Neighborhood Issue Organizing

The MVOC works with neighborhood groups and institutions to develop local issue campaigns to address challenges facing our neighborhoods. Local issue campaigns are driven by the concerns of the community and may range from drug houses, lack of youth programming, park conditions or problem corner stores. Currently, the MVOC is conducting a Corner Store Campaign to address the condition and effects of the stores on neighborhoods.

Corner Store Campaign

The Idora Neighborhood is located on the southwest side of Youngstown and has seen serious disinvestment over the past thirty years and is now almost devoid of commercial activity. This area of the city is a food desert (no full service grocery stores) and has an overabundance of corner convenience stores. The corner stores are breeding grounds for the criminal activity that is rampant throughout the southwest side.

As part of the Youngstown 2010 planning process, the Idora Neighborhood was one of six target neighborhoods chosen for the development of a neighborhood level plan. The neighborhood planning process provided a forum for residents to discuss the significant challenges facing the neighborhood and to formulate strategies to begin moving along the road to recovery. Residents voiced serious concern over the condition and effects of the stores during this process and established a neighborhood association. In March 2008, the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative began working with the group (Idora Neighborhood Association) to increase the capacity and membership of the organization. Today, the Idora Neighborhood Association (INA) is one of Youngstown’s premier civic groups with a growing membership of more than 225 residents on the city’s southwest side.

In the summer of 2008, the organization, working with the MVOC, decided to take on an issue. Residents were most concerned with the Glenwood Avenue Corridor and corner stores. Residents identified cleaning up five problem corner convenience stores along a one mile stretch of Glenwood Avenue as the goal of the campaign. The corner stores have long been a haven for criminal activity, loitering, prostitution, sale of alcohol and tobacco to minors and even shootings. The stores have been kept in deplorable condition for years and the neighborhood was ready for a change. James London, Idora Neighborhood Association President, summed it up well by saying “it is easier to buy crack than a fresh tomato on the southwest side.”

The Idora Neighborhood Association decided to launch a campaign to clean up the corner stores in early summer 2008. The Idora Neighborhood Association held a planning meeting with over 60 residents to plan out the steps in the corner store campaign. The first step of the campaign was to hold a large public meeting to seek commitments from the stores and partner with city government to clean up the stores.

Residents planned out the meeting in detail and invited all residents from Idora, city officials and corner store owners. In August over 150 residents turned out to the Corner Store Community Meeting. At the meeting members of the Idora Neighborhood Association asked city officials for commitments to inspect the five corner stores in a one month time frame. The city agreed to partner with the organization to clean up the corner stores. Only one corner store owner attended the meeting and he publicly committed to cleaning up his store and ceasing the sale of alcohol. In an effort to continue the clean up, the Idora Neighborhood Association also launched the Dry Precinct Initiative at the meeting. Residents were asked to sign up to canvass for signatures to put the sale of alcohol on the ballot. The ballot initiative would allow neighborhood residents to choose whether or not they wanted alcohol sold in their neighborhoods.

A second meeting was held in October to discuss the results of the inspections by city officials. In the time between the meetings, residents collected over 300 signatures and the dry precinct initiative was successfully placed on the ballot. Also between August and October, two corner stores installed new storefronts and upgraded their buildings, while another began the sale of items the neighborhood needed (groceries). At the second meeting 150 residents turned out again to participate and play a role in taking back the community. Results of the inspections were discussed and the lack of compliance by stores was highlighted. The dry precinct initiative was discussed and next steps. On November 4, 2008 residents went to the polls and voted to stop the sale of alcohol at the problem corner store that would not work with the neighborhood. To date the corner store campaign has experienced significant success and will continue until the Glenwood Avenue corridor is revitalized.

The Corner Store Campaign will continue throughout 2009 and be utilized in other neighborhoods throughout the city to ensure the corner stores become good neighbors.

August 2008 WKBN: Corner Store Meeting Article (pdf)

August 2008 Vindicator: Residents Want Corner Stores Cleaned Up (pdf)

September 2008 Vindicator: Officials Meet to Discuss Stores (pdf)

October 2008 WKBN: Corner Store Meeting Article (pdf)

April 2009 City Health District Increases Scrutiny of Stores Selling Food (pdf)

May 2009 Vindicator: Residents to Corner Food Stores: We're Fed Up (pdf)  

May 2009 Voters Deny Party Pantry a License to Sell Beer, Wine and MIxed Drinks (pdf)

Neighborhood SUCCESS Grants

MVOC works to support grassroots groups to apply for Neighborhood SUCCESS Grants (grants ranging from $500 to $5,000 for community projects). These grants can serve as a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization, leadership development, and increase community cohesion. The SUCCESS grants program is an initiative of the Raymond John Wean Foundation.

Do you have an idea for a project for your neighborhood? A community garden? A community sewing class at your church? A youth program? An art program? MVOC’s deveopment staff will help you brainstorm and assist you in writing a grant. Find more information about SUCCESS grants.