Akron-Canton Metroplex Magazine: Fall 2021 issue

New Airline Lands at Akron-Canton Airport

How Public Transit is Connecting the Metroplex

Fall 2021

Moving Forward Together The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, founded in Akron, remains dedicated to the community more than a century later

AKRON-CANTON METROPLEX

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Akron-Canton Metroplex 388 S Main Street, Suite 720 Akron, OH 44311 Fall 2021 \\ Akron-Canton Metroplex

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Contents

Fall 2021

Columns 4 Editors' Notebook

The Akron-Canton Metroplex has several strong points when it comes to transportation

6 Guest Column

Denny Saunier, president and CEO of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, believes momentum is on the side of the Akron-Canton Metroplex

Sectors 32 Nonprofits

The International Institute of Akron recently began forming additional partnerships to broaden its reach

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36 Higher education

Kent State University’s regional campuses provide quality education throughout the metroplex

40 Business spotlight

Hendrickson, which operates on a global scale, moved its trailer division to Canton in 1989 and found success

28

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The village of Hartville offers numerous activities and shopping spots while maintaining its quaint, small-town feel

42

Moving forward together

46 Tourism

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, founded in Akron, remains dedicated to the community more than a century later

Features

16

Forging trails and building connections

The Cuyahoga Valley National Park connects the community and attracts visitors from across the country

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Gregg Mervis reflects on the importance of tourism to the Akron-Canton Metroplex

48 Economic indicators

22

How the AkronCanton community helped Breeze Airways land at CAK Partnerships within the Akron-Canton Metroplex have brought a new airline to the AkronCanton Airport

28

‘Thinking outside the bus’

Regional transit authorities in Stark, Portage and Summit counties are collaborating to connect routes for more cohesive public transportation in the Akron-Canton Metroplex

A quick, graphical look at how the Akron-Canton Metroplex is faring

On the cover

The Goodyear blimp flies over the company’s Akron headquarters.

Photo courtesy of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

Photos: Clockwise from top, Courtesy Goodyear; Courtesy Stark Parks; courtesy PARTA

42 Community Spotlight

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REMOTE • OFFICE • COWORKING

YOUR BUSINESS THRIVES

DOWNTOWN Top 10 U.S. Metro Area

388 S. Main St., Suite 720, Akron, Ohio 44311 EDITORIAL EDITORs Theresa and Aaron Bennett CONTRIBUTORS Abbey Bashor, Ginger Christ, Patricia Faulhaber, Karen Hanna, Valerie Royzman, Denny Saunier, Erin Siegferth ADVERTISING SALES COORDINATOR Darlene Schuring 330-705-9228 dschuring@cantonrep.com

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Akron-Canton Metroplex is made possible with support from:

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CALL DOWNTOWN AKRON PARTNERSHIP Site Selection • Business Services

DESIGN & PRODUCTION PRODUCTION/DESIGN DIRECTOR Craig Rusnak ART DIRECTOR Alyse Pasternak

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info@downtownakron.com 330-374-7676 Ohio &

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103 S. High St., 4th Floor | Akron, OH 44308 | downtownakron.com *ranking by total development projects, population 200K - 1M, Site Selection Magazine, March 2021 photos: Denzel D. Washington, Shane Wynn, DAP Staff

Photos: Clockwise from top, Courtesy Goodyear; Courtesy Stark Parks; courtesy PARTA

The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network

AES

BUILDING The Schipper Ltd. / AES Building Where Group, Akron’s leading companies thrive

To provide feedback or share a story idea, send it to metroplex@gannett.com Volume 1 / Number 3 Akron-Canton Metroplex is published quarterly by LocaliQ, Gannett Northern Ohio. All contents of this magazine are copyrighted © Gannett Co., Inc. 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Reproduction or use, without written permission, of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited. Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited materials.

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editors' Notebook

Transportation is a vital component to any community. But having a good transportation system in place involves, quite literally, a lot of moving parts. Interstates need to be abundant, accessible and seamless to get people to the wide range of places they need to go. Cars and their various parts need to be manufactured reliably to supply the thousands of people who hit the road in the area every day.

And public transportation needs to be affordable and make important connections for those who rely on it.

We’re lucky in the Akron-Canton Metroplex to have aspects of all the above, which is why we’ve chosen to focus this issue on transportation.

Our cover story features Goodyear Rubber & Tire Company, a tire manufacturer that has called Akron home since its founding in 1898.

The iconic Goodyear—whose blimp often seen flying overhead serves as a reminder that the country’s largest tire manufacturer is right here in Akron—doesn’t plan on going anywhere any time soon. The company has made a commitment to remaining in the city, signaled by rebuilding its corporate headquarters in 2013. But above that, the company has also made a commitment to the area through its various community partnerships and philanthropic efforts, from supporting Akron Public Schools to helping out at the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank. (See p. 8 for more.)

This issue also spotlights some of the region’s main public transit systems—Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA), Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority (PARTA) and Akron METRO Regional Transit Authority. The three systems are part of a con-

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sortium of transit agencies, NEORide, which launched an app in late 2019 that allows riders to purchase tickets for any of the participating systems, writes author Ginger Christ.

Together, the busing systems are working to increase ease of access and connections to improve ridership across the region. “I think we’re all looking at ways we can provide the right service for the right areas.

Here in Akron, we call that ‘thinking outside the bus,’” Akron Metro CEO Dawn Distler tells Christ. (See p. 28 for more.)

The Akron-Canton Metroplex area also features a robust highway system that connects these dots and makes its various cities and assets easily accessible. Akron and Canton are just under half an hour away across I-77, while hopping on I-76 from Summit County will lead you into either Portage or Medina counties.

And although highway projects can sometimes make these routes temporarily difficult to navigate (trust us, we know), when they’re complete, they will make our already-great highway systems even better. All in all, the road projects underway by the Ohio Department of Transportation this year in the Akron-Canton Metroplex are totaling $345 million. (See “Economic Indicators” on p. 48 for more.)

All these assets are important for those who live here, as well as visitors and potential newcomers to the area. The stories within this issue not only highlight the great systems in place, but also show that the best is yet to come.

Theresa and Aaron Bennett are freelancers based in Cuyahoga Falls.

Photos: Top, File/Akron Beacon Journal; Bottom, Courtesy Aaron Bennett

Moving through the Akron-Canton Metroplex

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Guest column

2020 Census supports the metroplex initiative Denny Saunier of the Canton Chamber believes momentum is on the side of the Akron-Canton Metroplex

At first glance, the 2020 Census data for Stark and work, it only makes sense that our shared StarkSummit Counties appears largely unchanged over Summit border would see the largest growth. the past decade. On a countywide level, our popOn a related note, a few weeks ago, our Canton ulations have remained essenand Akron Chamber young tially the same as they were in professional groups jointly 2010. Looking under the hood, held the Young Pro 2.0 Con A community with however, one finds some noteference at the Akron-Canton worthy shifts taking place.

