Year Long Campaign for NSP Funds will have an Answer by December

Year Long Campaign for NSP Funds will have an Answer by December

More than 1,000 people involved in state and national effort

Last October, in front of an abandoned house on the south side of Youngstown, Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative (MVOC) leaders gathered to hold a press conference about Neighborhood Stabilization Program dollars coming to the Valley. At issue was the small and inadequate allocation to Youngstown and the region as a whole....

"When I see numbers that we have the highest foreclosure rate in the state, I’m not happy. We’re tired of getting leftovers,” said Annie Gillam, First Ward Councilperson......This press conference was the formal launch of what is now one of MVOC’s most important campaigns. In February, MVOC hosted Lt. Governor Lee Fisher at Union Baptist Church to discuss the allocation and incoming stimulus dollars for the same program.

Fisher promised that the state would allocate additional funds to neighborhood stabilization in the Mahoning Valley not only “because it is the right thing to do,” but because local leaders are the “single most relentless, persistent, and sometimes obnoxious advocates” for the Valley. Patricia Dougan, MVOC Sponsoring Committee member and president of the 7th Ward Citizens Coalition, said, “We’ve worked to save what is special about Youngstown. Our neighborhoods are under attack; the only way to stabilize them is with help from the state.” 

MVOC has brought delegations of local and regional leaders to the state capital, held several press conferences, organized public meetings, and pushed in every direction to see additional NSP dollars come to the Valley.

The success of the campaign will be determined later this year when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announces allocations for the second round of Neighborhood Stabilization Program funding. Nine cities in the Mahoning Valley have come together to apply for $32 million in what is one of the few regional applications submitted in the country.

“We aren’t trying to build glass towers, we are just trying to stabilize neighborhoods,” said Bill D’Avignon. D’Avignon, director of the Youngstown Community Development Agency, was responsible for encouraging this coalition of nine cities to collaborate on this strong application. He has also been a key advocate for the campaign, and has traveled to Columbus with grassroots leaders and legislators to lobby for the dollars.

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