Neighborhoods

Thursday, December 4, 2014

On Wednesday, December 3rd, a press conference was held at the Elm Street Cafe to announce that YNDC is one of 26 nationwide recipients of the Local Food, Local Places award.

Officials from the Appalachian Regional Commission and the EPA were in attendance, as Youngstown was honored to host one of 2 national announcements of this program. The funded project will include workshops with local officials, a report discussing how local food can spur economic development in Youngstown, and $20,000 in funding to begin implementing recommended projects. Partners in this project include Eastgate Regional Council of Governments and the Mahoning Valley Food Coalition, whose members include Common Wealth, Inc, Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative, Grow Youngstown, Goodness Grows, Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, and Ohio State University Extension, Mahoning County.

T. Sharon Woodberry, the city’s economic development director, will head the newly created department of community planning and economic development, Mayor John McNally announced this morning.

Woodberry has worked 14 years in the city’s economic development office at various levels. “I’ve been impressed with her work so far,” the mayor said. “I believe she’s earned the opportunity to serve in this position.”

Voters approved a charter amendment in November to combine the economic development office and community development agency. While Woodberry will oversee the entire department, Bill D’Avignon will remain as CDA director.

McNally has proposed a salary of $79,101 for the position. Authorizing legislation is expected to go before City Council next week.

“I’m thrilled to be able to have the opportunity to merge ongoing efforts with economic development with what community development has accomplished,” Woodberry said. “There is a natural meeting of the objectives for both departments.”

The new department will see a shift in focus, at least initially, to the neighborhoods and corridors, McNally said.

“She’s going to be tasked primarily with devoting more time and city resources to the economic development efforts on our major corridors, and working with the CDA unit and Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. in implementing the plans YNDC has prepared over the past six months,” he said. “Each one of those plans has a component increasing development in those main corridors, starting business associations and getting better relationships with small business in the area.”

Woodberry said the city “set the stage” for improvements to the corridors and neighborhoods with investments downtown and in business parks. “We have great things underway in terms of our Initiative program and funding for small businesses, but what you’ll now see is this all happening in a more strategic manner,” she observed.

The refocusing will represent a shift from the “larger projects” in recent years such as the Vallourec pipe, McNally added.

“What we ultimately want to see is our population stabilized,” with more people purchasing homes in the city, Woodberry said. “That has been on the decline and we need to reverse that trend. It’s a natural progression. Once you stabilize neighborhoods, it will make it easier for economic development to occur in those corridors and businesses will look to establish themselves there.”

Woodberry expects the combined departments to move into interim offices in 20 Federal Place in early 2015. The eventual goal is to occupy the space in City Hall now used by the municipal courts and clerk of courts’ office.

Some cross training will take place for employees of the newly combined department, she said.

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

Monday, December 15, 2014

On Saturday December 13th, residents and volunteers from Tabernacle Evangelical Presbyterian Church cleaned up 5 vacant properties in the Idora neighborhood on LaClede and Brentwood Avenues.

Activities included boarding up unsecured windows and doors, raking leaves, and removing overgrowth and brush piles. Youth from the neighborhood also participated in the event by picking up trash at these properties.

To volunteer, please see the YNDC calendar on our home page, which includes a list of upcoming community work days.

The Raymond John Wean Foundation awarded eight fourth-quarter grants totaling $1,239,920, making it the largest grant-making quarter of the year.

“These grants support a strong group of organizations, the work of which is aligned with our core values and strategic priorities,” said Jennifer Roller, Foundation president.

Of the eight grants awarded at its December board meeting, five were made from the foundation’s responsive portfolio. They are: Community Advocates for Young Learners, $100,000; Invent Now Inc., $9,900; Mahoning Valley College Access Program, $100,000; Policy Matters Ohio, $30,000; and Youngstown State University Center for Nonprofit Leadership, $50,020.

The CAYL Institute’s project, Voices for the Valley, is designed to link local education leaders with families to cultivate an atmosphere of quality education in the Mahoning Valley.

The Invent Now Inc.’s Camp Invention curricula promotes critical thinking and communication skills through hands-on STEM and entrepreneurship content. Camp Invention provides training, curricula and program materials to talented local teachers.

Support to MVCAP will provide a wider and deeper approach to providing college-access services to impact the Valley’s demographics on college admissions and completion.

