Neighborhoods

The Youngstown Foundation awarded more than $910,000 in third-quarter grants to 33 organizations.

That includes $646,171 by the distribution committee from its unrestricted fund, the Hine Memorial Fund, Mahoning Valley Sports Charities, donor advised and restricted funds.

Additionally, nearly $264,000 was awarded through the support fund, a program which provides approved local charities the opportunity to receive an additional 5 percent grant for contributions received for their organization, said Janice Strasfeld, foundation executive director.

The single largest grant, $232,786, went to the Potential Development Program for costs associated with housing its Operation Search and Help Program. The grant is restricted for the medical needs of children with special needs in Mahoning County and Liberty, Girard and Hubbard in Trumbull County.

Of the 33 grants awarded, four area organizations committed to serving children with diagnosed disabilities received funds from the Hine Memorial Fund. They are: SMARTS, $27,440, to support the Beats Drum program; The Paula & Anthony Rich Center for Autism, $18,000, to update the sensory room; Eastern Gateway Community College, $5,500, to install two exterior automatic door openers, and Potential Development, $232,786.

Youngstown Foundation unrestricted fund grants are: ACTION, $5,000, to support its Integrated Voter Engagement Program; Big Brothers/Big Sisters, $7,500, to support its site-based Mentoring Program, and $28,000, toward implementation of the Year of the Teen programing; Catholic Charities, $10,000, to help purchase desk cubicles; Easter Seals, $60,190, for its new LED lighting project; Heart Reach Ministries, $33,255, to replace the boiler system; Hope House Visitation Center, $30,000, to support its Healthy Child Development/Parent Access Program; Turning Point Counseling, $20,000, for building renovations; Youngstown Area Goodwill, $15,000, toward costs for upgrading its security and safety systems; Youngstown Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Program, $20,000, for after-school programming and academics at Youngstown City Schools’ Martin Luther King Elementary School; Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., $11,000 for equipment for the REVITALIZE Program Sustainability Project; Youngstown State University, $20,000 to support implementation of the university’s Academic Encouragers Program, and the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber Foundation, $10,000, for the Jobs Now Workforce Development.

The donor-advised fund awarded a total of $85,000 to the following organizations: Beatitude House, Rescue Mission of Mahoning County, the YMCA’s Camp Fitch, Pregnancy Help Center, Inspiring Minds, Protestant Family Services, YSU Encouragers, Mercy Health Foundation Mobile Health Clinic, Potential Development, Teen Challenge, Veterans Resource Center, Brody’s Bunch and Operation Christmas Child.

Mahoning Valley Sports Charities awarded $7,500 to Trumbull Mobile Meals.

For information on creating a charitable fund, donating to existing funds, grant application guidelines, applying for a grant, or the Support Fund charities, visit www.youngstownfoundation.org or call 330-744-0320.

To read the full article from the Vindicator, click here.

Grants Stretch Food Dollars at Farmers’ Markets

Low-income residents in Youngstown and Warren have responded positively to efforts that encourage them to buy and eat locally grown, healthy food.

The Western Reserve and Trumbull Memorial health foundations have recognized the importance of these initiatives by providing grants to neighborhood non-profit organizations in both cities. The programs run the gamut from local farmers’ markets to cooking classes to community gardens.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., awarded a grant of nearly $23,000 from WRHF, spearheads a Healthy Cooking Promotion. YNDC has conducted 45 cooking classes throughout the city, according to Liberty Merrill, land use director.

“We put this information out to groups that we think can use our help and we let them know the programs are available to them,” she said. “We believe nearly 1,000 people have attended these classes.

“The instructors live in the community and are very experienced in talking about nutrition. Most of the people who attend are already receiving services within the organization.”

Each attendee also received a $5 cash voucher to be used at local farmers’ markets.

In Warren, the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership has expanded its outreach to low-income residents with its Project GROW (Garden Resources of Warren) in cooperation with vendors of the farmers’ market held on Tuesdays in Courthouse Square. It is the only farmers’ market in Warren. In addition, TNP supports 10 community gardens.

“We’re starting to see the emergence of more urban growers and this year was the first time we had Warren growers participating in the market,” said Matt Martin, TNP executive director.

Martin said the organization has partnered with Warren’s Second Baptist Church to provide its church vehicle to transport residents to the market.

“It’s been very popular and ridership is going to increase,” Martin said. “The point is to get them to come to the market and spend money on fresh local food that benefits consumers and vendors.”

Among the funding sources is a $10,000 TMHF grant.

Frequenting the farmers’ markets instead of traditional supermarkets enables recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds to double their buying power, providing a strong incentive to choose the healthy, fresh foods.

To read the full story from CFMV, click here.

The Western Reserve Health Foundation is playing a key role in a multi-year effort to make it easier – and safer — for Youngstown students to walk or ride their bicycles to school.