Airport. Between our two increased diversity The first is in our racial and groups, more than 60 young ethnic makeup. Here in Stark professionals were in attenpositions us to County (and similarly in Sumdance to enrich their personal mit), our community is becomand professional growth as upremain competitive ing more diverse. Every minorand-coming leaders. Not surin population and ity group grew as a percentage prisingly, we had a number of of the population over the past attendees who live in one comworkforce attraction/ munity and work in another. decade. As the country changes demographically, we know As part of the conference, retention, as well instinctively that it’s a good I was asked to co-host a disthing for our region to also cussion with Steve Millard, as experience the reflect those changes. A compresident and CEO of the munity with increased diverGreater Akron Chamber, to additional benefits sity positions us to remain talk in greater depth about the brought by inclusion. competitive in population and benefits of working collaboraworkforce attraction/retention, tively for regional success. In as well as experience the addimy mind, the Young Pro 2.0 tional benefits brought by inclusion.

Conference itself was the embodiment of the The second shift is in the types of areas expemetroplex concept: a group of people from difriencing population growth. Here in Stark, rural ferent cities and workplaces coming together to areas continue to decrease in size as people discuss shared challenges and opportunities to migrate toward population centers. Our largest make our community stronger and more vibrant, areas of population growth in the census, Jackwhile wanting to retain their sense of hometown son Township and Lake Township, also happen pride and identification. to be our northernmost communities, sharing a Through these conferences — and magaborder with Summit County. And just across the zines like this one — we’re continuing to have border into southern Summit, the community important conversations about what can hapof Green grew by nearly 7%, making it one of pen when our communities work together to the largest pockets of growth in Summit County. market our many shared assets and leverage Keeping the Akron-Canton Metroplex in perour combined resources for regional growth. All spective, it’s encouraging to see trends that reinsigns suggest we’re headed in the right direcforce we’re on the right track. The data indicates tion. Let’s keep the momentum going. that many residents want to be centrally located between the two communities. With 40% of Stark Denny Saunier is president and CEO of the CanCountians crossing county lines every day to go to ton Regional Chamber of Commerce.

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Photo: courtesy Denny Saunier

By Denny Saunier

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Photo: courtesy Denny Saunier

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Photo: Courtesy Goodyear

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The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, founded in Akron, remains dedicated to the community more than a century later

Moving forward together

By Aaron Bennett

L

Photo: Courtesy Goodyear

ast fall, when the COVID-19 virus had been spreading across Ohio in earnest, many companies and organizations found themselves in troubling situations.

One of those was the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.

The organization was experiencing unprecedented demand, and many food pantries within their eight-county service region saw a staggering 100-200% increase in the number of people they were serving.

In response, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company immediately reached out to help.

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provide the equivalent of 287,600 meals to families in need within the Akron-Canton Metroplex area.

Though substantial, the company’s philanthropic efforts with the food bank in 2020 represent a fraction of its overall support. For the past six years, Goodyear has contributed nearly 10,000 hours of volunteer service and more than 1 million meals to the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank through more than 1,800 associates and their family members.

“The food bank is extremely grateful to partner with Goodyear in the fight against hunger in our community,” says Hayheart. “Their leadership demonstrates philanthropic concern and supports workplace volunteerism, which have

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Photos: top and bottom, Courtesy Goodyear; Middle, Courtesy Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank

“We heard from [the foodbank] that they were expecting to see numbers they had never seen before, and we jumped right into that space since their need aligns to our strategy,” says Joni Fitch, manager of global community engagement at Goodyear.

According to Raven Hayheart, public relations and communications manager at the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, Goodyear was the first partner to reach out and ask how it could aid the organization’s COVID-19 response efforts.

“Their early financial support was critical to our response efforts and allowed the foodbank to be able to source food items when our inventory was at a 10-year low,” Hayheart says.

Goodyear’s support throughout 2020 helped

Photo: Courtesy Goodyear

p On May 9, 2013, Goodyear unveiled its new $160 million corporate headquarters, reaffirming its commitment to the Akron area.

p Top, The Goodyear Blimp flies over the company's world headquarters.

Photos: top and bottom, Courtesy Goodyear; Middle, Courtesy Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank

Photo: Courtesy Goodyear

Bottom, Goodyear team members help pack food boxes for the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.

improved the quality of life in our community.”

Goodyear’s commitment to the Akron-Canton Metroplex region extends beyond the food bank and into safety, education and even sustainability work. When the company believes it can make a difference, it takes action, Fitch says, signifying its longstanding dedication to its hometown.

“If there is something we can do for the greater good of our community, we want to be a part of it,” says Fitch.

t Joni Fitch, manager of global community engagement, stands beside Richard J. Cramer, chairman and CEO of Goodyear.

A Hometown Commitment According to the Akron Beacon Journal, Goodyear, the world’s third-largest tire manufacturer based on revenue, has called Akron home since Fall 2021 \\

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Frank Seiberling and his brother Charles founded the company in 1898. The two decided to name their fledgling enterprise after Charles Goodyear, the man responsible for discovering the process of vulcanizing rubber — thereby making the substance resistant to extreme temperatures. (See sidebar below for more information.)

The Seiberlings’ decision to start a rubber company in Akron was well-reasoned. According to an article published by WOSU Public Media, in 1870, Benjamin Goodrich relocated his rubber company, B.F. Goodrich, from Cleveland to Akron, in part because of its abundant labor, inexpensive water and proximity to the Ohio and Erie Canals.

Similar to how the computer industry gravitated to Silicon Valley beginning in the 1970s, those interested in the rubber manufacturing industry traveled to Akron, and the city became the home to the likes of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, General Tire and the Mohawk Rubber Company. Thanks to the abundance of jobs, people from all over the country moved to the area, and according to the city of Akron’s official website, from 1910 to 1920, the city’s population jumped from 69,000 to 210,000 – making it the fastest-growing city in America during that time.

For almost 125 years, Goodyear has been headquartered in Akron and is one of the Akron-Canton Metroplex’s largest employers, employing 2,896 associates who live in either Summit, Medina, Portage, Stark and Carroll counties.

In 2013, Goodyear further expressed its commitment to the Akron area by unveiling a new

The lobby within Goodyear's headquarters sources wood from the Ohio River dating back to between 1860 and 1900.

An illustration depicting Charles Goodyear's discovery of rubber vulcanization.

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It’s 1833, and at the age of 33, Charles Goodyear has decided to devote himself to unlocking the mysteries of a new “miracle material” called rubber. Derived from the hardened sap of tropical trees found in the Amazon rainforest, this waterproof material enchanted Goodyear’s imagination, and he became obsessed with solving the material’s crucial flaw: its tendency to melt at high temperatures and crack at low ones.

Plunging himself into debt, he invested all his resources into this

venture and moved from state to state along the east coast to find investors and new locations where he could conduct experiments. When he ran out of money, he even sold his family’s belongings and his children’s textbooks to fuel his mission, says biographer Charles Slack.

“He spared a set of china teacups, not out of sentiment but because they could double in the evenings as mixing bowls for rubber and turpentine,” says Slack in his book Noble Obsession.

