ARP

The subsidized development of three new homes highlights a $725,000 project under way in the Glenwood Corridor with the support of the City’s American Rescue Plan funds.

Managed by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., this effort aims to encourage additional investment and home ownership near the north end of Glenwood Avenue, across the street from the Volney Rogers field and tennis courts.

Some $600,000 will subsidize the development of three new homes on Bernard Street, which runs east off Glenwood and has been closed by barricades for several years.

A mobile food service based in Youngstown is expanding with the support of American Rescue Plan funds targeted to the City’s 1st Ward.

Aisle One Mobile Market, opened last year by South Side resident Kimberly Johnson, received $50,000 to cover part of the cost of a new truck. The investment is among several sponsored by 1st Ward Councilman Julius Oliver.

Aisle One “is like a bodega on wheels,” Johnson said, serving fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, breads, baked goods, and refrigerated items.

Work is expected to start early next year on a project to remove the lead pipelines supplying water to more than 100 homes on Youngstown’s West Side and replace them with safe, clean copper and ductile iron pipelines.

Allocations of more than $2.2 million from the City’s American Rescue Plan funds will fix this issue on Eddie and Roy streets and Hazelwood Avenue, as well as surrounding homes. All told, approximately 5,840 feet of waterlines will be replaced.

With $200,000 of American Rescue Plan funds, Youngstown is upgrading its information technology network to enhance security, as well as provide redundancy and speed. The additions include upgraded hardware (Servers, Firewall & Switches), flexible virtual environments, and the most current Microsoft Server operating systems. The upgrades will be completed in early 2023.

The changes will provide a positive impact on the City’s local network, but won’t be noticed in the day-to-day work of City employees, said Rick Deak, Chief Information Officer.

Fresh off of lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Youngstown City Health Department is planning a major staff and service expansion to improve the way health issues are identified and addressed in the City.

The expansion, funded by more than $2.4 million from the City’s American Rescue Plan funds, will add four new “community health workers,” along with a supervisor and epidemiologist to support them.