A recent $30,000 grant from the WRHF enabled the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. to hire a coordinator for its Safe Routes to School program, an educational effort backed by more than $500,000 of investments in wider sidewalks, bike racks, signage and flashing lights near three city schools.

The Safe Routes program began in 2014 at Taft Elementary School with bicycle and pedestrian safety demonstrations, bike helmet giveaways and an educational program to encourage walking and bicycling. More than 400 helmets have been donated to the effort, said Tom Hetrick, YNDC neighborhood planner.

In addition, the Ohio Department of Transportation has approved $200,000 for infrastructure improvements at Taft, including sidewalk widening, bike rack installation, flashing lights and signage. Hetrick expects the work to be completed in the summer of 2017.

ODOT has approved another $315,000 for the same improvements at the city’s McGuffey and Williamson elementary schools, with work scheduled to be completed in 2019.

“The (WRHF) money supplements the salary so the coordinator can conduct other activities in connection with Safe Routes, and raise funds for bike helmets and fitness bracelets,” Hetrick said. “The funding will help the coordinator continue safety education throughout the city school district, which the Ohio Department of Transportation requires.”

ODOT has added $30,000 to assist the coordinator with safety education outreach.

YNDC projects nearly 14,000 people will benefit from the Safe Routes program. Hetrick said the funding enables the coordinator to conduct safety educational programs throughout the school district.

“It all starts with the coordinator,” he said. “We want to make sure the kids have a safe environment and that includes good behaviors we encourage with our safety demonstrations and giveaways.”

To read the full story from CFMV, click here.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

On Wednesday, September 28, YNDC was awarded an $11,000 grant from The Youngstown Foundation for REVITALIZE Youngstown

to continue Neighborhood Action Plan implementation including vacant home board ups, vacant lot improvements, vacant home rehabilitation and other public space improvements. The grant will support the purchase of an enclosed trailer to move equipment for clean ups and to purchase technology to further enhance our data collection ability. Many thanks to The Youngstown Foundation for their continued support of YNDC! REVITALIZE.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

YNDC is proud to announce the publishing of its 3rd quarterly performance report of 2016! The performance report highlights the work of YNDC over the 3rd quarter. An electronic copy can be downloaded below.

A home at 1543 Canfield Road is getting a new chance at life.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) displayed its latest fixer-upper on Wednesday. It is now for sale after the agency completely gutted and upgraded the home.

The organization began work on the property after it was foreclosed and seized by Talmer Bank.

“It was essentially in despair,” said Mark Wenick, president of the Mahoning Valley region of Talmer Bank.

Workers painted the inside and outside of the house. The kitchen is now almost unrecognizable, and the rooms received new flooring and windows.

A newly-paved driveway leads to a recently-built garage. The Youngstown home also got new plumbing and wiring.<--break->

“It’s incredible,” Wenick said. “We’ve been here before, looked at before pictures and now looking at it after, it’s an incredible transformation.”

The house is listed on the market for $70,000, and the bank says it already has interested buyers.

“My understanding is there are pending offers, so again, that’s very exciting,” Wenick said.

Beniston said he anticipates getting a buyer within the next couple of weeks.

YNDC says it has eight vacant homes that workers are in the process of rehabbing and around 35 occupied homes that they’re fixing up.

To read the full story from WYTV, click here.

A home at 1543 Canfield Road is getting a new chance at life.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) displayed its latest fixer-upper on Wednesday. It is now for sale after the agency completely gutted and upgraded the home.

The organization began work on the property after it was foreclosed and seized by Talmer Bank.

“It was essentially in despair,” said Mark Wenick, president of the Mahoning Valley region of Talmer Bank.

Workers painted the inside and outside of the house. The kitchen is now almost unrecognizable, and the rooms received new flooring and windows.

A newly-paved driveway leads to a recently-built garage. The Youngstown home also got new plumbing and wiring.

“It’s incredible,” Wenick said. “We’ve been here before, looked at before pictures and now looking at it after, it’s an incredible transformation.”

The house is listed on the market for $70,000, and the bank says it already has interested buyers.

“My understanding is there are pending offers, so again, that’s very exciting,” Wenick said.

Beniston said he anticipates getting a buyer within the next couple of weeks.

YNDC says it has eight vacant homes that workers are in the process of rehabbing and around 35 occupied homes that they’re fixing up.

To read the full article from WKBN, click here.

Students from the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center’s landscape management program are helping to transform the U.S. 422 Corridor.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the students installed landscaped beds of pollinator plants, shrubs and small trees through a vision created by the Kent State University Graduate Landscape Architecture Program and Youngstown State University Regional Economic Development Initiative.

The project complements other improvements along the corridor in Youngstown and Girard. The U.S. 422 Corridor Redevelopment Plan was created in 2014 through a partnership led by the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber, Youngstown Neighborhood Corp. and Trumbull County Commissioners.

