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YNDC hires former banker as new executive director
The organization ‘could not have selected a more committed, qualified and capable individual,’ the mayor said.
YOUNGSTOWN — An organization that will focus on stabilizing and revitalizing neighborhoods in Youngstown has hired Presley Gillespie, a former bank executive, as its executive director.
The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. (YNDC) made the announcement Tuesday about Gillespie, who has 18 years of experience in the banking industry, including the past four as vice president of community development lending at Key Bank.
“In this new role, I look forward to using my extensive background in community development and neighborhood revitalization to help YNDC become a catalyst in improving our city and advancing the Youngstown 2010 strategy,” Gillespie said. “We want Youngstown to be looked to as the model for neighborhood development in a postindustrial context.”
Mayor Jay Williams, who has talked of a development corporation to help implement recommendations in the Youngstown 2010 development plan, praised YNDC’s decision to hire Gillespie, 43, who lives on the city’s South Side.
“YNDC could not have selected a more committed, qualified and capable individual to help lead the transformation of our city’s neighborhoods,” Williams said. “Presley Gillespie brings extensive experience in private sector development projects combined with an unequivocal dedication to assist in the renaissance of Youngstown’s neighborhoods.”
The YNDC will focus on assisting city neighborhoods in danger of declining and work to keep them stable, said Mary June Tartan, president of its board of directors and a former city community- development agency director.
“Our mission is to improve the quality of life in Youngstown by helping with investment in neighborhoods,” Gillespie said. “We’re going to focus on improving the quality of neighborhoods and strengthen our housing market.”
The first project is “Lots of Green,” which will focus on vacant lots in the Idora Neighborhood, on and near the Glenwood Avenue and Canfield Road section of the city, Tartan said.
There are numerous vacant lots in that area that will undergo a transformation, she said. The YNDC will plant grass, a tree or two and a install fencing as well as continue to maintain the property until it can be used for residential development at each vacant lot in that area, Tartan said.
The city provided the initial funding for the organization, created in February, from two federal grants: $353,000 from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program and $200,000 from its Community Development Block Grant. Also, the Raymond John Wean Foundation has given $250,000 to the YNDC.
“We’ll use the money to help create and maintain healthy neighborhoods,” Tartan said. “There are some gorgeous neighborhoods and you’ll see a boarded-up house there. We need to take care of that house and keep those neighborhoods looking good.”
The money will also be used to rehabilitate houses in the city that will then be either sold or rented, she said.
skolnick@vindy.com