A crowd of 700 came together today at the John S. Knight Center in Downtown Akron for United Way of Summit & Medina’s annual Report to the Community event. Focusing on the theme of partnership, the event highlighted how United Way is working with organizations throughout Summit and Medina counties to expand its ecosystem of supportive programs.
Featured speakers included Rochelle Sibbio, president and CEO of Habitiat for Humanity of Summit County, Zac Kohl, executive director of The Well CDC and LaMonica Davis, founding principal of Helen Arnold CLC and Akron Public Schools’ 2024 Principal of the Year.
“The wraparound support provided by United Way’s Family Resource Centers has not only blessed families, it has blessed our entire school,” said Davis. “Their mission aligns with ours and their culture is part of the culture of our building, helping to gap the divide that sometimes exists between families and our school.”
Brad Wright, chair of United Way’s board of directors, spoke of the organization’s recent successes – such as the May completion of the Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza, located at the organization’s Downtown Akron headquarters, and the creation of the Center for Immersive Leadership following a merger with Heart to Heart Leadership in June.
In addition, United Way answered more than 80,000 calls for help, mailed more than 250,000 free books to local children, helped residents claim $3.2 million in tax refunds and provided housing assistance to more than 100 pregnant women at risk of infant mortality in 2023.
“All of this, and much more,” said Wright, “is thanks to the partnerships United Way has cultivated across our community – with other nonprofits, businesses, schools, hospitals, civic institutions, and with individual people looking to make their community a better place to live and work.”
As its Bold Goals for 2028, United Way of Summit & Medina is seeking to:
- raise third grade reading scores among Akron Public Schools third graders to 65 percent,
- raise four-year high school graduation rates among Akron Public Schools students to 90 percent, with 60 percent of graduates college/career ready, and boost the percentage of Akron youth employed or active in extracurricular activities to 60 percent,
- financially empower 11,000 people in Summit County and 2,500 people in Medina County, and
- reduce the Black infant mortality rate in Summit County to 6 per 1,000 live births.
When United Way president and CEO, Jim Mullen, took to the stage, he described the organization’s focus on creating a system that puts people at the center, coordinating with other agencies to streamline service delivery. United Way would forego a competitive grantmaking process, he added, opting instead to codesign and co-author programming with key partner organizations to serve people in need and achieve its Bold Goals.
“This is about changing a system that has seen no change in decades, leaving the same people – usually people of color – behind,” said Mullen. “We cannot be satisfied as a community with a system that says that the place and the status you were born into determines whether you can achieve your hopes and dreams. If we all commit together to change that, we will see a lasting, positive transformation in our community.”