• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Community Investment Profiles

 

 

YOUNGSTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT CORP.                   SEEKING TO IMPROVE LIFE IN NEIGHBORHOODS

COMMUNITY INVESTMENT PROFILE

Many Mahoning Valley residents fondly remember Idora Park and are quick to share stories of their rides on the Wildcat rollercoaster, dances they attended in the ballroom or boat trips down the lost river.

For decades, however, much of the public dialog about Idora Park has been limited to remembrances of what was and how sad it is that the amusement park left.  Since 1984 when the amusement park closed, the neighborhood surrounding it has suffered steady decline. Crime. Abandoned homes. Residents who fear leaving their homes.

The once vibrant Idora neighborhood has become a living laboratory for neighborhood decay and an ideal first project for a new organization that seeks to improve Youngstown neighborhoods. The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) has adopted the Idora Park neighborhood as one of its first demonstration projects. YNDC, formed in 2009, plans to reclaim and rehabilitate vacant properties, preserve existing homes, increase neighborhood pride, create a commercial corridor on Glenwood and work to ensure that the neighborhood is a safe place to live.

The YNDC has staked out big plans.

READ MORE

BEATITUDE HOUSE LAUNCHES GREEN CLEAN; GIVES WOMEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO WORK AND BECOME OWNERS OF COMPANY

COMMUNITY INVESTMENT PROFILE

   

Bouchra Semlani lifts a feather duster up to a ceiling fan and then ducks. “A little dusty here,” she says as she smiles and sneezes.

Talking as she continues dusting, explains why her job with Green Clean is the best one she’s ever had.

“I am working for myself, really,” she says.

Semlani is one of a handful of women working to become owners of Green Clean, a for-profit arm of The Beatitude House, which also owns preferred stock in the company.

Green Clean, the collective idea of Beatitude House architects and a handful of consultants, launched in August 2009 as a commercial and residential cleaning service employing women who work for ownership of the company.

Some of the women associates of Green Clean are former or current clients of the Beatitude House; others joined because they are excited about the idea of working with an employee-owned business.

READ MORE

MORE PROFILES OF GRANTEES:

 

Help Hotline USES TECHNOLOGY TO FURTHER MISSION

SMARTS credits success to building from the ground up