Summit County

Employment Opportunity: OSU Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development, Summit County, Ohio

The 4-H Positive Youth Development Educator works collaboratively with county and state teams and with local agency leaders and volunteers. This includes implementing and supporting a comprehensive volunteer system through identification, selection, orientation, training, utilizing, recognizing, and evaluating of adult and youth volunteers to support local 4-H delivery methods (e.g. community clubs, after-schools clubs, camps, school enrichment, etc.). Responsible for a broad range of basic to complex duties that could include, but are not limited to, maintaining relationships with 4-H club and committee members, providing guidance and/or leadership for 4-H Youth Development programming targeted to local and regional needs, and engaging youth to build leadership, citizenship, and life skills. Utilize appropriate methods both formal and informal, of community assessment to identify educational needs and opportunities of local community. Design, implement, and teach educational programming, based on these needs, to groups and individuals comprised of adults and/or youth.  Follow this link to learn more.

Sourced from: Jobs at OSU

How Akron Made Space for Entrepreneurs

At City Summit 2018, 50 cities committed to new initiatives to support their innovation economies. NLC’s City Innovation Ecosystems program collects and tracks these commitments in order to showcase successes, identify best practices, and connect peer cities who can learn together. One city highlighted is Akron, Ohio. In the beginning of the 20th century, Akron’s economy seemed invincible. The town was home to all four of the world’s leading producers of tires, lending it the nickname “The Rubber City.” Collectively, the city produced 80 percent of tires used in the U.S. and was at the forefront of a booming, and at the time, highly innovative sector. Follow this link to learn more.

Sourced from: Cities Speak

Stewarding our Legacy Cities

In the center of Akron, Ohio’s newly developed main street, the city has plans to build a rubber statue. Not literally, of course. Instead, the city will honor its “Rubber City” roots with a 12-foot bronze statue of a rubber worker holding a finished tire. In a news release, Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan said the statue will, “pay tribute to the lives of rubber workers and their families. Without the sacrifices of these workers, Akron would not be the city it is today.” The statue makes for a great metaphor—not just for Akron, but for legacy cities across the country. Juxtaposed against a redeveloped main street, the statue pays homage to its history while acknowledging that times have changed and focusing on a new, modern economy. Follow this link to learn more.

Sourced from: Cities Speak

Akron Converted an Abandoned Highway into Green Space

More than a half-century ago, the city of Akron, Ohio, built a highway called the Innerbelt into its downtown. Like a lot of freeways created during that era, it destroyed some neighborhoods while cutting off others from the center of the city. This unused freeway has become a pop-up forest and makes it easy to envision turning practically any area into green space. Follow this link to read the complete article.

Sourced from Governing

Immigrants and Refugees-A Gain for Ohio

The United States has long welcomed people from distant shores. Ohio currently welcomes thousands of immigrants and refugees each year.  According to the Office of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, a refugee is someone who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.” In Ohio, most refugees have been resettled in Franklin, Cuyahoga, Montgomery, and Summit Counties. Resettlement agencies, religious organizations, and community groups are critical to helping persons adjust to their new communities by assisting with the most immediate needs of finding homes, developing English language skills, and medical care. These same organizations also assist with long term challenges such as job training. Immigrants are defined as “those who have entered the United States as a lawful permanent resident.”

In a recent report by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs entitled “Growing the Heartland: How Immigrants Offset Population Decline and an Aging Workforce in Midwest Metropolitan Cities” stated that while much of the Midwest suffered net population loss between 2000-2009, the Akron, OH metropolitan area (Summit and Stark County) gained over 9,000 new residents and 54% of this was due to immigrants and refugees settling in the area. People from this population are starting businesses, buying homes, and increase the local economy.

In some counties, such as Cuyahoga and Montgomery, Ohio State University Extension has worked with organizations that help refugees and immigrants develop job skills via agri-businesses, such as farms and compost facilities.

Immigrants and refugees are changing the landscape of our Ohio cities, can help reverse population loss, and are becoming vibrant members of our communities. How can we best embrace and support our newest neighbors?

For more information:

https://www.thechicagocouncil.org/publication/growing-heartland-how-immigrants-offset-population-decline-and-aging-workforce-midwest

http://jfs.ohio.gov/refugee/index.stm

Reviewed by:

David Crawford, Educator III

Stark County Extension Director & 4-H Youth Development