Neighborhoods

Thursday, April 3, 2014

The YNDC is proud to announce the publishing of its first quarterly performance report of 2014! The performance report highlights the work of YNDC over the fist quarter of 2014. An electronic copy can be downloaded below.

Volunteers and community partners will gather at 9 a.m. Saturday at the former Coach’s Bar and Grille parking lot, 3178 Sheridan Road, to clean up nine vacant properties in the Powerstown neighborhood on the city’s southeast side.

Cleanup activities begin at 9:15 a.m. and end at 2 p.m.

The initiative is spearheaded by a partnership between the Powerstown Block Watch, the Seventh Ward Citizen’s Coalition, the city, Mahoning County Land Bank, and Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.

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

Volunteers and community partners will gather at 9 a.m. Saturday at the former Coach’s Bar and Grille parking lot, 3178 Sheridan Road, to clean up nine vacant properties in the Powerstown neighborhood on the city’s southeast side.

Cleanup activities begin at 9:15 a.m. and end at 2 p.m.

The initiative is spearheaded by a partnership between the Powerstown Block Watch, the 7th Ward Citizen’s Coalition, the city, Mahoning County Land Bank and Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.

In addition, community volunteers from three Youngstown State University student groups — Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity, the University Scholars and Honors program and YSU-Scape — also will pitch in and help the effort.

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

Today, the Mahoning Valley has the fifth highest percentage of residents 65 and older in the top 100 metro areas in the United States.

And the valley has the lowest average household income – less than $30,000 per year.

Those statistics come from Dave Davis, a YSU journalism professor who specializes in gathering census and demographic data.

DAVIS: We tend to see people who are on the lower end, economically, who maybe lost a job, don’t have much in a pension, if anything, maybe tend to be relying more people solely on Social Security.

For some, aging in place translates to aging in poverty.

One of the organizations that helps residents is the Area Agency on Aging 11. It administers care for people 60 and older in Ashtabula, Columbiana Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

Lisa Solley, chief of community relations, says her organization helps people maneuver through Medicare and Medicaid programs. She says many local seniors choose between food and medicine.

SOLLEY: I think there are a lot of people who end up cutting their pills either in half or going without for a while.

Some seniors don’t realize they qualify for food assistance and other plans: One new program is called “Extra Help.”

SOLLEY: If you qualify – and a lot of people do because it is not the same qualifications as Medicaid, it will help you with your medication payments. It can actually help you pay your premiums for Medicare. It is an average of $4,000 savings a year for people.

Although she could not give us specifics, Solley did say her agency has seen an increase in assisted living during the past two years. Her goal is to keep people at home.

Both Davis and Solley point to pride as a contributing factor in not seeking help.

DAVIS: I think what happens is, sadly a lot of times, they don’t speak up. They are isolated in their home, in a particular neighborhood, they need help but they don’t reach out because of their pride and because of who they are.

SOLLEY: People are especially, in the older generation, they are very prideful and they’ve worked hard all of their lives. It’s not easy for them to ask for help, but at the same time these programs exist and if they are here, we want to help you before your health gets worse.

Many other organizations and associations help seniors but sometimes – help comes from a neighbor.

Meet 84-year-old Pearl Underwood.

UNDERWOOD: I came from Philadelphia to Youngstown in 1949.

She settled in the Oak Hill area of Youngstown

UNDERWOOD: … 67 years right here.

She’s seen her neighborhood change over the decades. Oak Hill is identified by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. as having a 50 percent tax delinquency rate.

Oak Hill is troubled by crime, blemished by dilapidated, vacant houses and scarred by vacant lots used as dumping grounds.

Underwood captains the POGO block watch. POGO stands for Parkwood, Orange, Glenwood and Oak Hill.

UNDERWOOD: All the members of our block club, except a few men that are younger that will help us, they all senior citizen.

Underwood has been losing about one elderly neighbor each year.

She says some of the younger men in the neighborhood help out the older residents by delivering fresh fruit and vegetables from a community garden she created on one of the vacant lots.

UNDERWOOD: Kentucky wonders, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers.

She also grows fruit trees and blueberries to help supply some of the seniors with fresh fruit. And in a true-life example of turning lemons into lemonade, Underwood uses some of the dumped tires as planters for her azalea and other flowering bushes.

The block watch serves as a lifeline for the seniors..

UNDERWOOD: The police come every meeting and ask them what’s happening in the neighborhood what’s bothering them so we love it. They come.

