Workshop to focus on vacant properties

YOUNGSTOWN -- Wick Neighbors Inc. and Youngstown 2010 are organizing a community workshop on "Vacant Properties: Neighborhood Liability or Asset?" from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Butler Institute of American Art on Wick Avenue.
The speakers are Joseph Schilling, director of research policy and an executive committee member at the National Vacant Properties Campaign in Washington, D.C., and Lisa Nelson, associate director for community analysis for Case Western Reserve University's Mandel School of Applied Sciences Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change.
Also participating in the discussion will be Mahoning County Treasurer John Reardon and William D'Avignon, Youngstown's deputy director of planning. Mahoning County Commissioner John McNally will serve as moderator.
This is the second of five neighborhood reinvestment workshops coordinated by Wick Neighbors and Youngstown 2010. The events are open and free to the public.