Photos: Courtesy Goodyear

Charles Goodyear and his creation of vulcanized rubber

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$160 million corporate headquarters. As a nod to its past, the lobby features a large sulfur (the primary ingredient used in rubber vulcanization) graphic that spans the entire wall. Additionally, the space uses reclaimed river wood walls from the Ohio River dating back to anywhere from the 1860s to 1900.

During the headquarters’ grand opening event in May 2013, Goodyear’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard J. Kramer spoke of how the new space embodies the company’s commitment to the city of Akron.

“It represents our commitment to Akron and northeast Ohio…not just to the Akron of old, but to a revitalized and progressive Akron that continues to evolve and prosper in groundbreaking ways,” Kramer said at the event. “Our new home was made possible by a true partnership between the public and private sectors and serves as a model for other cities to follow.”

Photos: Courtesy Goodyear

Engaged Philanthropic Partnerships Like many similarly sized businesses, Goodyear is generous in its philanthropic giving.

However, beyond providing resources to worthwhile recipients like food banks, hospitals and schools, the company goes a step further to develop impactful solutions by listening and collaborating with its charitable partners.

In 2016 for example, after meeting and collaborating with Akron Children’s Hospital to determine how it could most positively impact child safety, the company realized that a holistic approach would be most beneficial.

“Through a strategic conversation, we developed an entire project that focuses on injury

He refused to give up on his goal, and his persistence paid off when one day in 1839, while trying to sell his rubber products at a general store in Woburn, Mass., he accidentally dropped a piece of sulfurcoated rubber he was holding onto the surface of a hot stove. Miraculously, the rubber did not melt.

It would take another five years for Goodyear to successfully recreate and determine the exact formula that would reliably give proportion rubber these resistant properties. However, in 1844, he was finally able to document this process, and on June 15th of that same year, he received a United States patent for “Improvement in

India-Rubber Fabrics Vulcanization of Rubber.”

Naming his discovery after the Roman god of fire, Vulcan, Goodyear’s rubber vulcanization would prove to be revolutionary, and according to Slack, became one of the key developments of America’s Industrial Revolution.

“There’s nothing that duplicates rubber—nothing that is flexible, pliable, waterproof and non-conductive,” says Slack. “Would we have advanced without [vulcanized] rubber? Sure, humans are amazingly adaptive and ingenious...but if you look around at how the industrial world evolved, it’s hard to imagine that happening without rubber.”

Unfortunately, Goodyear was a far more gifted inventor than he was a businessman. Though he understood the incredible potential of vulcanized rubber, he was never able truly profit from the invention during his lifetime.

And yet, he did not seem to view this as a bad thing and was instead far more concerned about leaving a generational legacy.

“Life should not be estimated exclusively by the standard of dollars and cents,” Goodyear wrote. “I am not disposed to complain that I have planted and others have gathered the fruits. A man has cause for regret only when he sows and no one reaps.”

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open to all Ohio students. The event provides both a unique design challenge (this year’s task is to create an individualized Rube Goldberg Machine) for participants and scholarships to help students further pursue their academic careers.

According to the United States Department of Education, STEM fields represent some of the fastest growing sectors of the economy.

Because of this, many educators believe building students’ interest in these areas from a young age can help them find stable and successful employment following their graduation.

Sam Crews, the Ohio STEM learning network manager for APS, believes one of the main reasons Goodyear and the school district have worked so well together over the years is that both share similar goals.

“Goodyear’s alignment to STEM programming is in part due to their desire to create a local workforce pipeline,” Crews says. “Because our

p Goodyear collaborates with the NIHF STEM middle and high schools to provide students with hands-on learning opportunities.

Photos: Top Row, Courtesy Goodyear; Bottom left and right, File/Akron Beacon Journal

protection from the time the child is born until they’re 18,” Fitch says.

According to a press release promoting the initiative, Goodyear’s multi-year grant provided $500,000 over three years for child passenger seats, bike helmets, pedestrian safety and a teen safe driving program.

For Fitch, this type of hands-on approach to corporate responsibility not only produces greater outcomes, but also ties into the company’s commitment to sustainability.

“For us, sustainability is about reducing our environmental impacts and supporting the sustainability of the communities where we operate,” Fitch says. “Goodyear wants to collaborate with the community, knowing that our people are the foundation of not only our business but also our community efforts — it’s about putting people first.”

In this way, one of the areas Goodyear is most committed to is education, and its longtime support of the Akron Public Schools (APS) in particular continues to change students’ lives by providing resources and opportunities that transform STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education from academic subjects and disciplines into potential career paths.

During the 2019-2020 school year, when APS fully launched its College and Career Academies (specialized programs that allow high school students to select pathways that align with their interests, much like college majors), Goodyear elected to be a founding partner. The company’s name is now on two schools: The Goodyear Academy of Applied Engineering at Ellet High School, and the Goodyear Academy of Advanced Technology and Design at the National Inventors Hall of Fame STEM High School.

Rachel Tecca, director of the APS College & Career Academies, says Goodyear’s support was and continues to be essential to this new careeroriented approach to secondary education.

“Goodyear is critically important to the success of our academies and students,” says Tecca. “One of the most impactful things about the model that we’re using is that we have deep partnerships, and Goodyear has set the bar as far as those deep partnerships are concerned and providing successful learning experiences for our students.”

Additionally, because Goodyear helps design the framework of its named programs, students are able to use the company’s considerable resources and expertise. For example, each year the company provides mentoring opportunities and guides senior students as they develop their individual capstone projects.

The company also hosts a middle and high school STEM Career Day every year, which is \\ Fall 2021

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t Each year, Goodyear employees participate in a Global Week of Volunteering.

A Goodyear employee participates in the company's annual Toys for Tots event.

goals are so enmeshed, we have the ability to provide educational experiences to kids that they will remember and tell their kids about.”

Photos: Top Row, Courtesy Goodyear; Bottom left and right, File/Akron Beacon Journal

Moving People Forward In many ways, the innovative history of Goodyear mirrors that of the United States. From manufacturing bicycle and carriage tires during the late 1890s to creating the tires used by the Apollo 14 moon lander, the company has helped transport people for over 100 years.

And while the company continues to innovate at a rapid pace, most recently debuting an airless tire and wheel assembly to support autonomous vehicle transportation this past July, its mission goes far beyond tire production. Instead, it views itself as a company that can also help move people forward.

“We have a lot of different types of tires that physically move people from one location to another, but we’re also helping students move through their education and into a career,” Fitch says. “In Akron and in all of the communities we live and work, the goal is to support them the best we can.”

As Akron’s fourth-largest employer, according to the city of Akron's website, Goodyear continues to demonstrate its commitment to the Akron-Canton Metroplex not only through its long history of local philanthropic giving, but also by investing in its children to help them have a brighter future.

“The Akron Public Schools and the STEM schools of Akron in particular are blessed to have a global company in our backyard that is so committed to the success of young people,” Crews says.

Aaron Bennett is a freelance writer based in Cuyahoga Falls.

