Neighborhoods

Monday, September 29, 2014

On Saturday, September 27th, YNDC Executive Director Ian Beniston and Neighborhood Stabilization Director Jack Daugherty traveled to Flint, Michigan to participate in Flint's Economic Empowerment Summit.

Ian provided the keynote at the event and focused on the critical steps necessary to build action and momentum for revitalization in transitional neighborhoods. YNDC's participation in this event comes as follow up to a learning exchange in July 2014 facilitated by the Center for Community Progress and YNDC. YNDC hosted a delegation of community leaders and stakeholders from Flint and discussed lessons learned by YNDC and its partners in developing capacity for neighborhood revitalization.

A full copy of Ian's presentation can be downloaded below. REVITALIZE.

Two Valley corporations are helping give new life to vacant homes and properties.

In Youngstown, the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation is fixing up houses and putting them on the market. In Warren, the Trumbull County Land Bank is helping families achieve home ownership.

And for both, it is about restoring their cities by getting rid of eyesores and replacing them with something to benefit the neighborhoods.

“Sold about 13 houses this quarter and about 49 side lots. That’s significantly more than we sold a year ago through one quarter,” said Matt Martin, executive director of Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership.

Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership has partnered with the Trumbull County Land Bank, where 18 houses are for sale.

“We are making huge strides. I think every neighborhood in Warren and Trumbull County is salvageable and worth investing in,” Martin said.

Its success story was featured in the New York Times last month.

“We were cited for the number of properties that we have moved as an example of how a high functioning land bank can be a productive solution to blight,” Martin said.

Properties need a lot of work because they have been vacant for a while. They sell anywhere from $3,500 to $10,000, with the goal being home ownership.

In Youngstown, the YNDC is gutting vacant homes and putting them on the market.

“We have more than tripled the output of vacant units this year. So vacant homes that we are rehabilitating, all of those are actually selling before we even finish them,” Ian Beniston of the YNDC said.

The agency has even added a construction team and 20 people through the AmeriCorps programs to do more.

"We are doing more work in many more neighborhoods across the city,” Beniston said.

Both have a number of projects on tap, including community cleanups in Youngstown. Thirty vacant house in Trumbull County are set to be demolished and work to restore the Hughes Mansion into housing for veterans should start soon.

The Trumbull Land Bank also sells renovated houses. Last Saturday it had an open house for one on Vine Street. Private donations paid for the $25,000 makeover and it is expected to sell for less than $30,000.

To read the full story from WKBN, click here. 

Consecutive homes at 19, 25 and 31 Rutledge Drive are symbolic of the degrees of blight that continue to plague many city neighborhoods, but the three vacant residences’ improved looks also tell a story of collective commitment, desire, determination and hope.

“There were tires galore, trash and the usual stuff you find in abandoned houses,” said Jeff Black, 50, who took a brief break from cleaning the outside of 25 Rutledge. Black was born and raised in the East Side neighborhood.

He was one of 10 AmeriCorps members who spent part of Friday morning cleaning and removing debris from the homes as part of a Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. effort to fight blight citywide.

The YNDC recently selected the 10, all of whom are Youngstown residents with an interest in bettering the neighborhoods. They recently began serving the first year of the three-year effort, noted Ian J. Beniston, YNDC’s executive director.

At the same time as the cleanup, Beniston, community activists and a few city officials had a news conference to outline the effort’s strategies and goals.

The team started earlier this month on a variety of related projects on vacant properties throughout the East and South sides. The effort in the Lincoln Knolls area was part of their first neighborhood-scale endeavor that will see them focusing on securing, cleaning and rehabilitating vacant homes and lots, Beniston explained.

Two of the three Rutledge homes, which have been empty for several years, likely will be able to be occupied; the Mahoning County Land Bank, however, is to demolish the third, he said.

Wearing bright green T-shirts that read, “Stand up, fight blight,” Black and the other AmeriCorps members busily removed trash from four houses, including one on nearby Fincastle Drive.

