Christine Rath moved to Youngstown, the village she grew up in, two years ago. A lot had changed since her childhood with a lot of recreation options missing.
“I remember growing up in the area, and we were all there playing softball games, baseball games, riding our bikes, staying out until the street lights come on,” Rath said. “Now the kids come home from school and they go right to the phones and games indoors.”
Improving those opportunities is part of the mission of Friends of Youngstown, a 501c3 organization founded this year looking for grant opportunities to improve the village.
Rath had retired from directorial roles with Ford and Vice President roles with Carrier and L3Harris Technologies. She moved back to the village where she grew up two years ago, working as treasurer for the village’s recreation commission and as a volunteer grant writer.
She cited the State of Play Western New York report the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation released in 2017, which said that only 16% of kids in the eight-county region get a sufficient amount, one hour a day, of physical fitness or playtime to sustain their health.
“We really want to focus on improving our kid’s social and physical abilities,” Rath said.
The organization created a five-year plan, available for viewing on their website, that would get kids to be more active while better utilizing the village’s public spaces, focusing mainly on Veterans Park. It will be made up of three phases, the first two more defined than the third.
Phase 1 of the Veterans Park revamp, lasting from 2024 to 2025, would involve light construction of the park as Rath said. It includes renovating two baseball fields, resurfacing basketball courts, resurfacing tennis courts to add a pickleball layout, building out the frisbee golf course to full length through the neighboring woods, and relocating the dog park.
Phase 2, also going from 2024 to 2025, would have more major park modifications. It involves building a new bike/walking path, converting the former train station into a historical information center about Youngstown and the Frontier Railway, replacing damaged sidewalks throughout the village, adding benches to the park, and acquiring the corner property at Third and Church streets to add parking, a sign with a park map and information center on the event and how to reserve areas.
Rath suggested that the corner lot, already used for parking and currently for sale, would continue to be used for event parking, especially as a new project at the nearby Cold Storage site would limit people’s ability to park there.
Phase 3, planned to take place between 2025 and 2028, would entail building a new community center at the park.
Friends of Youngstown already applied for a Ralph C. Wilson grant worth $50,000 to help fund the first phase, with plans to fundraise $15,000 in 2024. It is also seeking a state Department of Transportation Transportation Alternatives Program grant to help cover costs.
Rath said that everything the group is looking to do would cost around $900,000, with grant requests covering $764,000 and the village committing $191,000, or 20% of costs. She suggested acquiring the corner lot at Third and Church streets would attribute $100,000 to costs.
If the village went forward with the grant without acquiring any land, the grant amount would decrease by $100,000 and shrink the village’s funding commitment by $20,000.
Village commitments for the grant funding would have to be approved by the board of trustees, with further discussions to take place on how much the trustees are willing to commit.
Information about Friends of Youngstown can be found at www.FOY14174.com. Since it is a 501c3 organization, all donations made to it can be tax deductible.