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Forging Trails d n Buildi ng A Connectio Photo: Jon Lauriat/Getty Images

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ng ions

The Cuyahoga Valley National Park connects the community and attracts visitors from across the country

By Erin Siegferth

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W

hether visitors are making a day of it with a bike ride along the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad or just passing through on their way to work, the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) is ingrained into the daily routines of the Greater Akron area.

The park’s tall, mature trees provide shade for daily commutes and after-work hikes. The sprawling Cuyahoga River serves as both a beautiful backdrop for picnics and a watering hole for blue herons. The CVNP’s open fields host farmers markets, concerts and children’s activities.

As an urban national park, the CVNP is deeply embedded into the community. Few regions offer such consistent, seamless integration of a popular national park into the everyday lives of their residents.

Pamela Barnes, community engagement supervisor and public information officer for the CVNP, calls the park a “happy place” for the many community members who drive through or visit almost daily.

“If you think about how much park land people who live in Northeast Ohio have available to them,” she says, “it’s quite incredible... so I think that’s a huge bonus for the region.”

By the numbers Located within an hour drive of more than

4 million

people in the greater ClevelandAkron region

2.8 million visitors in 2020 (vs. 2.2 million visitors in 2019)

Contributed more than

$80 million

in economic output in 2020 Sources: National Park Service, Akron Beacon Journal

In addition to local visitors, the CVNP attracts visitors from across the country and around the world.

While national park visitation across the U.S. on a whole decreased between 2019 and 2020, according to National Park Service (NPS), the CVNP has seen an uptick in visitation amid the COVID-19 pandemic as people have increasingly come to value access to nature and outdoor activities.

Creating the CVNP Of course, people enjoyed the Cuyahoga Valley long before it was formally designated as a national park. Humans inhabited the land we now call the CVNP for more than 12,000 years.

Back then, the Cuyahoga Valley served as a central hub for transportation. Native Americans canoed through the valley on the Cuyahoga River before portaging 8 miles to the Tuscarawas River. Colonists in the 1800s built the Ohio and Erie Canal, which connects Akron with the Cuyahoga River, to transport goods, mail, travelers and new settlers, transforming the Cuyahoga Valley as colonists expanded west, according to the NPS website.

Human culture and the land influenced and shaped each other in a symbiotic relationship.

Photo: File/Canton Repository

Brandywine Falls

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Left, A great blue heron returns to the nest near of Bath Road in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

480

77

Cuyahoga County

Below, Everett Covered Bridge, which crosses over Furnace Run, is the only remaining covered bridge in Summit County.

91

271

480 82 8

Cuyahoga County 80

80 303

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

271

Medina County

Portage County

77

91 18

Map: Alyse Pasternak; Photos: Top to bottom, File/Akron Beacon Journal; zrfphoto/Getty Images; Courtesy U.S. National Park Service

Photo: File/Canton Repository

21

Akron 93

76

77

277

224

241

619

77

Visitor’s Center Train Station Summit County

Rangers Station

Stark County

43 77

21 93

62 687

153

172

A park visitor and her dog enjoy Ledges overlook.

But in the 1960s and 1970s, urban expansion began to upset that delicate balance between the natural world and human life. Local citizens and conservation groups began to pressure the government to protect the region’s natural features, resulting in the creation of the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area in 1974. Later, in 2000, it was designated as a national park.

These conservationist actions set the stage for the CVNP as we know it today. Now, the NPS strives to maintain a balance between public enjoyment of the parks and preserving land and wildlife. “We have to protect them so we don’t love them to death,” Barnes says.

Spanning 33,000 acres of land between Cleveland and Akron, the park is a cornerstone of the local community and a major source of tourism for the Northeast Ohio region.

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The CVNP’s Role in Workforce Development According to Mervis, the national park is also a strong asset for marketing the region to potential employees.

Mervis says it’s not just jobs and salaries that factor into a person’s decision to relocate. Quality of life—from schools and entertainment to outdoor venues and amenities—is often more important 20 Akron-Canton Metroplex

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By the numbers

7th

most visited national park in 2020 Over

140

miles of hiking, biking, and horseback riding trails

250

historic structures, including residential and farming properties Sources: National Park Service, Akron Beacon Journal

to members of the potential workforce considering a move to the Akron-Canton Metroplex.

“I think it gives us the opportunity to leverage our assets,” Mervis says. “When there’s more to actually see and do, there’s more on the menu to draw interest to people as far as what you have in your community.”

Mervis says the Akron/Summit Convention and Visitors Bureau and Visit Canton have collaborated as partners to do just that for years. By teaming up, the two organizations are able to emphasize a wide range of assets in both the Akron and Canton areas.

This allows them to market the metroplex region as greater than just the sum of its parts.

So, what are those assets? Apart from ample access to nature, which studies have associated with health and wellbeing, the national park holds active programming that fosters a sense of community in the metroplex.

For example, Barnes describes CVNP’s Junior Ranger program as “a hook to get young kids interested in parks early.” Children can collect badges for completing park-related activities.

To help cooped up kids stay entertained and active during the COVID-19 pandemic, the national park hosted Junior Ranger challenges.

Families met rangers at specified times throughout the summer and completed challenges together to earn badges. The challenges could also be completed from home by following along with instructions on the CVNP website.

Photo: File/Akron Beacon Journal

Marketing the Metroplex’s National Park According to the NPS, in 2020, national park visitors across the United States spent an estimated $14.5 billion in local “gateway regions.”

“Gateway regions are the areas directly surrounding National Park Service sites. Gateway economies include the cities and towns where visitors typically stay and spend money while visiting National Park Service sites,” NPS says on its website. For the CVNP, these gateway regions include Akron, Canton, and Cleveland.

Gateway spending in the CVNP supported more than 800 jobs, $30 million in labor income and $49.4 million in value added, with a total of $85.8 million in economic output in the Ohio economy, according to NPS. Barnes says the CVNP is conscious of the value it provides to these surrounding communities and neighborhoods.

“We really do view not only the park as a national asset but as a regional asset for Northeast Ohio,” Barnes says. “When people visit a park, they spend money on food, they spend money on lodging, and they spend money in the gift shops.”

The national park itself offers plenty: five different waterfalls, a variety of animals and areas for bird-watching, scenic hiking trails, a concert venue, a railroad, and more. Visitors can spend time wandering trails, attending rangerled hikes to learn more about the region, and taking in popular views, like the Ledges Overlook. Boston Mills and Brandywine ski resorts give visitors a chance to get outside even in the cold winter months.

Outside the park in the surrounding Akron and Canton regions, local businesses get a boost from park visitors. According to Akron/Summit Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Gregg Mervis, attracting visitors to activities within and just outside of Summit County can encourage longer stays.

“You find those nice areas of interest you can build around the national park that give people the reason to stay more days,” he says.

According to Mervis, a few of those areas of interest include Lock 3 in Downtown Akron, the Summit Brew Path (a local brewery passport initiative that includes locations in Summit, Medina, Portage and Stark counties), and the First Ladies National Historic Site in Canton.

