SitemapOfficials at the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. outlined the city’s development plans at a meeting Nov. 12 in the community room at the Covelli Centre.
Ian Beniston, executive director of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., explains the city’s four-part development plan during a community meeting Nov. 12 in the Covelli Centre. Brittany Wenner/TheNewsOutlet.org
Ian Beniston, executive director of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., explains the city’s four-part development plan during a community meeting Nov. 12 in the Covelli Centre. Brittany Wenner/TheNewsOutlet.org
IAN BENISTON: “Lets go ahead get started.”
JOHN VEAUTHIER: In 2013, the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. met with residents throughout the city about a plan for revitalizing the city. YNDC’s executive director Ian Beniston began by recapping those 13 meetings.
BENISTON: Many of you attended some of those in your neighborhood. What we really heard were four major themes related to housing and property issues, infrastructure, crime and safety, and economic development and jobs.
VEAUTHIER: Beniston explained more about those four priorities to the 100 or so residents who attended. Reducing crime by creating a re-entry program is one of the priorities.
BENISTON: Really that means people, when they are returning to the community from jail, from prison – basic skills so they can get a job. They can become employable. They can be productive. They can get off the streets. They don’t have to commit a crime again.
VEAUTHIER: City youths are another focus of the development plan.
BENISTON: But having productive things for them to do, when they are out of school all summer – keeping them off the street, keeping them doing things that are productive.
VEAUTHIER: Other goals include demolishing more vacant houses – especially around churches and schools, fixing such basics as broken street lights and uncut grass, all of which will hopefully lure businesses back to the city.
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