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One-year check-in with Moving Community Forward
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By Carolynn Mostyn
e checked in following the one-year anniversary of the Community Moving Forward project designed to help local community minority business owners. The project was formed in the summer of 2020, when there was a lot of unrest in communities across the country after the death of George Floyd. Chief Executive Officer for the Schroer Group, Jerry Schroer, said they are a family-owned business, and at the time, he sent a letter to employees addressing diversity. He said they had never delved into diversity and were not sure how it would be received. It turned out that the letter was well received by employees. “It was an important time to support the Black community.”
Schroer also began talking with business owners about a project to help minority businesses in the area. People began getting behind the project, and it snowballed. “We hosted a meeting of 35 individuals, 20 white business leaders and 15 Black business leaders, and we talked about race in a very honest and open dialogue,” he said. They talked about three pillars: business, community and education.
Those involved continued to meet through Zoom throughout the pandemic and continue now to meet every two weeks. One intention of the project is to provide internships to help students in a variety of ways. It provides an avenue for students to use what they have learned in the educational setting out in the world of business, while making connections for their futures. The internships are available for high school and college students. These internships also provide help to local businesses to develop their workforces.
The Community Moving Forward project has formed 11 committees working in a variety of ways to meet the common goals of the
“IT HAS
TO BE A MOVEMENT, NOT A MOMENT.”
project. Schroer said they have a capital committee that works with Huntington and PNC banks that help minority businesses to get capital. “They have great programs,” he said.
A fundraising group is committed to raising money, and everything they raise goes to the Stark County Minority Business Association. To date, they have raised more than $100,000.
Members of the Community Moving Forward project come from nationally owned businesses, family-owned businesses, colleges and universities, organizations and community leaders.
He said they are seeing some wins.
“They are not coming as fast as we’d like, but we are seeing wins.”
As they work together, Schroer said they are trying to spread out the network, so it is a countywide group not just a Canton group.
“We are trying to continue to move the dots, that is our journey.”
He said their biggest accomplishment over the year is “getting people throughout our community of different races to talk to each other about a very tough but very important issue and how do we find solutions.”
The group is committed to sustainability. “It has to be a movement, not a moment.”
Schroer discussed the fact that many of the minority community would say they have been down this road time and time again, and inevitability, it falls on inaction. Many of them will say that this group (Community Moving Forward) has a different feel and that it has potential.
“We are seeing some strong communication. The commitment from the group is truly amazing.”
Schroer said in a few words to sum up the intentions of the program is to “make our community a better place for everyone and move our community forward.”
If you are interested in participating in the project, call Schroer at 330-498-8100 or 330-498-8200.