The installation, at the intersection of Superior Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, is the first of several phases and is in line with the goals set forth in the U.S. 422 Corridor Redevelopment Plan, the chamber says. This phase consists of installing native pollinator plants, shrubs and small trees. Later phases will involve planting evergreen trees to provide a natural barrier between the neighborhood and the traffic of the industrial corridor, as well as aid in stormwater management.

“The student experience for the Graduate Landscape Architecture studios at Kent State University includes real sites, real issues and real people so that projects reflect an authentic response to the needs of a community,” said Charles Frederick, interim director of the KSU program. “This requires a student to address stakeholder concerns and the realities of the site.”

Additional design input and project management for this phase were provided by the Regional Chamber and city of Youngstown, while the Ruth Beecher Charitable Trust helped to fund specific construction design and implementation. Landscape Architect Jodi McCue of McCue Design Group LLC, which facilitated the construction plan, also donated several trees to the effort. Lunch for the students on the planting dates was sponsored by Vallourec Star.

“We’re so pleased to work with local students from Kent and the Mahoning County Career & Technical Center, as we helped to give them experience in their field, while they helped us implement part of our plans for the corridor,” said Lauren Johnson, project manager for the 422 Corridor plan. “This project will have an immediate, tangible impact in the Brier Hill neighborhood, and we look forward to continued partnerships in coming months.”

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

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) added some new team members on Friday.

Seventeen new AmeriCorps members were sworn in, committing to the YNDC program for the next year. They will help to spruce up the city of Youngstown and help to revitalize the area.

“They cut grass at about 3,000 vacant homes, just in the past couple months. They’ve boarded up 275 houses. They clean up vacant houses,” said YNDC Director Ian Beniston.

AmeriCorps members will also be awarded up to a $6,000 education award once they complete the program.

To read the full story from WKBN, click here.

If you live in the city, look for stepped-up efforts to fight blight, create added green space and improve educational opportunities to come to a neighborhood near you.

“What you will do in Youngstown over the next year is highly important. You will be helping to improve our city on a daily basis,” Mayor John A. McNally told about 20 members of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and Ohio Reading Corp. organizations that have dedicated one year to serve on behalf of AmeriCorps, a 23-year-old national civil program devoted to a variety of public-service projects.

The community volunteers were sworn in during a one-hour gathering Friday morning at YNDC’s headquarters, 820 Canfield Road, on the South Side.

YNDC hosted the event, which also was part of the 2016 AmeriCorps 1 Millionth Member National Swearing-In ceremony to celebrate 1 million current and past members who have served the organization since 1994 in efforts that include expanding educational and economic opportunities, fighting blight and poverty, strengthening nonprofit agencies’ impact and revitalizing neighborhoods.

McNally applauded the new AmeriCorps volunteers for assisting elected officials and other city stakeholders with work such as mowing lawns, boarding up vacant homes and participating in neighborhood cleanup efforts to enhance the city’s overall quality of life.

One of those ready to get started was Brian Wallace, 32, of Youngstown, who hopes to make a positive impact on the East Side, where he’s lived most of his life.

“There’s too little going on. I’d like to liven up the East Side; it’s the lost part of town,” he said with a hint of frustration.

Wallace said he wants to see a full-service grocery store open to eliminate the so-called food desert in that part of the city. In addition, he hopes to paint some buildings to “add more life” to the area’s aesthetics, Wallace continued.

Among those looking forward to working with the volunteers is Sean McKinney, the city’s buildings and grounds commissioner, who said that their work in improving quality-of-life concerns will uplift and change residents’ lives for the better.

In addition, the volunteers’ work will be another piece in Youngstown’s attempts to reinvent itself, added state Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown, D-58th, who also praised neighbors’ efforts to work with one another in creating added greenspace.

The AmeriCorps workers also will be a great boon to YNDC’s efforts to rehabilitate and remodel some homes as part of the organization’s direct-service program. They will receive an allowance and an educational stipend at the end of their service, noted Ian Beniston, YNDC’s executive director.

Also, YNDC sponsors a local VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program that helps the organization recruit new volunteers, form partnerships and develop programs, among other things, noted Anika Jacobs-Green of AmeriCorps VISTA.

Sarah Lowry, the Northeast Ohio regional representative for U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, praised the new volunteers for serving as role models and for their efforts, which also will include educational endeavors.

“The energy you put in the community spreads and is contagious,” she said.

Making additional remarks were state Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd; Mahoning County Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti; Sophia Buggs, owner of Lady Buggs Farm on the South Side; Angie DeNicholas, Ohio Reading Corps.’ regional coordinator; and Meredith Pugh, program officer for ServeOhio, an organization that administers AmeriCorps’ state programs.

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