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YWCA shows off updated building
The Vindicator ( Youngstown)
Photo
The YWCA showcased the $10 million renovation of its nearly century-old building at 25 W. Rayen Ave., Youngstown, with the first 10 of 30 apartments having been completed there in mid-July. At right, Eileen Kinnard showed off her new third-floor apartment to reporters Monday. The project also includes renovations to the first floor, which will likely feature an Internet cafŽ, and installation of a new roof.
The Vindicator ( Youngstown)
Photo
The YWCA showcased the $10 million renovation of its nearly century-old building at 25 W. Rayen Ave., Youngstown, with the first 10 of 30 apartments having been completed there in mid-July. The project also includes renovations to the first floor, which will likely feature an Internet cafŽ, and installation of a new roof.
APARTMENTS
Requirements
Local media were invited Monday to the YWCA building, 25 W. Rayen Ave., Youngstown, to see construction progress to the facility and tour some of the 30 apartments designed for women of modest means. Qualifications for applicants and facts about the units:
Women must be considered to have low to moderate income.
Applicants have to be designated head of household and age 18 or older. They also must provide a birth certificate, proof of income and disability and a birth certificate or picture identification.
Apartments are equipped with energy-efficient windows, heating-and-cooling units, sprinkler systems and new carpeting.
Rent subsidies allow residents to pay 30 percent of their income toward rent.
Seven apartments are designated for formerly homeless people.
Nine are handicap-accessible.
The typical renter has limited income mainly because of a mental or physical challenge, lack of job skills or job loss.
Source: YWCA of Youngstown
By SEAN BARRON
YOUNGSTOWN
It’s been nearly one month since Eileen Kinnard moved into her new apartment, and she remains in a celebratory mood.
That’s largely because she had spent the prior 27 years in dormitory-style living in the same building as her one-bedroom unit, which meant having to share a bathroom and kitchen with as many as 16 women.
“It’s amazing; no comparison,” said Kinnard, 52, from her third-floor apartment that faces the new Williamson College of Business at Youngstown State University to the west. “I have my own space, and we get along better now.”
Kinnard, a 1995 YSU graduate with an associate degree in hospitality management, talked about her first apartment during Monday’s one-hour press conference and tour of the YWCA of Youngstown, 25 W. Rayen Ave., on the city’s North Side.
Kinnard’s is one of 30 single-bedroom and efficiency units that make up the YWCA Rayen Apartments in the five-story building.
Kinnard, a YWCA resident aide, invited reporters to see her apartment, which soon will be filled with furniture. The gathering was to showcase the apartments and renovation efforts to the 99-year-old facility.
Ten of the 30 apartments for low- to moderate-income women are finished and eight are occupied, noted Leah Brooks, the Y’s development director. Twelve are efficiency apartments and 18 are one-bedroom units, she explained, adding that each floor will have a laundry room.
The apartments are the main feature of the $10 million building renovation and historic preservation project that broke ground in August 2009. The effort has received more than $3 million in low-income-housing tax credits, Brooks noted.
She said about $9 million has been raised thus far through private donations and state and federal funding, with about $1 million still to be raised.
“It’s about serving the community and helping women and their families move forward,” she added.
In addition to the apartments, on floors two through five, the two-story gym is receiving upgrades. That portion also will be used for parties, wedding showers and other special events, Brooks continued.
The project also includes the first floor, which likely will have an Internet caf to serve YSU students and the community; several areas for child-care services; and meeting rooms to offer fitness programs and computer labs, she explained. In addition, a new roof is to be installed, Brooks said.
Work on the apartments and first floor should wrap up in October, she predicted.
Also offering remarks was Dr. Barbara Brothers, a retired YSU faculty member and a member of the capital fund steering committee set up to oversee the project’s fundraising efforts.