, which received $14,900 to
support its “Healthy Hand, Healthy Body: Improving Children’s Accessibility to
Fitness and Nutrition” project. The project includes adaptive fitness classes, cooking and
nutrition education, and gardening activities for medically fragile children
and those with disabilities.

The highest grant awarded, $150,000, went to the Youngstown
Neighborhood Development Corporation for its Built Environment Improvements for
Increased Physical Activity project. This initiative seeks to reduce childhood
obesity in Youngstown’s neighborhoods through investments in parks and schools
that serve the highest number of children, the release states.

For the full story from the Tribune Chronicle, click here.

Bernadette Elliott
can hardly contain her excitement. She’s eagerly awaiting the opportunity to
make an offer on her dream house that sits near the former Idora Park on the
south side of Youngstown.

“I’ve already started the mortgage process at the bank,”
Elliott says. For her, it’s a moment she thought might never come. One of eight
children, she would be the first in her family to own a house. Her journey
toward homeownership began with HUD-approved counseling at the Youngstown
Neighborhood Development Corp. The program is designed to help prospective
homeowners overcome obstacles to becoming – and remaining – one. It is a
component in YNDC’s strategy to make Youngstown neighborhoods more stable. “It’s
a beneficial program,” Elliott says, “not just for me, but for the entire
city.” It took Elliott about a year to approach the YNDC after she learned of
the program. “I was a little hesitant,” she recalls. “It seemed too good to be
true.” But her experience with Tammi Neuscheler, housing client manager at
YNDC, soon put her at ease, Elliot says. “She started by printing out my credit
report, and we went through it line by line.”

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

The city will receive a
$200,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to redevelop vacant
properties.

This marks the fourth time the city has applied for the Brownfields
Assessment Grant. The funds will allow the city “to collaborate with community
partners to inventory, prioritize, assess and plan for the development of
former gas stations on major streets,” according to an EPA news release
announcing that 172 communities and organizations had been selected to receive
funding to redevelop vacant and unused properties. The city will use its
funding to clean up and redevelop “small petroleum sites scattered throughout
the city’s neighborhoods,” Mayor John A. McNally’s office said.

To read the
full story from The Vindicator, click here.