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A couple walks along the Ledges Trail.

A new Boston Store opened in May 2021 within Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The gift shop sells souvenirs, sandwiches, drinks, snacks and ice cream.

The CVNP also hosts a Rhythm on the River concert series at Howe Meadow.

According to Barnes, currently, national park visitors are primarily white suburban community members.

“That’s not really reflective of all the people who are from Northeast Ohio,” she says. Rhythm on the River brings in a variety of musical artists with the hopes of appealing to audiences who aren’t visiting the parks at high rates and encouraging more diversity in park visitors.

Many of the park’s programs are made possible by their unique partnerships with regional organizations. For example, Countryside Food and Farms collaborates with the CVNP to host a farmers market in Howe Meadow that features more than 50 local farmers, food entrepreneurs and artists.

Barnes says an important part of being an urban national park is bringing community members to the table when planning programs that make the metroplex region a better place to live.

“We like that idea of being part of the community,” she says. “We want to do planning with people, not just for them.”

Erin Siegferth is a freelance writer based in Chicago.

Photos: Top, file/Canton Repository; Bottom, Courtesy U.S. National Park Service

Photo: File/Akron Beacon Journal

Riding Through the CVNP Trains have carried people through the Cuyahoga Valley for over 100 years. This was formalized into a mutually beneficial partnership between the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad (CVSR) and the CVNP in 1989.

No other national park in the U.S. has a nonprofit railroad operating within it, according to the CVSR website. The CVSR provides educational and recreational programs for tens of thousands of people each year. These programs bring the community together and increase accessibility to the park.

Programming appeals to visitors across all ages, from superhero-themed rides to wine tastings aboard the train. One of the most popular programs is the CVSR’s Polar Express event each November and December, where families pile onto the Christmas-themed train for hot chocolate, a visit from Santa and other festivities.

a ride back to their starting point on the train for only $5.

The CVSR runs with the help of more than 1,000 volunteers. One of those volunteers is Paul Siegferth Sr., lifelong Summit County resident who began volunteering for the CVSR shortly after retiring this year.

Siegferth has loved trains ever since he was young, so he jumped at the chance to volunteer after retirement.

“We get riders from all over the The CVNP is the country,” he says. “The best part only national park in is seeing the excitement and joy the country that has a nonprofit railroad in the children’s eyes as you tell operating within it. stories about the train and talk about points of interest along the route.”

Alongside special events, the train Railroad, river, canal, and road give also provides a fun alternative to driving travelers and metroplex residents alike a through the region with its Bike Aboard, multitude of paths to follow as they exHike Aboard and Run Aboard programs. plore the CVNP and the metroplex region These programs allow visitors to bike, as a whole. hike, or run one direction, and then hitch

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How the Akron-Canton community helped

PHOTO: Levi Wang

Breeze Airw

The inaugural Breeze Airways flight departs the Akron-Canton Airport.

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Partnerships from within the Akron-Canton Metroplex have brought a new airline to the Akron-Canton Airport

rways land at CAK

By Valerie Royzman

As awareness and promotion of the AkronCanton Metroplex grows, the Akron-Canton Airport (CAK) — a place many area officials consider an anchor and economic hub of the region — is also expanding.

Thanks to a joint fundraising effort involving the Akron and Canton communities and JobsOhio, the airport launched its first flight with new carrier Breeze Airways in June and now offers 11 total nonstop destinations. This development is not only a positive sign for air travel coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also something local leaders say strengthens the allure of the area as a metroplex.

PHOTO: Levi Wang

Rallying Together for Air Service Last year, CAK President and CEO Renato Camacho heard about a commercial air service restoration program from JobsOhio that instantly caught his attention.

The private nonprofit economic development corporation emphasized the urgency to restore air service lost during the pandemic and attract new carriers to make Ohio more competitive.

Between 2005 and 2019, Ohio lost service to about 113 destinations in the country and more airline capacity than all other Midwest states, says Terry Slaybaugh, vice president of sites and infrastructure for JobsOhio.

The severe decline in service was mostly due to the dehubbing of the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport by United Airlines; the dehubbing of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport by Delta Air Lines; and the merging of Southwest Airlines and AirTran, he explained.

Businesses rely on trustworthy air service to expand, relocate to and remain in Ohio, which is central to a prosperous economy, Slaybaugh says.

Camacho recognized the opportunity.

“We heard about the JobsOhio commercial air service restoration program during probably a 2 o’clock meeting that ended at maybe 3 o’clock,” Camacho says. “At 3:01, I was calling the city of Green’s mayor and the (Akron and Canton) chamber presidents.”

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A revenue guarantee was required to secure Breeze Airways as a new carrier at CAK. The communities, not including the airport, had to raise 20% of the total funds as part of the restoration program. JobsOhio provided the remaining 80%.

The communities raised more than $1 million—well over their goal of $500,000 to $600,000, Camacho says.

“Breeze is a big win for us in the sense that we really had the community rally around this air service opportunity,” he says.

The relationships the Akron and Canton communities have built over the years with each other and CAK were key to fundraising quickly and collaboratively, says Steve Millard, Greater Akron Chamber president and CEO. “When airlines come into a city, they are counting on the fact that they can create the demand they need,” he says. “It’s always very risky and dynamic. They want to know that if

PHOTOs: Levi Wang

the program. They earned the support of local businesses and organizations that were eager to see not only the airport, but also the local economy, thrive.

“Everyone understood this is our gamechanging, once-in-a-lifetime, hit-it-out-of-thepark opportunity,” Camacho says.

Nearby states, such as Pennsylvania and Indiana, already had air restoration programs in place, Camacho says, so the potential of CAK participating in something similar was thrilling – especially considering that JobsOhio was able to provide a 4-to-1 financial match. It would also allow the airport to begin recovering from COVID-19 quicker.

Sponsors included the Greater Akron Chamber (GAC), the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce (CRCC) and the Stark Economic Development Board, along with businesses such as GOJO Industries Inc., Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Timken and many others.

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they commit assets and equipment and people, that the community will respond with butts in seats on their airplanes.”

The airport and its success are “an anchor for the entire metroplex region,” Millard says, adding that a strong, centrally located airport is part of drawing businesses and families to the area.

Breeze Airways Takes Off in Akron-Canton Although CAK was not one of the original airports in Breeze Airways’ network, JobsOhio approached the airline following its canceled launch in 2020 and convinced it to enter into partnerships with CAK and John Glenn Columbus International Airport.

“The [Breeze Airlines] CEO, David Neeleman, would tell you right now they would not be in Ohio if it weren’t for the JobsOhio air service restoration program” and attractive community support in the Akron-Canton area, Slaybaugh says.

t Key Players

Some of the key individuals responsible for bringing Breeze to CAK gathered for the inaugural flight.

From left to right: Robert Konstand Akron-Canton Airport Board of Trustees Chairperson

Now, CAK is one of 16 airports to which Breeze is providing nonstop service. The carrier, which brands itself as the “Seriously Nice” airline, began flying out of CAK this summer to three destinations: Charleston, South Carolina; New Orleans; and Tampa, Florida.

