YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation saw a record year in 2024 in securing grant funding and new construction, with even more construction expected in 2025. 

The organization released its 2024 annual report this week.

“Going into 2025, we have a little more than $23 million in grant award commitments that will fund going into the next year, year and a half or two,” said Ian Beniston, YNDC executive director. “That’s probably about double the high-water mark of where we’ve been before. I would say in terms of developing new streams of resources, it’s definitely a record year by a wide margin.”

He attributes that to year-over-year growth, as well as new resources that became available last year. The federal Inflation Reduction Act and newly available state resources added to available funding sources that YNDC applied for and received.

YNDC worked with the Mahoning County Land Bank, for example, to secure more than $7 million in Welcome Home Ohio grants from the Ohio Department of Development.

“There’s a number of factors: one, having the ability and the capacity and the track record; two, then the opportunities presenting themselves,” Beniston said.

Through the Federal Home Loan Bank system, YNDC earned grants from Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, totaling more than $3 million.

“Those are very competitive programs, but as we’ve done more and get more experience, all of these things become to our advantage, and we’re more competitive when we’re applying,” the executive director said.

The organization also saw increases in services it provided, counseling 273 housing clients – the highest number since before the pandemic, he said.

“Where you’ve seen the greatest change and where you’ll see an even more pronounced change this year is in the new construction,” Beniston said. “In 2024, we built seven new units. In 2025, we’ll construct at least 30 new units. We have, I think, 41 funded units in our new construction pipeline.”

Not all of those will be completed this calendar year, but it will be a big number completed compared with previous years.

New construction in 2024 included two duplexes on Glenwood Avenue and three single-family homes on Bernard Street.

“Our development pipeline has definitely grown,” he said. “We have more than 60 units either through the vacant renovation or new construction, which is fairly significant. If you think about 50 to 60 units year-over-year, that starts stacking into hundreds pretty quick. We’ve definitely reached a point we haven’t been at before but have been working towards.”

YNDC’s other revitalization work last year includes:

  • 74 homeowners created.
  • 8,350 linear feet of sidewalks scrapped.
  • 175 roof replacements.
  • 16 vacant houses rehabilitated.
  • 4,174 cubic yards of debris removed from city neighborhoods.
  • 184 essential home repairs.
  • 641 trees planted.

Last year was the first year of a five-year tree planting project to plant 5,000 trees so that work will continue this year. Beniston expects about 1,000 trees to be planted this year.

There will also be an increase in neighborhood cleanup activity, particularly in parts of the East and South sides. YNDC has been working with the respective City Council members in those areas who have allocated American Rescue Plan funds for the work.

Corridor improvements are slated for all sides of town, and Beniston listed Mahoning and Glenwood avenues, Market Street, McCartney Road and Midlothian Boulevard. 

“We’ll be working with stakeholders in all of those places to make additional improvements along the corridors,” Beniston said. “What that is, is additional business improvements, additional public realm or cleanup improvements – things that will make all of those corridors look and feel more attractive.”

That includes facade improvements, lighting and other enhancements to boost the aesthetic appeal and increase safety.

“We’re going to be doing some planning work and continuing to move more into some larger mixed-use development,” he said.

That includes starting work on the former Foster Theater on Glenwood. YNDC is in the final stages of securing another South Side building, which Beniston declined to identify until the acquisition is complete. 

“It will be our next and an even larger mixed-use renovation project,” he said.

Pictured at top: Work began on six new houses planned for the city of Youngstown’s Idora neighborhood. The Mahoning County Land Bank, the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation and other partners broke ground on the new houses in November 2024.