Neighborhoods

Monday, July 14, 2014

YNDC has selected Tommy Morgan and Jeremy Jarvis as the artists to install two murals along Glenwood Avenue.

As a part of the community design process, local residents were asked to share ideas for the murals via an online survey, a public meeting, and at the YSU Summer Festival of the Arts. Residents were able to meet and interact with the Tommy and Jeremy at the public meeting, and at the YNDC Summer Arts booth, kids and adults could draw their own mural concepts on coloring pages. In total, 77 residents submitted ideas through the online survey. The most commonly mentioned themes included optimism (hope, love, peace, unity); people (diversity, neighborhood residents and leaders); local culture (local food and restaurants; museums and theaters); history (historical figures and buildings; industrial heritage); nature (Mill Creek Park; trees and flowers); and Idora Park. Tommy and Jeremy are currently developing their initial mural concepts, using the input from local residents. Painting will begin within the next few weeks and the murals are expected to be complete by late September.

Starting next spring, a community garden will take shape in an area of the city’s 7th Ward that was once known more for its blight than its beets.

But more than offering healthful foods for neighbors and others, the garden likely will provide sustenance for neighborhood unification, collaboration and cooperation — all ingredients for community sustainability, growth and revitalization.

“I love the neighborhood,” said Kim Tritt, who’s lived on Pointview Avenue about six years. “It’s a family environment, and we all know each other; we all talk to each other.”

She is spearheading the Pointview Children and Families Garden project, which, in addition to offering plenty of vegetables, will include teaching people ways to plant and preserve fresh foods.

Tritt and some of her neighbors were among the several dozen residents who attended Saturday’s 38th annual 7th Ward Citizens Coalition Community Picnic in Lynn Park on Lynn Street on the South Side.

The gathering was designed to bring together residents to celebrate recent successes in the area, noted Patricia Dougan, the coalition’s president.

Such achievements include obtaining a $15,000 Youngstown Foundation grant, much of which will be used to improve the Powerstown section. Calling that part of the ward “a tipping point,” Dougan explained that revitalization efforts will entail rehabilitating, boarding and selling certain homes and demolishing others.

In addition to being a major force behind the community garden, Tritt joined the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.’s Lots of Green 2.0, a contest that encourages people to work on neighborhood-improvement projects and strategies.

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

Monday, July 14, 2014

On Thursday, July 10th and Friday, July 11th, the Center for Community Progress hosted a Flint-Youngstown Learning Exchange at YNDC.

This visit came as the City of Flint and its many partners are rolling out their new Imagine Flint Master Plan and Blight Elimination Framework. It brought together critical stakeholders from Flint and Youngstown in order to candidly discuss strategies to successfully build capacity throughout the city and ensure implementation of the plans. The discussions focused on how the City of Youngstown, the philanthropic community, the residents, and the nonprofit sector used the implementation of that city’s master plan to build capacity and engagement. 

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Ian Beniston, YNDC Executive Director presented the US422 Corridor Redevelopment Plan on behalf the project team that includes YNDC, the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber, and Trumbull County Commissioners to an audience of transportation professionals from across the state.

The presentation and plan executive summary can be downloaded below.

Over the past forty-five days the US422 Corridor Redevelopment Plan has been adopted by the Cities of Girard and Youngstown and the Trumbull County Commissioners. An implementation task force has been established and projects are currently being prioritized and resources identified.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

The first training workshop for the Lots of Green 2.0 project competition will be held Wednesday, July 9, at 5:30pm in the YNDC Demonstration Kitchen.

The kitchen is located at 822 Billingsgate Avenue in Youngstown. A representative from each group applying for project assistance must attend one of these workshops. The training should last about 1 hour.

Future Workshops will be held on the following dates:

• Monday, July 14th, 6:30pm – 7:30pm, Newport Library (3730 Market St., Youngstown, OH, 44507).
• Thursday, July 17th, 2:30pm – 3:30pm, East Branch Library (430 Early Rd, Youngstown, OH 44505).
• Saturday, July 19th, 1:30pm-2:30pm, Main Library (305 Wick Ave, Youngstown, OH 44503).

