Neighborhoods

Monday, March 19, 2018

On Monday, March 19, YNDC received a $5,000 contribution from Shellpoint Partners, LLC.

The grant will benefit YNDC's general revitalization efforts. Thanks to Shellpoint Partners, LLC for their generous support!

Monday, March 19, 2018

On Saturday, March 17, volunteers
helped to clean up vacant homes on Winona Drive and Volney Road at the Idora
Neighborhood Volunteer Workday.

Thirty volunteers from AmeriCorps NCCC,
AmeriCorps College Guides, Hope for Renewal/Tabernacle Evangelical Presbyterian
Church, and Hope Springs Academy helped to remove 30 cubic yards of debris, 25
cubic yards of brush, and 30 illegally dumped tires. Volunteers also scraped 47
linear feet of sidewalk. Thanks to everyone who participated and helped to
fight blight in the Idora Neighborhood!

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

YNDC is getting the work done in 2018! Here are some highlights of our work to date in 2018:

44 new clients were enrolled in HUD-approved housing counseling

148 volunteers cleared 500 yards of debris and removed 84 tires at 4 workdays

110 students attended 16 Safe Routes to School events

5 vacant homes were rehabilitated

46 individuals engaged in organizing efforts

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

YNDC is pleased to present a third round of funding for an opportunity meant to help groups involve youth in vacant lot greening projects across the city.

This program was funded through the Centers for Disease Control and is being led by the University of Michigan as part of a 5 year, 3 city study of vacant land reuse (now in its third year). A wide variety of groups may apply, but youth involvement (ages 10 - 24) must be at the core of proposed projects for this opportunity. Researchers will be monitoring project implementation and maintenance. Funds awarded can be used to compensate youth involved in the project.

There are specific eligibility requirements for support - groups MUST get their proposed site and project approved by project staff prior to submitting the application by calling Jack Daugherty at 330.480.0423. Applications are DUE by 5PM on Friday, April 27, 2018. Please see the application below for program details.

Friday, March 23, 2018

On Tuesday, March 13, The Youngstown Foundation awarded YNDC with a $25,000 grant for Corridor Improvement Corps.

The Corridor Improvement Corps is a comprehensive revitalization strategy aimed at improving public health, safety, and quality of life for residents by leveraging AmeriCorps members and community volunteers to complete physical improvements to Youngstown’s neighborhood corridors. The improvements will include 1) cleaning up and painting blighted walls and facades of vacant buildings, 2) cleaning up and clearing overgrowth from vacant lots littered with debris, 3) planting hearty urban trees, 4) installing split rail fencing along vacant lots, 5) replacing broken and unsafe sidewalks, 6) installing covered benches at public spaces and bus stops, and 7) improving corridor lighting and signage around public spaces and corridor businesses. When applied systematically, these improvements will restore a basic sense of order to Youngstown’s corridors and will result in sustainable improvements to the safety and quality of life for Youngstown’s residents. A huge thank you to The Youngstown Family Foundation for their support.

Following Hurricanes Irma and Maria last September, some 300 Puerto Ricans relocated to the Mahoning Valley and a new organization has been launched to help acclimate them to the area.

Thrive Mahoning Valley, through support from the Raymond John Wean Foundation and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., officially launched Monday.

Through the organization’s website, ThriveMV.org, users can find information about employment, housing, education, child and senior care, mental health and transportation, among other topics. The site is bilingual, translated into Spanish by Lorene Swartz, who has spent a decade working with Latinos both in the Mahoning Valley and abroad. To read the full story from the Business Journal, click here. 

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

On Tuesday, March 27, YNDC received a $12,500 grant and technical assistance award from the Safe Routes to School National Partnership's Safe Routes to Parks Activating Communities Grant program.

The grant and technical assistance will be used to develop a Safe Routes to Parks Action Plan for the City of Youngstown and begin implementation activity. Many thanks to the Safe Routes to School National Partnership!

On Tuesday a "Felon-Friendly Job Fair" will be held in Youngstown, and it's focus is on second chances.

But 21 News wanted to know what protects the public from a sexual predator getting a job where children play, or someone with a history of abuse or theft from working in a nursing home?

Inside the sanctuary of the Metro Assembly of God on South Avenue, parishoners normally gather to pray and prepare to celebrate Easter this week, but on Tuesday the church will welcome felons in need of a second chance.

Along with hundreds of people who have been convicted of a crime, approximately 20 local employers will stand ready to interview them on the spot inside the Metro Assembly of God Church, located at at 2530 South Avenue in Youngstown between 10am and 2pm on Tuesday.  That's when the "Felon-Friendly Job Fair" will take place. To read the full story from WFMJ, click here.

Thrive Mahoning Valley is an organization dedicated to helping people relocate to the Valley from Puerto Rico. Co-founder Justin Mondok thinks a welcoming hand should be something that comes naturally to a community.

“It doesn’t matter where you are coming from. If you are coming to the Mahoning Valley, you should be welcomed,” he said.

Mondok and co-founder Christopher Tennant want to make life as easy as possible for those who lost everything. For someone like Eric Rios, Thrive Mahoning Valley has made a world of difference.

Rios works at Churchill Motors. He moved to the Valley in the fall. It’s a huge change for a man who planned to live out his life in his native Puerto Rico but when Hurricane Maria came, everything changed.

Rios and his family lost everything in the hurricane. They moved to Youngstown to stay with a relative who connected them with Thrive Mahoning Valley. The organization gave the Rios family everything they needed and even helped Eric find a job.

“When you work in someplace that you really love, you are not working. You are having fun,” Rios said.

Tennant and Mondok started Thrive Mahoning Valley in the fall. Eric Rios is their first client and success story. To read the full story from WYTV, click here.

Thursday, March 29, 2018

The US Department of Justice Community Based Crime Reduction (formerly Byrne) project work has begun.

YNDC canvassers knocked on each door in the target area on the South Side of Youngstown to share community resources and gather input from residents.  Canvassers spoke with more than 250 individuals and distributed “hotspot cards” which provide residents the opportunity to anonymously report safety and quality of life concerns to the project team.  The YSU research team completed a property conditions survey of the targeted hotspot areas, identifying 198 abandoned structures, 107 occupied structures with serious code violations, 13 dumping sites, and 21 unmaintained vacant lots.  Since the implementation project began in late 2017, more than 30 vacant structures have been demolished and another 150 demolitions are planned throughout the 2-year implementation period.  Team members have shared information with the community regarding the project at various forums, including City Council meetings, Taft Promise Neighborhood meetings, and 6th Ward Councilwoman Anita Davis’ Coffee and Conversations on Saturday mornings.  Several cleanups and block parties are planned for the target area in the spring.