WARREN, Ohio – Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership’s updated strategic plan reflects shifts in the organization’s mission in recent years, its executive director said Tuesday.

The strategic plan being replaced had received only “modest updates” since its completion in 2015. TNP’s board of directors agreed with its staff that they should fully update the plan, said Matt Martin, TNP executive director since 2014. The document will guide TNP’s work for at least the next five years.  

“We’ve been working on it for all of last year and a little bit into this year getting it wrapped up,” he said.

The document outlines five goals, with accompanying strategies and tactics:

  • Expand housing construction and property renovation while maintaining support for existing owner-occupied properties.
  • Continue to return vacant land and properties to productive use through management and continued programming evolution of the Trumbull County Land Bank.
  • Improve health, safety and livability of neighborhoods.
  • Increase organizational sustainability and resilience.
  • Strengthen community engagement and partnerships that focus on long-term impacts.

The goals outlined in the document reflect TNP’s changed priorities in recent years, Martin said. Among the key initiatives highlighted in the update is expanding new construction, which “was not present at all the last time we did a strategic plan,” he remarked. Other areas of increased emphasis include expansion of the organization’s home repair program and being a resource for existing homeowners.

Amid these expansions and changes, Martin emphasized that much of TNP’s “long-term, grassroots, on-the-ground programming” will remain. “We’re still going to be just as active doing community cleanups, trash pickups, boarding houses, supporting community gardens, having a farmers market and working with our neighborhood associations,” he said.

To support TNP’s existing and expanding initiatives, the organization will pursue funds through “a lot of the same pathways that we have gone down,” as well as explore new sources, he said.

“A lot of funding these days is in the state of Ohio, and so we’ve continued to seek out funds there, but we’re also getting a lot more creative about where we seek out money. Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh and Cincinnati have become partners to a higher level,” he said. “Obviously, the support of the Raymond John Wean Foundation is still paramount to our success.”

Additionally, funding from the city of Warren and Trumbull County has increased significantly, and TNP receives “a lot of support” from banking partners and other foundations, including Healthy Community Partnership and the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, he said. TNP also is working through a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant, “something that’s new for us,” he said. 

TNP is “an excellent partner for the city,” said Mike Keys, Warren community development director.

“When I need something or we need to work on something, they’re always available to bring their expertise and their staffing to the table, whether it be housing, whether it be cleanups in the neighborhood, whether it be assistance with blight,” he said.

Pictured at top: Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership constructed four houses on Drexel Avenue in Warren. Three of the four houses are still available.