Underwood eventually expects to move in with her daughter who lives in Boardman, but right now she’s happy in her Oak Hill home.

UNDERWOOD: I like living here.

Fifty percent of her neighbors live at or below the poverty line; 15 percent are older than 65.

To hear the full story from The News Outlet, click here.

Residents have one last chance to tell the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. what changes they’d like to see in their neighborhoods and in the city.

Rick Pollo has more.

The YNDC visited every neighborhood in the city in the past six weeks, talking to residents and taking their direct input. On April 8, a final meeting will be held at the Covelli Centre to recap the past several weeks. YNDC Deputy Director Ian Beniston says it’s the last chance for them to voice their opinion.

BENISTON: To gives folks a final opportunity to give input if they haven’t come to any of the previously scheduled meetings.

He’s pleased with the residents’ enthusiasm.

BENISTON: But overall I think we’ve had very good turnouts at the meetings. Most of them have been very well attended.”

Rather than focusing on a specific neighborhood, this meeting will look at issues concerning the city as a whole.

BENISTON: There’ll be a citywide presentation related to the Neighborhood Conditions Report. Then we’ll move on to a presentation of an overview of the findings. Basically a summary of the input, what people said the priorities are.

Tom Hetrick, YNDC neighborhood planner, says they reviewed the information gathered from the meetings and will address one particular concern from every neighborhood.

HETRICK: The one thing that we heard at each meeting which was the No. 1 priority for folks was to address housing and property issues.

The citywide meeting will begin at 6:30 in the Covelli Centre’s Community Room.

To hear the full story from The News Outlet, click here.

Monday, April 7, 2014

On Saturday, April 4th, volunteers from Youngstown State University, including student groups Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity, University Scholars and Honors Program, and YSU-Scape, joined project partners YNDC, Powerstown Block Watch, 7th Ward Citizen's Coalition, the City of Youngstown, and Mahoning County Landbank to clean up nine vacant properties in the Powerstown Neighborhood on the southeast side of Youngstown.

The volunteers cleared 120 cubic yards of brush and debris, filling 3 dumpsters, from the nine properties that were previously boarded up by YNDC. 

The next neighborhood workday is schedule for Saturday, April 19th from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm in the Idora Neighborhood. Volunteers should meet at YNDC's revitalization campus at 820 Canfield Road, Youngstown, Ohio 44511. 

For more information about the next workday or to get involved in other neighborhood revitilzation efforts, please contact Jack Daugherty via email at jdaugherty@yndc.org or via phone at 330.480.0423.

Corrine DeCesare spent a year working along with her father in the oil fields throughout the Midwest.

Then, just more than a year ago, she decided to trade that life for a business of her own, one inspired by her faith.

Today, DeCesare runs a seamstress and clothing line, Jesus Speak, and leases space at the Oak Hill Collaborative Inc., a neighborhood redevelopment initiative on the south side of Youngstown that encourages people to become their own bosses.

“Right now, I’m selling through an online boutique,” DeCesare says.

From her small office on the ground floor of the Oak Hill Collaborative building, 507 Oak Hill Ave., DeCesare creates a line of custom clothing, each of which contains a message from Jesus sewn into the garment.

“We have a lot of ideas,” she says. “We’re also tossing around the idea of doing some sewing classes.”

Jesus Speak is one of the seven tenants leasing space in the Collaborative, once an abandoned annex of Forum Health.

Now, the 6,800-square-foot building is remodeled office space, suitable for entrepreneurs and small startups that could help revitalize this section of the South Side.

“We are, at the core, a neighborhood revitalization organization,” explains the collaborative’s executive director, Patrick Kerrigan. “But, it’s more than just cutting the grass and tearing down buildings. There has to be a jobs component.”

The concept is to develop an environment where individuals can create their own jobs, Kerrigan says.

As such, the collaborative makes available office space, conference rooms and office equipment such as telephones, computers, fax machines and copiers to those looking to start or operate a business of their own.

As an example, Kerrigan cites another tenant, KB KIDZ, a party service for children that two single mothers own. The owners, who live on the South Side, use an office in the collaborative to meet with prospective customers.

“They have a Bounce Around, popcorn machines, cotton candy machines, but they can’t have people come into their house. So they meet people at Oak Hill,” Kerrigan says.

Other users range from a grant writer to a carpenter. In between are a painter, a sales and business coach, an urban farmer and a third-party medical professional, Kerrigan notes.

