WARREN, Ohio – Trying to pick one thing in Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership’s 2024 annual report of which he’s most proud is tricky, the organization’s executive director said.
But the report demonstrates a lot of progress over the past 15 years toward TNP’s original goal and much transition toward some of its newer goals, Matt Martin said.
“We were very much launched as an organization that was meant to focus on addressing blight, which was a very prevalent condition when we started 15 years ago in Warren,” he said.
It’s not mission accomplished, Martin said, but there have been significant strides in demolition and vacant house renovations to a point where vacant housing stock is much more manageable.
The organization is adding new construction to its efforts this year.
“What I see as a success is that the housing stock is stable in the sense that as long as we continue to do what we’ve been doing, it’s very manageable,” Martin said.
The agency sold $425,900 in property and leveraged $367,710 in private investment through buyer renovation, according to the organization’s annual report for 2024, released this week.
“I’m also very, very proud of our Home Repair program because it’s done a phenomenal job over the last year,” he said.
Through its Emergency Home Repair program, TNP did 304 repairs, assisting 222 households across Trumbull County. Last year marked the program’s sixth year.
“This total reflects a remarkable increase of 104 additional households compared to the prior year,” the report reads.
Through $1.8 million awarded to TNP from various sources for lead safe repairs, 40 single family households received assistance, and work was completed at a child care facility and a homeless shelter.
“With expanded funding secured for 2025, TNP aims to continue to support households with repairs to ensure families throughout Trumbull County can live safely in their homes while maintaining the program’s impactful mission,” according to the annual report.
Repairs offered include repairs or replacement of furnaces, roofs and gutters and hot water tanks, as well as accessibility modifications, lead safe homes and plumbing and electrical issues.
While TNP will continue in 2025 with all of the efforts it’s been targeting, for the first time this year, it will build four single family homes, its executive director said.
“This is a new one for us,” Martin said. “Just like everything else we’ve done, we start with a couple and then we’ve been able to figure out how to scale it up. We’re going to build four because that’s what we have funding to do this year, but that’s by no means the limit. We intend to take it forward in the same way that we’ve taken everything else forward.”
The 2024 annual report also points to the completion of 54 residential and four commercial demolitions last year, bringing to 1,376 its total demolitions to date.
The mission of the Trumbull County Land Bank, which is administered by TNP, is to return land and vacant abandoned properties to productive use, reduce blight, increase property values, support community land-use goals and improve the quality of life for all Trumbull County residents.
“TNP and the Land Bank have diligently worked to build wealth in neighborhoods through the acquisition and disposition of properties, which buyers invest their time and resources in to create homeownership opportunities and equity in their property,” the report said. “Started in 2010, the Land Bank has continued to build its programming and impact throughout Trumbull County’s neighborhoods.”
Since its start, the land bank has demolished more than 1,300 properties, renovated 500 and facilitated the sale of more than 2,100 vacant lots to adjacent property owners, aiming to create healthier neighborhoods through blight remediation and access to homeownership opportunities.
A total of 24 Brownfield projects are currently underway, many of which involve site assessments funded through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Targeted Brownfield Assessment Program. It’s a program that allows assessments to be done at no cost to property owners who aren’t responsible for the contamination.
“These assessments play a crucial role in advancing efforts to clean up abandoned industrial sites and support community revitalization throughout the county,” TNP’s annual report said.
Other TNP programs include vacant land reuse; Mahoning Valley Tree Corps, in which it’s involved through a partnership with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation and Youngstown CityScape; Building a Better Warren; the 6th Ward Home Security Program; and Garden Resources of Warren and community gardens.