Founded in 2009 in partnership with the City of Youngstown and the Wean Foundation, YNDC catalyzes strategic neighborhood reinvestment in neighborhoods throughout the city. To accomplish this mission, the community development corporation utilizes a dual approach that includes strategic investments to rebuild market confidence in neighborhoods with strong assets and broader partnership strategies to strengthen Youngstown’s community development capacity and the citywide infrastructure supporting neighborhood revitalization.
“Since our founding, we leverage partnerships to build and encourage strategic investment in our neighborhoods to rebuild market confidence,” says Ian Beniston, executive director. “Together, we also work to build capacity alongside residents to manage day-to-day issues that come up and to help ensure people feel confident about the future of their neighborhood.”
Filmed over the course of three years, The Place That Makes Us is an intimate and inspiring portrait of Youngstown, Ohio featuring the work and team of YNDC along with other Youngstown residents. It aired nationally on 170 stations on the PBS WORLD Channel on March 30!