Community
Block by block, flower by flower, brick by brick, downtown Youngstown is starting to feel young again.
Once a powerhouse in American steel production, the 230-year-old east Ohio city has in recent decades seen downtown revitalization, restoration and renewed business growth—along with some aesthetic grace notes supplied by Youngstown CityScape.
Dedicated to strengthening Youngstown’s central district and creating a sense of pride in place, Youngstown CityScape works to enhance the city’s urban aesthetic through development and beautification. That includes maintaining nearly 74,000 square feet of public green space in the downtown district.
Valuable sweat equity for community benefit
Planting and nurturing more than 25,000 vibrant bedding-out plants each year takes work. Much of it volunteer work—the sort contributed by thousands of passionate and dedicated people during National Volunteer Week, which runs this year from April 19 through 25 in both the United States and Canada.
Last October, about 20 Enbridge Gas Ohio employees helped repair and rebuild garden spaces in Youngstown’s downtown core, providing valuable sweat equity in addition to a $25,000 Enbridge grant to Youngstown CityScape.
“Youngstown CityScape and Enbridge Gas Ohio worked together to re-establish the N. Champion garden bunker in downtown, and it was a perfect partnership,” says CityScape Executive Director Sharon Letson.
“Enbridge provided their dedicated indoor and outdoor volunteer staff, and together with CityScape, the city, and the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, we turned this from a task into a fun, productive day’s work. And Enbridge’s involvement wasn’t limited to volunteer resources: they also provided financial support for this project, and that ‘skin in the game’ is a critical piece of keeping any downtown vibrant.”
Youngstown CityScape will be holding its annual Streetscape Day planting session in late May, where it’s expected more than 1,000 volunteers will take part. Enbridge Gas Ohio employees, meanwhile, plan to return to the site to finish the job adjacent to the N. Champion garden bunker project.
“Seeing employees come together to help revitalize a space used every day by the community is incredibly fulfilling for everyone involved,” notes Benjamin Kroeck, a member of Enbridge Gas Ohio’s municipal and stakeholder engagement team.