Breeze, headquartered in Utah, targets underserved markets. The airline is leisure-focused and low-cost, and its values align perfectly with CAK, Camacho says.

“They consider themselves an IT company that happens to own an airline,” he says, pointing out the cost-saving benefits of the business centered around technology. “They’re basically looking to get you to where you want to go in half the time at half the price.”

In a news release from CAK, Neeleman highlighted the airline’s “seamless booking, no change or cancellation fees, up to 24 months of reusable flight credit and customized flight features delivered via a sleek and simple app.”

Breeze is the fifth airline startup for the founder, who most recently established JetBlue. Other airlines include Brazil’s Azul, Canada’s WestJet and Morris Air, which was later purchased by Southwest Airlines.

The partnership is helping CAK revitalize routes lost during the pandemic, and the airport anticipates future success with Breeze based on data and the needs of the local community, says Lisa Dalpiaz, CAK vice president of marketing and air service development.

“We’ve been able to pivot and offer these more leisure destinations to meet the demand of our current times,” she says.

Ren Camacho Akron-Canton Airport President and CEO Trent Porter Breeze Airways CFO Mayor Gerard Neugebauer City of Green

PHOTOs: Levi Wang

Terry Slaybaugh JobsOhio Vice President of Sites and Infrastructure John Williams Akron-Canton Airport Board of Trustees Member Breeze Airways began flying out of the Akron-Canton Airport for the first time in the summer of 2021.

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Once COVID-19 took hold, CAK lost regular routes to Atlanta, Houston, LaGuardia in New York, Orlando (on and off) and WashingtonDulles and Reagan National in Washington, D.C. As CAK has begun to recover from the pandemic, airlines have brought back Orlando and the Washington, D.C. destinations, Dalpiaz says, and Houston will return in April 2022.

As COVID-19 restrictions loosen, airport leaders anticipate business travel to ramp up, and fliers may be drawn to Breeze for its affordable rates and convenience.

Slaybaugh predicts air service will recover domestically by the first quarter of 2022. In the meantime, welcoming Breeze means AkronCanton is increasing its capacity by nearly 30% and introducing new seats and three markets it didn’t have before, he says.

Another plus? The JobsOhio board of directors recently moved to fund the air service restoration program for another year, Slaybaugh says.

With the recent completion of a $37 million gate modernization project, CAK is prepared for the incoming growth, whether that means new airlines and services or developing available acres surrounding the airport, Camacho says.

As CAK Advances, Metroplex Follows When local conversations about the air service restoration program began, a natural connection to the Akron-Canton Metroplex emerged, Camacho recalls.

“It was definitely at the top of the list to ensure that we further the mindset that we are the Akron-Canton Metroplex and how the opportunity for air service feeds into that,” Camacho says. “It’s a great complement, we thought, to the metroplex concept.”

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Valerie Royzman is a freelance writer based in Akron.

Photo: File/ Canton Repository

The Akron-Canton Airport provides a convenient way for Akron-Canton Metroplex residents to travel.

Denny Saunier, president and CEO of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, sees CAK as a major economic driver in the region.

“It obviously helps attract people to live here so they can have easy and affordable access to air travel,” Saunier says. “And it’s part of an ecosystem, if you will, of amenities that communities strive to have in order to attract and retain both businesses and individuals.”

With more than 1.1 million people combined, Akron and Canton share higher education institutions (Stark State College’s campuses in Akron and Canton, for example), a national park and trail system and assets like the Akron Children’s Hospital.

An Akron-Canton Metroplex fact sheet, created by the chambers and economic development agency Team NEO, also highlights shared employers and industries, such as shale and polymer. According to the fact sheet, 40% of the population commutes across county lines for work and play.

Millard says communities must consider how they can position themselves. The more jobs and investment the area can attract, the greater the chance to remain economically healthy in the long term, he says.

“That means more for everybody — more income, more jobs, more opportunity, more of the fun stuff in life, and less of the pain and suffering that you see in communities that have lost their ability to be economically relevant,” he says.

As one of the region’s most prominent assets, CAK is also symbolically important, says Jeff Dafler, the Canton chamber’s vice president of economic development and public policy.

Akron-Canton is part of the facility’s name, and, “thinking geographically, it lies on the border of the two counties in the heart of the metroplex and is a visual reflection of the economic integration of those two communities,” he says.

The cultivation and marketing of the metroplex has led to increased collaboration and exposure for CAK. More jobs and opportunities for growth are surfacing, and while that is ideal, the metroplex is also about improving quality of life, Camacho says.

“We’re connecting families, friends, visitors to the Akron-Canton area,” he says.

He goes on to say there’s no better way to do that than through the quickest mode of transportation: airplanes. The addition of Breeze Airways is quickly bringing these groups of people and two heartland cities closer together.

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Our roots are firmly planted in the Akron/Canton region Every day around the world, millions of Hendrickson trailer suspensions carry countless loads of freight and raw materials both on- and off-highway. We supply durable, lightweight, highperforming suspension systems and components to the major North American trailer OEMs, fleets and dealers.

Hendrickson’s growing global position in the commercial transportation industry and its ongoing drive to provide products and services benefit truck and trailer manufacturers, fleets and owneroperators worldwide. Our tagline, The World Rides On Us®, reflects not only the spirit of the brand but also Hendrickson’s 100 plus years of innovation built-in.

Canton - Trailer Division Headquarters

Photo: File/ Canton Repository

North Canton - Controls Business Unit

Navarre - Production Facility

www.hendrickson-intl.com

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Illustration: Getty Images

571876 [Converted].pdf

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By Ginger Christ

‘Thinking

Outside the Bus’ Regional transit authorities in Stark, Portage and Summit counties are collaborating to connect routes for more cohesive public transportation in the Akron-Canton Metroplex

Illustration: Getty Images

W

hen it comes to getting to work, school, church or the grocery store, county lines don’t matter to most people – unless they rely on public transportation, local transit leaders say. Often, the need to download a new app or learn how to navigate between systems prevents potential riders from using transit services.

But transit systems in the Akron-Canton Metroplex area are working to change that.

“We don’t necessarily want the county lines to be a barrier to someone’s transportation. We want someone to be transported seamlessly between counties. The only thing that basically changes is the paint on the bus,” says Kirt Conrad, CEO and executive director of Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA).

While transit systems in Summit, Stark and Portage counties have been pooling resources for behind-the-scenes things like liability and medical insurance, fuel and worker’s compensation for years, they have recently collaborated on more public-facing efforts, like a shared ticketing app, common transfer points and free

transfers between systems. In many cases, it’s not about more service but about better connections between existing services.

“Transit systems in Akron, Canton and Portage—we’ve always seen ourselves as the area where people cross county lines. That’s not a new idea to us. The challenge has been making transit easier to use and more efficient rather than just economical,” says Claudia Amrhein, general manager of Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority (PARTA) and president of Ohio Public Transit Association. “We’ve done some things to make that better.”