Ohio CASH, a program of Policy Matters Ohio, is looking to build on its success by tackling new challenges and forging policy change in four areas: improving state Earned Income Tax Credit results; maintaining Ohio’s debt-adjuster statutes against new threats; ensuring best practices on all public debit cards; and addressing payday lending regulation.

YSU’s biennial Nonprofit Leadership Summer Honors Internship Program provides an opportunity for about 10 students that represent a variety of majors from across campus to serve as full-time interns in regional nonprofit organizations or public-sector offices.

The remaining three grants represent the foundation’s ongoing commitment to its 2015 strategic partners: Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative, $400,000; Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., $350,000; and the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, $200,000.

The Wean Foundation recently hosted a convening of its “strategic partners” to celebrate the group’s collaborative work and share the partnership’s vision with board members, staff and employees of the partners.

Monday, December 15, 2014

On Thursday, December 11th, Youngstown Columbiana Association of REALTORS (YCAR) President Charley Althof presented YNDC with a check for $6517.

YCAR chose YNDC as it's charitable organization for 2014 and raised money for the organization throughout the year through membership fees, silent auctions, and the Association's annual golf outing. YNDC would like to thank YCAR for their ongoing partnership and support! 

Friday, December 19, 2014

Thanks to the support of the Ohio CDC Association, YNDC was able to provide microloans to 4 city-based small businesses.

Applicants needed to reside in and operate their business within the city limits, and had to meet income qualification guidelines. The loans were made at a 2% interest rate, and were used for equipment needed to operate or expand their business. Individuals entering the program also received counselling to help them improve their credit.

Loan recipients in 2014 include:

• Pricilla Jackson - Hilltop Chicken N' More - $10,000
• Anthony Young - DNA Detailing - $5,000
• Keyonna Trevathan - KBC Kidz - $3,800
• Sophia Buggs - Lady Buggs Farm - $1,200

YNDC will have loan funds available at very favorable rates in 2015 - please contact Liberty Merrill at YNDC for more information!

Friday, December 19, 2014

At its December board meeting, The Raymond John Wean Foundation approved eight grants totaling $1,239,920, including a $350,000 operating grant to YNDC.

The Foundation played an integral role in establishing YNDC in 2009, and has continued to provide support that has been vital to the organization's success. YNDC is one of three "Strategic Partners" - alongside Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative and Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership - that receive ongoing operating support from the Foundation.

Raymond John Wean, after having achieved success in the flat-rolled steel processing industry, in 1949 created the Foundation that bears his name in Warren. Since then, The Raymond John Wean Foundation has made more than $100 million in grants to a broad variety of nonprofit organizations. The vision of the Foundation is to empower residents to create a healthy, vibrant and economically stable Mahoning Valley community. More information is available at www.rjweanfdn.org.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

YNDC has identified 35 projects for its Paint Youngstown limited-repair program for 2014.

Five projects will be completed in each of the City of Youngstown's seven wards this year. To date, 34 of the projects have been completed and 1 is in progress. The program is funded by an allocation of CDBG funds from the City of Youngstown, which was utilized to leverage additional funding from the FHLB NIP program provided through Talmer Bank & Trust to increase impact.

Additionally, YNDC has identified 6 owner-occupied full rehab projects. Four of those projects are in progress, with two more to begin in the new year. 

Here's a look back at some of the notable news of 2014 in Youngstown:

1. Youngstown Gets A New Plan: Deteriorating physical and social fabric have long been an issue for Rust Belt cities like Youngstown. Urban sprawl, a decline in manufacturing and the depletion of the public school system are all major factors which have contributed to the problem.

Social statistics bear this out yet they are often met with mixed results. For instance, in 2014, Youngstown saw a 31% decrease in violent crime by mid-year and a lower homicide than 2013. And while the Valley's unemployment rate was the lowest it's been in 14 years (4.9% as of November), the city's was slightly higher at 6.9% but down from 9.8% a year ago.

However, in September, the U.S. Census Bureau released figures which indicated that Youngstown's poverty rate remains exceptionally high at 40.2%, placing it among the top six cities in the nation in that category. Not surprisingly, it was also reported that the child poverty rate in the Youngstown School District was also double the national average.

Over time, the fallout from these social ills can leave some areas of the city in a condition which is often greater than what residents, the city or business are able to fix by themselves. This is where planning and community development initiatives play an important role.

