Action Update

Time to move on from NSP 2 disappointment:

Land Banking and HUD/ White House visit up next

Though the sting of the NSP 2 decision still lingers, it is time to focus on the future and move on to the next steps, taking a cue from the words of one of our community leaders:

"With the state's highest unemployment rates, highest foreclosure rates, and the highest vacancy rate, we don't have the luxury of sitting around and licking our wounds about NSP2," said community leader Rev. Paul Heine. "It is time to move forward and get the resources our Valley needs."

For anyone who has visited the Mahoning Valley, it is obvious that we need those resources to restore vitality to our area. While it is true that there were some NSP 2 application errors, there is another side to the coin: the application was given a poor score by HUD due to the misconception the nine cities applying for resources would actually displace low-income individuals by demolishing these abandoned properties. A simple visit to the Valley and it’s obvious that no one has occupied many of these homes for decades.

The bottom line? NSP2 is just one of many pots of state federal dollars. It is time for us to take the lessons learned from this process, identify how best to apply those lessons in the future, recognize HUD’s continued failure to understand our area’s unique needs and move forward.

We've Come Too Far to Let Health Reform Fail

Today President Obama will convene a Health Care Summit in hopes of crafting a final reform package. We cannot allow another year to go by with millions of Americans lacking basic health care coverage or being forced into bankruptcy and despair trying to afford coverage.

If you want to see Congress act and get something done on Health Care, join us on March 9 as we hit the streets of Washington, D.C. It’s time to show Congress and the Health Insurance Industry people must be prioritized over profits. It’s time to put them on notice that we are tired of gridlock and we will no longer let corporate lobbyists to bully Congress into inaction.

Business Journal Praises Community Organizing

MVOC was the recent recipient of praise from The Business Journal.

The February double edition contains an opinion piece lauding MVOC's work as an integral part of the rehabilitation and revitalization of the Mahoning Valley.
Read the Opinion Piece.

MVOC is Hiring an Organizing Fellow

Community Organizer Fellow
Salary: This is a full-time fellowship (40 hours per week). The fellowship includes a stipend of $400 per week and runs for eight months (March 15th to November 15th)
Education: Bachelor’s Degree strongly preferred
Location: Youngstown - Warren, Ohio

Read the Full Description Here.