HUD Petition

Note: Top White House and HUD officials are coming to our Valley to hear our story, our challenges, and to better understand the challenges and opportunities facing smaller older industrial cities like ours. In preparation of this visit, we are asking you to join our effort to convince HUD and State Officials to design programs and designate resources for communities like ours. Without state and federal resources, we cannot address the long-term impact of disinvestment and de-industrialization. The NSP2 grant program is just yet another example of how we have been unable to obtain the funds we desperately need. Our goal is to collect 10,000 signatures before White House and HUD officials come for their visit.

To: Secretary Shaun Donovan, HUD Officials, and the White House Office of Urban Affairs,

The announcement of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program recipients on Thursday, January 14, 2010 was the most recent instance of the federal government’s failure to address the plight of the Mahoning Valley and our need for federal assistance.

The purpose of the program was to provide funding for cities to reclaim abandoned properties, and since the city of Youngstown has more than 4,500 abandoned buildings and 22,000 vacant parcels and the city of Warren has more than 1,500 abandoned buildings and 4,000 vacant lots, the Valley clearly qualified for NSP dollars and stood to benefit substantially from those funds. But the fact that the Valley yet again did not receive funding, indicates a flaw in the way federal programs and policies are structured: such programs and policies are designed with larger, strong market cities in mind and, as such, immediately put older industrial cities at a disadvantage.

The federal government cannot continue to overlook our cities. The cities of the Mahoning Valley and other older industrial cities like them were instrumental in building a prosperous America. But since these cities began to decline in the 1970s—nearly forty years ago—the federal government has not attempted to understand their plight, thus making it impossible for them to develop programs and policy that will help rejuvenate these cities.

In light of this most recent failure of the government to address the Mahoning Valley’s unique circumstances and request for assistance, we ask you to ensure that communities like ours are no longer ignored by the government and that measures are taken to address the unique plight of older industrial cities like Youngstown and Warren, Ohio. We formally request that you work with us to design programs that work for communities like ours.

Sincerely,