Connecting the Dots For one, SARTA, PARTA and Akron METRO Regional Transit Authority are part of a consortium of transit agencies, NEORide, that launched an app called EZFare in late 2019 that can be used to purchase tickets for any of the participating systems.

“I think the ultimate goal of that is to have one fare media that you can use across all of the systems,” Conrad says.

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SARTA Strategies SARTA plans to go out to bid by this fall for joint dispatching software with Wayne, Mahoning and Columbiana Counties, Conrad says.

The software would map out where all vehicles in the system are, allowing passengers needing service within any of the four counties to contact a central call center. And eventually, the group wants to add other transit systems to the equation.

“Ultimately, what is happening across the systems is you may have a Metro bus show up or a PARTA bus show up,” Conrad says.

SARTA also is trying to create a light rail system using Akron Metro’s rail lines to connect downtown Canton to the Pro Football Hall of Fame — a move that would improve access for tourists and employees, Conrad says.

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SARTA Buses

PARTA trolley

PARTA Improvements For Amrhein, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity to reevaluate what service might look like. At the same time, there are still so many unknowns that doing so has been a challenge, she says.

“It’s complicated even more now by COVID. Everything is closed, and we’re trying to imagine what the future is going to look like,” Amrhein says.

One thing that’s certain is that PARTA will be welcoming three trolley buses sometime next year, likely by spring 2022. The trolleys will

Photos:Top, File/ Canton Repository; Bottom, courtesy PARTA

Starting this past July, riders also can buy mobile tickets for the EZFare app using cash at transit centers, a move designed to make the service more accessible to those without debit or credit cards.

“Discoverability and accessibility of transit is important, and it is essential that no one, whatever their circumstances, is excluded from being able to take advantage of the services they offer,” says Brian Zanghi, CEO of Masabi, a fare payments company that worked with NEORide to bring the cash option to the app.

Beyond ticketing, the systems all use the Akron Metro transit center for routes into and out of Summit County to improve transfers.

Both SARTA and PARTA run regular express routes into Akron for commuters, and PARTA adds stops in Brimfield on some routes to bring riders to the shopping centers.

“At that connection point, people could hop on a bus to go to Canton or Cleveland. There are tri-county connections we try to build into our systems,” Amrhein says.

In Cleveland, too, NEORide is working to coordinate transit signage for all of the systems.

Conrad summarizes the goals for regional transit collaboration as two-pronged: to provide an integrated trip experience that removes the county line as a boundary, and to work together on as many back-end procurements and processes as they can to make the systems more efficient.

Apart from delivering transit service, the systems also host forums together to promote upcoming opportunities for disadvantaged business enterprises, women-owned businesses and other small businesses in the area to bid on, which helps them meet a federal regulation.

“We try to entice local business and keep money here within our economy,” Amrhein says.

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serviced by microtransit companies that work with the transit system, Distler says.

Photos:Top, File/ Canton Repository; Bottom, courtesy PARTA

operate free of rails and will replace old transit buses that had exhausted their useful life, Amrhein says.

The trolleys will have removable window panels and nostalgic hand touches and styling, she says. And Amhrein hopes they will help contribute to the emergence of downtown Kent.

“When we say ‘trolley’ around here, people just get giddy,” says Amrhein, adding that she sees the trolleys as a way to encourage ridership among people who don’t use transit.

“We’re excited that they will be a great way to restore service in early 2022 when, hopefully, we’re well beyond this pandemic.”

Akron Metro Future Plans Meanwhile, Akron Metro is working on a recently passed 10-year strategic plan, says Akron Metro CEO Dawn Distler.

“Part of that strategic plan is a new bus network for our denser areas, and then figuring out what mobility options work outside that dense bus network,” Distler says.

The focus is less on coverage, she says, and more on connections, relying on things like the Akron Metro transit center to ease transfers.

“How do we provide equitable connections?” Distler says. “How do we get them to the next stop?”

While denser areas like Akron, Barberton and Cuyahoga Falls will have more frequent service, less populated areas could potentially be

By The Numbers Average Transit Passengers Annually Akron Metro

6 million PARTA

1.5 million SARTA

2.7 million

The Road Ahead Despite their recent upgrades, the systems are all looking at how to continue to improve connectivity and access.

But expanding service isn’t as easy as putting another bus on the road, transit leaders say.

“At least in Portage County, we’re predominantly rural,” Amrhein says. “The bulk of our population lives in rural areas that don’t have access to fixed-route service because it’s just not possible.”

In more rural areas, there isn’t enough density to support bus service, Distler says.

“I think we’re all looking at ways we can provide the right service for the right areas.

Here in Akron, we call that ‘thinking outside the bus,’” Distler says.

In some cases, that could mean passenger vans. In others, it could be partnerships with microtransit companies, Distler says.

In the end, the goal is to get people where they need to be, whether that’s to growing job hubs, medical centers or essential services, the transit leaders say. But the COVID-19 pandemic has made that more difficult.

“It’s not for lack of trying. Transit [authorities] all over the place [try]. Sometimes it’s successful. But post-pandemic it has been different. We can’t just throw service out there and hope for the best,” Amrhein says.

The pandemic, however, did show how essential transit is to a community, Distler says.

“The people who were riding transit primarily were going to their essential jobs, hospitals, for groceries. Without transit, that would’ve shut down,” Distler says.

Amrhein says she hopes the state will start funding transit based on the value it provides and not by the numbers of riders.

“Eventually, everyone is going to need us,” Amrhein says. “If you want to support aging in place, aging at home, getting people out of facilities, transit is essential.”

Likewise, Distler says transit is key to improving equity in communities: “It’s not just all about getting people out of their cars; it’s about providing opportunities for everyone. If you want people who retire to stay in Akron or stay in Canton, you have to provide them a way to get around. If you want to appeal to people who are disabled, you have to provide them a way to get around. Good transportation gives them that way.”

Ginger Christ is a freelance writer based in Northeast Ohio.

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Nonprofits

Serving immigrants across county lines The International Institute of Akron recently began forming additional partnerships to broaden its reach

By Abbey Bashor

International Institute of Akron Executive Director Madhu Sharma (right) reviews documents with an immigration attorney in 2019.

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For Madhu Sharma, IIA’s executive director, this longevity speaks to the agency’s importance.

“We’ve been helping immigrants adapt to their life in the U.S. since the beginning of the last century,” says Sharma. “What that says is that we would not be able to sustain that mission if it wasn’t a value of this part of the country—particularly the Rust Belt, where industry has depended on new immigrants throughout every wave of immigration to the Akron-Canton area.”

As an immigration lawyer and immigrant herself, Sharma understands the value of local collaboration.

“In terms of advocacy for immigrants and the work we do, I’ve been

Serving Immigrants Within the Akron-Canton Area and Beyond IIA primarily serves immigrants through five different programs. Social services provide case management programs and help immigrants gain access to physical and mental health care. Educational offerings include English language classes, job/life skills and civics workshops.

The language access program provides interpretation services to immigrants in places like local courts and hospitals.

