YOUNGSTOWN — For Charlotte Phillips, part of the sweetness of a one-block neighborhood gathering she attended could be found in candle wax, though the bulk of a pleasant aroma was in the sense of community she felt.

“I was interested to see what it had to offer and about what the message was,” Phillips, of Warren, said.

The “it” to which she referred was the second annual EcoFest on Saturday in the 800 and 900 blocks of Elm Street. The “message” was realizing the importance of — and relationship between — people supporting one another and environmental well-being, she explained.

Phillips, a licensed professional counselor, and her daughter, Amaris Phillips, 13, bought a variety of scented candles, types of incense, lotions, waxes and other products from one of the eight or nine vendors at the event, Charlotte Phillips said.

The four-hour outdoor gathering, however, was about more than the merchandise.

“We want to spread the word about developing a cooperative organization that will encourage people to be neighborly, to share and to restore cooperation and have shared child care, shared meals, shared transportation,” Pat Rosenthal, Common Wealth Inc.’s executive director, said.

Also behind the event was the desire to promote businesses along Elm Street, including a relatively new one that specializes in bicycle repairs, she said, adding that another thrust is to restore a greater sense of community and cooperation that mirror “the neighborhoods we grew up in.”

Also doing her part toward achieving those goals was Christine M. Cunningham of Austintown, who owns Advanced Bioscience Sustainable Solutions LLC and is a Youngstown State University adjunct biology and chemistry professor. She also teaches at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

For her part, Cunningham has penned 17 small stories with illustrations, recipes and narratives that relate largely to sustainable gardening, relief packages, garden kits, healing and environmental protections.

Cunningham, who also is a swimming instructor at the Canfield Swim Club, wrote one about her late father, Matthew T. Cunningham, who served in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, from 1961 to 1965. The storybook also contains a list of healthful vegetables and additions from Japan for one’s garden, such as wasabi (a green condiment with a hot taste served with sushi), negi (a type of onion used as flavoring for simmering soups, and as a cold remedy) and takenoko (bamboo shoots that can be stewed or simmered with other vegetables and meat for protein and fiber).

At her table during Saturday’s EcoFest, Cunningham also had a basket of woven figures people had donated to her and that resemble some of the characters in her books.

In addition, Common Wealth is spearheading a sustainable community initiative between Wick Park and YSU. It also is beginning to open the Elm EcoVillage Community Center at 901 Elm St., which was a restaurant that closed after falling on hard times because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rosenthal noted.

An EcoVillage is a residential community with those who work to live in a manner that creates and encourages long-term sustainability. Two key steps are reducing people’s impact on the Earth via redesigning living spaces, as well as creating an economy based largely on sharing to reduce consumption demands.

In addition, EcoVillages are part of intentional communities, which are made up of a group of individuals who have chosen to live together or share resources on the basis of shared values.

Such communities believe society has the potential to support the well-being of all people and their shared ecosystems. Intentional communities also operate with the view that one person’s well-being depends on that of everyone.

“Because of their place-based, integrated nature, intentional communities provide unique opportunities to holistically address a variety of issues in a holistic way. As places for sharing lives, resources, land and purpose, they provide and maximize an interconnected set of ecological, social and economic benefits,” Common Wealth members said in a statement.