Ten years ago, Youngstown drafted an ambitious plan - titled 'Youngstown 2010' - which sought to 'right-size' the city. While it didn't lack vision, it did largely lack detail as well as the capacity (people and funding) to implement it.

However, a great deal of progress has been made on this front in recent years. Perhaps the most notable has been the efforts of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation.

In 2014, the organization completed a new (and much more pragmatic) plan for neighborhood development in the city. The plan was preceded by nearly 5 years of nationally and internationally recognized work.

As a result, YNDC was recognized as the '2014 Ohio Community Development Corporation Of The Year' by the Ohio Community Development Corporation Association.

Having now had time to see what the organization is capable of accomplishing, implementation of the current plan should perhaps be met with a healthier degree of optimism than those plans and initiatives of the past.

2. Downtown Development Continues: The revitalization of downtown Youngstown continued to take major strides in 2014.

The Kress Building and Wean United were lost to the wrecking ball but other major projects such as the redevelopment of the Wick, Wells and Gallagher buildings took big steps forward. Some if not all are scheduled for completion in 2015.

Perhaps the biggest news on this front was the announcement of plans for a Doubletree Hotel by Hilton in central square's historic Stambaugh Building. The 125-room hotel will feature conference space as well as fine dining and retail. Completion is scheduled for 2016.

New restaurants such as Suzie's Dogs & Drafts, Ryes, Christopher's Downtown and the Youngstown Doughnut Company opened their doors while the Erie Terminal Building also created a first-floor art gallery and community event venue (Nove Gatto). Other businesses such as The 5th Floor (formerly The Youngstown Club) and A&C Beverage announced plans for 2015.

In other news, downtown community development organizations Youngstown Cityscape and Wick Neighbors merged in an effort to maximize their collective impact; Youngstown State began assistance with creation of a downtown economic action group/plan; a new city events & marketing director was hired; the Covelli Center was on pace to have its best financial year yet; and the Youngstown Business Incubator continued its rapid expansion while also being named the No. 1 university-affiliated incubator in the world.

3. Changes At City Hall: 2014 marked Year One for new mayor John McNally.

In his campaign, McNally vowed to work closely with neighborhood groups; develop a more strategic demolition & development strategy; initiate efficient government measures; and play a more active role in the city school system.

He also opened the mayor's door to the public with a monthly segment titled '5 Minutes With The Mayor' and became the first mayor to use social media as a tool for community engagement.

However, in May, the State of Ohio reissued indictments related to the 2006 county purchase of Oak Hill Renaissance Place. The indictments included McNally who, at the time, was a County Commissioner. A trial is scheduled for 2015.

In other City Hall news, Youngstown City Council finally approved a new map for the city's seven ward system. It had been over 30 years since council redistricted its wards and over two years since voters approved a charter amendment mandating that it be done.

The delay prompted a citizens group to place an initiative on the November ballot which would have based the city's wards on population while also ensuring that redistricting be done every Census if necessary. In what turned out to be a highly charged campaign, the measure lost by less than 1% of the vote.

The city also continued to gather more national exposure in 2014. In January, Youngstown received a second State of the Union shoutout while The New York Times, Forbes, and CNBC each featured the city in various stories or reports.

4. Even Bigger Changes At YSU: It was also a year of big change at Youngstown State University.

In February, President Randy Dunn announced that he would be resigning as YSU president after only seven months on the job in order to assume the presidency of Southern Illinois University.

The news came as a shock to the community and resulted in a lobby by numerous local leaders to hire Jim Tressel as Dunn's replacement. The campaign was effective and Tressel was selected as the ninth president of the university in May.

Tressel's first six months would come with some turbulence. With the university already facing a multi-million dollar deficit due to a combination of cuts in state funding as well as declining enrollment, layoffs were issued in June and a faculty contract was rejected in November, setting the stage for a possible showdown in 2015.

Academically, YSU's programs in counselling and materials analysis received regional and national recognition; the school's first patent was issued; and ribbons were cut on a Center For Innovation In Additive Manufacturing as well as a new veterans resources center.

The YSU Foundation surpassed $225 million in assets in 2014, placing it the top third of university endowments throughout the nation and the largest in northeast Ohio. In mid-December, the Board of Trustees authorized the foundation to assume all fundraising functions for the school.

Having failed to make the playoffs in his first 5 seasons and faced with declining fan support, YSU head football coach Eric Wolford was released. He was replaced by Youngstown native and former Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini in a shocking move that made national headlines.