Applications will be due Friday, July 25th by 5pm. An RSVP to Liberty Merrill, Land Reuse Director, via email at lmerrill@yndc.org is encouraged, but is not a prerequisite for workshop attendance. Please call if a representative of your group cannot attend a workshop, and we will try to accommodate you or schedule additional dates.

A 9-year-old Youngstown boy can add grant writer to his name.

Authur Croom had never been to 4-H camp before and wanted to go with his friends, so he decided to write a letter.

That letter got the attention of Bill Mullane, who made it possible for eight kids in the Idora Wildcats to go to Camp Whitewood in Ashtabula.

The kids got to go swimming, fishing, and do plenty of other outdoor activities.

“I was so happy that my friends and my brother were coming, can’t wait for my little brother to come next year if he can,” Arthur said.

“This came out of Bill Mullane’s pocket and I for one am very appreciative to Bill. Someone like that a community leader just to step and see what we’re doing with the kids and stuff here in Idora that just helped us expand our children to get some culture they didn’t have before,” added Jim London, head of the Idora Wildcats 4H.

Authur said he’s thankful to Mr. Mullane and he’s already planning on writing another grant for next year.

To see the full story from WKBN, click here.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

On Monday, July 21st, eight AmeriCorps VISTAs and one AmeriCorps VISTA leader began their one year term of service at YNDC.

The VISTA team includes Gretchen Brown, Bradley McHugh, Anika Jacobs-Green, Mike Long, Aaron Bonilla, Sarah Price, Classy Brown, Tricia D'Avignon, and Matthew Honer. The VISTAs will be working to expand YNDC's capacity in the areas of Community Revitalization, Planning, Land Reuse, and Housing. Please join us in welcoming them to our team!

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Thanks to the generous support of the Humility of Mary Health Partners Foundation, YNDC is pleased to announce a program to help community members receiving nutrition assistance purchase healthy local foods.

For the remainder of the market season as funds are available, individuals using their Ohio Direction card will be able to double their purchases up to $20 per market. An individual swiping their card for $10 will receive $20 in tokens, and and individual swiping their card for $20 will receive $40 in market tokens to spend at fresh food vendors.

This program helps families by expanding food access and supports our local farmers by increasing their sales. The Idora Neighborhood Farmers Market runs every Tuesday evening through September from 4:30pm-7:30pm. The market is located at 2600 Glenwood Avenue, across the street from the Glenwood Community Park. Please call Danielle Seidita at (330)480-0423 with questions about the Double-Up program.

Friday, July 25, 2014

On Friday, July 25 a Cedar 3 an AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team from the North Central Region arrived at YNDC to battle blight for the next 30 days.

The team is composed of young adults from throughout the country. Cedar 3 will complete multiple revitalization projects while they are in Youngstown including: vacant home clean out, vacant property and lot clean up, debris and trash clearance, and community workdays.

AmeriCorps NCCC is federal team-based national service program for men and women between the ages of 18 and 24. Corps Members, serve a full time, ten month term, working on projects to meet community needs in five main service areas: disaster services, energy conservation, environment, infrastructure improvement, and urban and rural development. More information can be found at: http://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/americorps-nccc

Thursday, July 31, 2014

YNDC placed two new homeowners in formerly vacant rehabilitated properties last week. 

On Monday, July 21st, Erik Dahlman, a first-time homebuyer, closed on his purchase of a 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom cape cod located at 156 Manchester Avenue on Youngstown's west side that was fully renovated by YNDC. 

One Wednesday, July 23rd, Nancy Ramos, a first-time homebuyer, closed on her purchase of a 3-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom cape cod located at 3405 Lenox Avenue in the Powerstown neighborhood on Youngstown's Southeast side that was also fully rehabilitated by YNDC. Nancy's new home was donated to YNDC by Home Savings and Loan earlier this year.