They also got rid of weeds and overgrowth.

Among those happy to see the effort underway to eliminate blight was city Councilman T.J. Rodgers, D-2nd, who called such projects “quality-of-life issues.”

“We’re not going to take abandoned and blighted homes not being kept up,” Rodgers said. “Everybody has to take the initiative to keep neighborhoods clean and ensure their neighbors are doing the same.”

The city supplied wood, paint and other supplies, noted Mayor John A. McNally, who praised the level of teamwork and effort in working toward a common purpose.

“This is a great day in Lincoln Knolls. I’m excited to see this,” said Truman Greene Sr., president of the Lincoln Knolls Community Block Watch group. “We need people to give us a hand.”

For information or to assist, call Greene at 330-744-2274.

The revitalization effort also is important because the Lincoln Knolls neighborhood offers too little for youngsters, including safe parks and recreational facilities, observed Rhonda Burt, a block watch co-founder.

“If you don’t do some good, evil takes over. Discipline is the greatest form of love,” she added.

Partners supporting the AmeriCorps REVITALIZE project are ServeOhio, the Corporation for National and Community Service, the city of Youngstown and The Raymond J. Wean Foundation.

Additional remarks came from Jennifer Roller, the Wean Foundation’s president.

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

Volunteers are transforming a neighborhood on Youngstown's east side.

Since the beginning of the month, volunteers with AmeriCorps and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation have been cleaning up vacant properties and blight in the Lincoln Knolls neighborhood.

Their efforts have been possible through a $30,000 grant from the city of Youngstown.

“This Lincoln Knolls neighborhood is a fantastic and quiet little neighborhood. They, like other residents in the city of Youngstown, deserve to be free of the blight and the homes that have sort of been ravaged over time. So we are very happy and thrilled these folks are here to help us,” said Youngstown mayor John McNally.

Some of YNDC's goals for the year include rehabilitating eight vacant homes and boarding up 100 others.

To read the full story from wfmj, click here.

The sounds of shovels filled the air on Youngstown’s east side Friday as workers with REVITALIZE helped spruce up and repair homes in the area.

Jack Black was part of the crew that was fixing cracks on Rutledge Drive in the Lincoln Knolls neighborhood. Black grew up in the area and says it feels good to give back.

“We’ve been cleaning out all the old, abandoned houses, picking up all the trash,” Black said.

Black is one of nine full-time members of the newly formed REVITALIZE team. The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) has partnered with AmeriCorps to help fight blight in the city.

“They removed 187 tires, 409 50-gallon bags of trash, which is over 20,000 gallons of trash,” said Ian Beniston, YNDC. “In addition, 600 cubic yards, so that is about 15 dumpsters.”

The volunteers are about three weeks into the project, and they will work for one year. The total length of the project is three years.

“This is the first neighborhood that they are concentrating on,” said Youngstown 2nd Ward Councilman T.J. Rodgers. “This is something we’ve been pushing for a long time. We are not going to stop. This is just the beginning, and it is going to take the whole neighborhood to do this.”

Rodgers hopes the project will encourage everyone to maintain their homes. Black said they’ve already noticed a change.

“Everybody came together and made the neighborhood look better than what it used to out here,” Black said. “It is a big difference.”

To read the full story from wkbn, click here. 

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

On Tuesday, September 30th, Steven Cresanto, a first-time homebuyer, closed on his purchase of a 3-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom brick home located at 3231 Neosho Avenue, at the corner of Neosho and Glenwood in the Indian Village neighborhood on Youngstown’s Southwest side that was acquired through a partnership with Huntington Bank and fully rehabilitated by YNDC.

Motorists might spot something new when driving down Glenwood Avenue on the city’s south side.

Two new larger-than-life murals are now on display. One, “Face the Future,” was painted on the old Park Inn building. The other, “Create a Better Tomorrow,” was painted on the LaFrance Cleaners building.

