The Mahoning Valley Campus of care was created as a place where social service agencies could come together in one spot to meet the needs of people who have a variety of disabilities. Now it is one step closer to becoming what is was really meant to be thanks to $1 million in new funding from the 2022 state budget.

The Mahoning Valley Campus of Care lies on 32 acres in Austintown. Made up of many different buildings, several agencies are already housed here. The plan is to have 7 or 8 total. The million dollars in state funds will be used to fix up the ones that are in poor condition.

"It was once housed by the Youngstown Developmental Center. When that was shuttered the buildings sat empty so we needed to bring them up to code and make sure they are ok in the time they were sitting there. Plus we can move the agencies in and move the administration offices in," said State Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan

People can already come to the campus to seek assistance from agencies like, Boundless, which provides skills training for those with special needs, Alta Behavioral Health and Head Start and also Compass Family and Community Services, which plans to expand here into a larger facility.

"Compass specifically will be providing housing for person with persistent and severe mental illness to live in dignity and respect in a facility that used to serve persons with developmental disabilities that was more of a nursing home assisted living facility," said Joe Caruso of Compass.

There are also plans to bring in agencies to serve senior citizens and those with food insecurities.

The state funding is expected to be allocated some time next year.