With $200K Grant, YNDC 'Urban Lab' Takes Shape
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. plans to use a $200,000 grant next year to acquire and renovate 10 vacant single-family houses in targeted areas of the city.
YNDC's initiative is just one of many the nonprofit has planned in 2014, its executive director, Presley Gillespie, reports.
The organization intends to diversify its efforts through new capital investment initiatives, neighborhood redevelopment programs, and an urban farming program, Gillespie tells The Business Journal.
The latest grant, for example, will enable YNDC to target neighborhoods that stand the best chances of arresting blight.
"This is a program where we address vacant or abandoned properties on the market," Gillespie says. "We acquire them, rehabilitate them to green-enterprise community standards. And then we sell them to new, first-time home buyers and low-to-moderate income buyers."
The award was secured through The Home Savings & Loan Co., which submitted the grant application to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati's Affordable Housing Program. YNDC's application was ranked fourth out of 119 applications accepted from the Home Loan Bank's three-state district.
"This grant further shows our ability to tap into not only local, but national and federal competitive resources," Gillespie says.
Ten houses in various sections of the city would be targeted for rehabilitation and re-sale, Gillespie reports. While those houses have yet to be selected, the organization is narrowing its scope to neighborhoods that are in transition or stabilized.
"There'll be several areas that we'll look at," Gillespie says. "One in particular is the Crandall Park neighborhood [on the North Side]. There'll be other neighborhoods on the South Side, potentially Brownlee Woods."
Gillespie emphasizes that home ownership stands as the greatest source of wealth in low-income neighborhoods: "We believe that it's critical to our neighborhood revitalization strategies."
Another component of the strategy is providing financial counseling and training for first-time homebuyers, Gillespie notes. "We provide a lot of surplus services to make sure we are attracting stable homeowners and provide the financial resources they need to be successful."
Richard Shafer, vice president and Community Reinvestment Act officer at Home Savings, says the bank has been a strong partner with YNDC since the organization started in 2009. "It was the first organization of its kind with expertise and the support of the community," Shafer says. "Its goals were much broader than a single neighborhood."
Home Savings has the benefit of access to funding sources through the Federal Home Loan Bank in Cincinnati, and the grant program is designed to fit the needs of organizations such as YNDC and its mission to improve housing stock.
"The asset of housing resources in Youngstown is one of the amazing things that can contribute to the growth of Youngstown," Shafer reports. "This particular grant enables [YNDC] to focus on neighborhoods where there are opportunities to acquire housing that can be redeveloped and resold to income eligible people."
Through this strategy, YNDC hopes to spark redevelopment throughout the city, neighborhood by neighborhood, Gillespie says.
In May, the organization moved into its new offices at 820 Canfield Road, where it is improving a two-acre parcel once blighted with vacant houses and unkempt brush.
Since then, YNDC has diversified its efforts to include initiatives such as urban farming, Gillespie says. The program, the Iron Roots Urban Farm, constitutes outdoor gardens as well as four large "hoop" houses where produce can be grown year-round.
"It positions us well for early next year," he says. "We're going to ramp up a very robust sales and marketing system so that the Iron Roots Urban Farm becomes a self-sustaining division of YNDC."
Iron Roots is expected to become self-sustaining in about three years. A separate HMHP Demonstration Kitchen will serve as both a food production and training facility for local growers and residents.
More important, Gillespie says the initiative provides neighborhoods designated as "food deserts" access to fresh produce and more healthful foodseating.
Also new at YNDC's campus is an array of solar panels that ultimately will provide all of the power for the organization's operations. "We have five solar panels providing 11 kilowatts of power, which makes us a green and environmentally friendly organization," Gillespie says.
YNDC is also looking next year to pursue certification to become a community development financial institution, Gillespie reports. "It will position us to achieve and deploy further capital for not only home ownership financing, but also micro lending for neighborhood-based businesses."
"We want this to be a robust and energetic urban laboratory to rebuild our city," Gillespie reports. "This is just the beginning. We know there's a lot more to do to restore and bring back our neighborhoods."
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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