The idea was the brainchild of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation as a way to revitalize the city. The artists worked with local residents to develop the mural themes.

“Murals we use to add another element along the corridor to bring some color, some energy, some vibrancy back to what has become in many cases blighted commercial corridors,” YNDC Executive Director Ian Beniston said.

Funding for the murals came from a grant by the Ohio Capital Impact Corporation.

To read the full story from WKBN, click here. 

The Youngstown Foundation announced it will award nearly $400,000 to area organizations including $20,000 to the Butler Institute of American Art here.

The foundation also reported a strong third quarter, with more than $107 million in assets.

The foundation’s distribution committee, which met in September, approving grants from the unrestricted fund as well as the Hine Memorial Fund, the Support Fund, and several donor advised and restricted funds, said Janice E. Strasfeld, executive director.

Youngstown Foundation unrestricted fund grants include:

Butler Institute of American Art, $20,000 toward passenger elevator construction and temperature control units for collection vaults.

Beatitude House, $10,000 in support of general apartment and security system repairs.

Big Brothers Big Sisters, $7,500 for the site based mentoring program.

Easter Seals, $25,000 for building renovations and tree removal expenses.

Paisley House, $21,635 exterior door updates for fire safety and compliance.

Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., $20,000 toward creation of the Community Revitalization House.

Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber, $ 25,000 toward economic and workforce development projects.

City of Youngstown, $20,000 to address Youngstown code enforcement and blight remediation.

CASA, $8,900 for operational support.

Oak Hill Collaborative, $15,000 to purchase tools and equipment to develop a Maker Space facility.

Power of the Arts, $20,000 to support the Arts Mean Business initiative.

Two area organizations committed to serving children with diagnosed disabilities received funds from the Hine Memorial Fund of the Youngstown Foundation.

Hine Memorial Fund grants include:

SMARTS, $27,027 in support of the SMARTS Beats Drum Program.

Mahoning Valley Epilepsy, $1,710 in scholarships for Camp Frog Epilepsy Camp.

Grants from restricted and donor-advised funds were awarded to the following organizations:

Beatitude House, $3,600

Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley, $4,800

Camp Fitch YMCA, $5,400

Pregnancy Help Center, $3,600

Inspiring Minds, $12,000

Protestant Family Service, $2,400

Silver Lining Cancer Fund, $6,000

Big Brothers Big Sisters, $5,200

Potential Development, $8,000

Battered Women’s Shelter, $10,000

Youngstown Air Reserve Space, $750

Youngstown Symphony, $500

Gleaners Food Bank, $3,769.52

Emmanuel Lutheran Church, $500

Founded in 1918, The Youngstown Foundation is the largest community foundation in the Valley, the fourth oldest in the country and ranked in the top 100 nationally.

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

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Land Reuse Director Liberty Merrill travelled to Queretaro, Mexico to give a lecture at a new sustainable landscaping conference, Paisajismo Vida Sustentable. The seminar, entitled "Rehabilitating Forgotten or Marginalized Urban Areas to Convert Them into Green Public Spaces," highlighed YNDC's work and expanded upon several vacant land reuse projects.

Queretaro, the fastest growing city in Mexico, is experiencing a massive population boom, a stark contrast to Youngstown. Attendees were very interested to hear about the context in another city and how YNDC's neighborhood engagement work could be translated into different situations.

October 2, 2014

In 2013, YNDC was awarded a USDA Community Food Projects grant to improve new farmer training and expand local markets.

One of these expansions included the purchase of a new refrigerated truck for Grow Youngstown's Farm to You CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. This addition of the truck will help Grow Youngstown to supply high quality fresh foods from local farms in the Youngstown area and support local growers. The Farm to You program is a weekly produce box share that can be delivered to one of several drop points in the Youngstown area. For information about purchasing weekly box shares, please visit the Grow Youngstown website at www.growyoungstown.org.