Pelini (a Cardinal Mooney graduate) will face new University of Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi (an Ursuline & YSU graduate) on September 5th in what will be the first game for both coaches with their new programs.

Also in 2014, YSU won titles in men & women's outdoor track, baseball, women's tennis and women's cross country; the women's basketball team was off to its best start in Division I program history; and the men's team - while in a rebuilding year of sorts - exceeded expectations and earned 9 wins before the start of conference play in January.

Also, football player Chris Elkins and basketball players Damian Eargle, Kam Belin and Kenrick Perry signed professional contracts to continue their athletic careers.

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Youngstown was filled with ups and downs in 2014. However, there were some major accomplishments on multiple fronts that will likely lay the groundwork for serious progress in the years to come. Here's to a prosperous 2015.

To read the full story from Defend Youngstown, click here.

With the downtown moving in the right direction and people from outside the city headed here for shows, dinner and other entertainment, a renewed focus on the major corridors to the downtown is among the priorities Mayor John A. McNally IV has set for this year.

The end of 2014 saw one of his goals reached, consolidation of the economic development, community development and planning offices into one department. He tapped T. Sharon Woodberry to lead it.

In November, voters approved a charter amendment that permitted the consolidation of the departments. One goal of the new department is working with businesses along the corridors and residents in neighborhoods they connect to form associations that will have “better interaction with City Hall on a daily basis,” McNally says. Such efforts have begun on South Avenue in cooperation with Coca-Cola, which has “taken some initiative on that endeavor,” the mayor reports.

The South Avenue group will kick off its organizational phase with a 10 a.m. meeting Jan. 21 in Metro Assembly Church, says B.J. Duckworth, an account manager with Coca-Cola and one of the principals of the group. Coca-Cola has a bottling operation on East Indianola Avenue.

“We cannot first start to make change without first being organized and unified. So setting up a steering committee will be a big goal,” Duckworth continues. “The second goal will be working to unify the business so we can all work together to share services, help the residents that patronize our businesses and improve the conditions for business within the corridor. Safety will be a big focus as we will try to set up venues for the business to share information with each other about shoplifters, bad checks, et cetera.”

Another corridor McNally’s administration is studying is U.S. Route 422, the mayor says. “We’ve started some discussions with some business owners in the Salt Springs Industrial Park about forming a business association there,” he says. “I’d like to do the same thing on Glenwood Avenue with some of the viable small businesses in that corridor. So we’re off to a pretty good start. But that is one of the main aspects that this community planning and economic development staff will be involved in.”

A Glenwood Avenue association is being formed, in part, to respond to the announcement of a Bottom Dollar Food grocery store closing there along with its other stores, all of which were purchased last year by Aldi Inc.

The McNally administration has informed Aldi that if the supermarket chain does not intend to keep the store on Glenwood open, it wants the property returned to the city, which donated the land, “so we can either look for a grocery tenant or figure out some other community use for the building,” McNally says. The city has also requested that the store on East Midlothian Boulevard revert to the city as well.

Establishing business associations is an element in each of the eight neighborhood plans written by Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. Since November 2013, YNDC has provided neighborhood planning services for the city.

After completing a “comprehensive assessment” of neighborhood conditions, YNDC began what Executive Director Ian Beniston characterizes as “an extensive neighborhood engagement effort” in late winter and early spring last year. That engagement consisted of more than a dozen neighborhood meetings and some 50 stakeholder meetings.

“The important and core findings from our outreach were that residents and stakeholders are eager for more progress in housing and property issues, infrastructure repair and maintenance, community and safety, and economic development particularly along neighborhoods,” Beniston says.

YNDC used its findings, based on the data collected, to analyze to develop a twofold strategy that encompasses the development of detailed and specific neighborhood plans and a citywide improvements, he says.

“The citywide strategy focuses on best practices, policy changes, funding opportunities, process improvements and other strategies that can be used to make changes at the citywide level on the four priorities identified by residents and stakeholders: housing and property issues, infrastructure, crime and safety, and neighborhood economic development,” he says. Efforts to execute the plans are underway and will continue this year, he says.

In addition, “action teams” for neighborhoods that include Rocky Ridge and Powerstown have begun meeting regularly with others set to begin in other neighborhoods for which plans are complete.

The neighborhood plans are “really going to serve as a blueprint and probably a checklist of things that the city has to help accomplish not only in 2015, McNally says, but over the next four or five years.”

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