The first floor of the building consists of four offices, a large conference room, an open floor space with computers and desks, and a kitchen. All of the renovation was funded by donations, and all of the furnishings throughout the building are surplus chairs, tables and desks given to the nonprofit.

Although the collaborative is funded through private sources, the initiative has also received financial help from The Raymond John Wean Foundation, Catholic Charities, the city of Youngstown, and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., Kerrigan says.

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

Monday, April 7, 2014

Through a series of 10 public meetings, YNDC and the City of Youngstown engaged more than 400 residents across the city as part of the neighborhood planning process.

Meetings were held in Rocky Ridge, Pleasant Grove, Cornersburg, Idora, McGuffey Heights, Brownlee Woods, Lincoln Knolls, Wick Park, and Crandall Park. Data from the Neighborhood Conditions Report was presented at each meeting and activities were conducted to identify each neighborhood's top assets and challenges. Key assets reported by residents were 1) neighborhood characteristics, including good neighbors, housing quality and upkeep, and historic homes; 2) community facilities, including schools, places of worship, community centers, and libraries; and 3) parks and recreational facilities, including Mill Creek Park, city parks, and playgrounds. By far, the top challenge reported by residents were housing and property issues, including code enforcement, demolition, rental regulation, litter, dumping, and vacancy. The next most-mentioned priorities were 2) infrastructure repair and maintenance; 3) crime and safety concerns; and 4) economic development. Resident input will be made available in a Community Input Report, to be published in the near future by YNDC and the City of Youngstown. Resident input will be used in developing policy recommendations at the citywide level that will positively impact all neighborhoods, as well as specific action strategies for neighborhood improvement.

Wilie Joe Ford is glad to see the house that, until yesterday morning, had been located at 2717 Reel Ave., come down.

“It’s cleaning up the neighborhood. It’ll look better,” Ford, who lives with his aunt and uncle in the neighborhood, remarked. “It won’t have all those rats and rodents and dogs.”

The abandoned house, at the edge of the city’s Idora neighborhood, was demolished Monday morning through a collaboration led by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. Demolition services were donated by Wolford’s Rolloff Inc. in McDonald and Republic Waste Services of Ohio.

“We’ve been working with residents and community members to get this property addressed for a number of years,” said Jack Daugherty, program coordinator with YNDC. “This was a serious problem-property in the neighborhood that residents have been complaining about and trying to get addressed for years. So we’re really happy to see it come down.”

The lot will be cleared, graded and seeded this year.

To prepare for the demolition, community volunteers from the neighborhood, Youngstown State University and Tabernacle Evangelical Presbyterian Church cleaned out the building and removed tires around and inside the house that had been thrown in through the windows, Daugherty said.

Monday’s demolition is the third that Wolford’s has donated over the past two years. At first YNDC had requested that the company donate a container that YNDC volunteers would load the demolished building into, said Paul Wolford, president and CEO. Wolford decided it would be cheaper to have his company demolish the building and load the debris into a container than to tie up a container at the site for several days.

Wolford’s Rolloff works with the city frequently and supports YNDC’s efforts, Wolford said. “We’re trying to help them take down more houses,” he said.

“It’s worked out fine,” he added. “We do demolitions all the time that are paid for.” YNDC is “very flexible” so Wolford’s is able to come from paid sites to unpaid ones for demolitions, he said.

“We think it’s always important to try to upgrade and enhance neighborhoods for the good of the community,” remarked Mike Heher, division manager for Republic Waste Services’ Carbon Limestone Landfill in Poland Township. “We’re glad to help out and let their money stretch so they can do more.” The donation is Republic Waste's second one for YNDC this year, he said.

“A lot of progress has been made in this part of the city, particularly along the Glenwood Avenue corridor, Daugherty commented. Demolishing problems properties like these is the “first step to getting the neighborhoods on track,” he said.

To see the full story from The Business Journal, click here.

Demolition work continued Monday at the century-old General Electric lamp plant in Youngstown.

The project, expected to be complete by June, was delayed last month after Mahoning County building inspectors learned some of the necessary construction and demolition permits had not been obtained.

GE still owns the property off Market Street, which can be sold once the land is cleared.

Also Monday, demolition crews spent the day tearing down a residential eyesore on the South Side of Youngstown. The house at 2717 Reel Ave. has been reduced to rubble.

Wolford’s Rolloff donated its time for the project, marking the third house it has demolished in two years. Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation will clean and seed the lot.

To see the full story from WKBN, click here.