Employment services help individuals identify employment opportunities and offer advocacy services within the workforce. Immigration legal services provide representation to help people stabilize their immigration legal status.

Photo: File/Akron Beacon Journal

Over the past century, the Akron-Canton region has been home to immigrants looking to put down roots in the U.S. During the early 20th century, Akron saw an influx of workers move to the city to join the rubber industry boom.

Today, immigration has expanded to the Canton area, where manufacturing is a leading source of job opportunities.

The International Institute of Akron (IIA) is currently the only nonprofit legal service provider and resettlement agency in the Akron-Canton area. Since 1916, the organization has welcomed immigrants and refugees to the community with the mission of “helping immigrants achieve an empowered life with dignity, connection and purpose.”

pushing for the Akron-Canton cohort for reasons [that have an] impact [on] numbers and people,” she says. “We feel like that county line is fictional.

It’s not relevant to immigrants, really.”

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In terms of our mission and the community we serve, that county line is invisible.

Photo: File/Akron Beacon Journal

Madhu Sharma, executive director, International Institute of Akron

Out of 14 attorneys in the entire state of Ohio who go before the Cleveland immigration court, IIA employs three of them.

In all of these arenas, Sharma says the needs of immigrants in Akron and Canton don’t vary by location. “Our clients are crossing the county line, for sure.

We’re one of the very few resources available to them throughout the entire state. And that’s why we do not exclude individuals based on geography.”

For the past two years, IIA has been working to help build a network of service providers for the Hispanic and Latinx community within the Akron-Canton Metroplex. A partnership between IIA and the Ohio Latino Affairs Commission (OLAC) aims to provide advocacy and share resources, especially amid the COVD-19 pandemic. Sharma says OLAC typically deploys its staff to coordinate meetings and set agendas. However, over the past year, outreach has been focused on things like accessing vaccines and economic stimulus funding, employment support and housing insecurity.

Prior to the pandemic, Sharma says the network had operated separately in Akron and in Canton, though she had pushed for it to exist as a unified cohort.

Last year, however, meetings needed to be held virtually, and eventually they were combined. Sharma says the commission started to see how a combined network made the most sense, and that meetings may continue in this format to allow more people to access them.

Sharma says this shift in thinking and process goes to show that “we should be doing this together. There’s no reason not to. In terms of our mission and the community we serve, that county line is invisible.”

One of the main ways in which immigrants and refugees impact local

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Nonprofits

economies is by sheer population.

“These tend to be some of the first According to a 2016 report from New jobs that the people we serve work American Economy, foreign-born resiin when they come to the U.S.,” she dents increased the total housing value says. “Ultimately and over time, they in Summit County by $207 become small business million from 2000-2013. owners and are more likely Sharma points to the presto take that risk of starting a In 2019, ence of immigrants in the storefront business.” the IIA resettled area as being an economic Going forward, IIA seeks to boost, especially as the continue its work of providAkron population has fallen ing advocacy and services refugees from 4% over the past decade. to immigrant communities four countries and “Population decline leads within the Akron-Canton provided citizenship to workforce decline, which Metroplex. In 2019, the services to then leads to economic agency resettled 168 refugees decline for a region,” she from four countries and proexplains. “Immigrants in vided citizenship services both Akron and Canton offto 198 individuals. Sharma individuals. set population decline and describes 2020 as more of a also help improve the hous“blip year” in terms of impact ing market, since they increase propnumbers, but says that IIA is looking erty values by purchasing homes.” forward to resettling 500 refugees in the Sharma notes that immigrants are next fiscal year thanks to a commitment often willing to work in jobs where from the current administration. there are the greatest workforce needs.

The recent crisis in Afghanistan has In Akron and Canton, such needs tend positioned IIA as a leading resource to be in the manufacturing industry. for community members in need.

168 198

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IIA has resettled nearly 200 Afghan special immigrant visa holders since 2013, with the agency having already resettled one refugee family that was evacuated from the country in early August. As IIA helps both new families arriving in Akron and concerned relatives of those still in Afghanistan, its importance to the community has never been greater.

Sharma adds although the past year has been challenging in many ways, it has brought a deeper sense of connection to immigration work in the region.

“It was a really rich time for collaboration among Akron-Canton immigrant service providers,” she says. “It was out of pure necessity, but it did bridge that divide that so often happens.

We let each other know what’s working and what needs work. It’s really about expanding the capacity of every nonprofit that’s serving immigrants, because there’s not enough of us.”

Abbey Bashor is a freelance writer based in Akron.

\\ Fall 2021

9/23/21 10:52 AM

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Higher Education

Student Green on the campus of Kent State University

Kent State University connects to communities for learning The university’s regional campuses provide quality education throughout the metroplex

By Patricia Faulhaber

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two locations – one in Burton and one in Twinsburg), Trumbull, Stark, Tuscarawas, East Liverpool, and Salem.

“In addition to the Kent campus and the regional campuses, Kent State has a College of Podiatric Medicine located in Independence [in Cuyahoga County], as well as international campuses,” says Peggy Shadduck, Ph.D., vice president for regional campuses and the dean of the College of Applied and Technical Studies.

“Although each location is fairly close to the other locations, the regional campuses serve counties and towns that have some fairly large differences in terms of the employers and industries. There are also differences in culture and goals for these communities,” Shadduck adds. “Each regional campus has its own personality, and they

are deeply linked with the communities they serve. This system is good for keeping KSU as a whole closely linked with northeast Ohio, considering the varying needs of students, families, communities and employers.”

History of KSU KSU shifted from teacher-training school to college in 1929. Even before then, the university had begun laying its groundwork for regional campuses.

Some of the school’s first classes were held in more than 20 centers across Ohio, according to KSU’s website.

The exact timing of the regional campuses’ construction is a bit more difficult to pin down because most started by using existing facilities in the communities. For example, the Stark campus started with classes in a high

Photo: Courtesy Kent State University

University campuses are a unique place to visit. With their great deal of history and tradition, campus atmospheres vibrate with a sense of learning, hope and accomplishment.

Kent State University (KSU) is one of northeast Ohio’s premier universities. What started out as a school for training teachers in 1910 has become an economic stimulus for communities where each campus is located in Ohio. Each location is in an area with its own distinct personality, and Kent State works to create deep links with each of the communities it serves.

KSU is referred to as an eight-campus system. The main (and largest) campus is in Kent, Ohio, and the seven regional campuses are in: Ashtabula, Geauga (which also includes the Twinsburg Academic Center, so it has \\ Fall 2021

9/22/21 5:39 PM

school in 1946, but got a full campus in 1966. The other campuses have start dates in the 1950s and 1960s as well.

KSU built its regional campuses according to a specific plan generated

by Ohio’s leadership, including Gov. James A. Rhodes, in the mid-1900s.

Shadduck says, “Ohio leadership in the mid-1900s wanted individuals to have access to higher education within about 30 miles of where they live.

They provided the chance for public universities to be funded in order to build regional campuses and for communities to engage with campuses.”

Regional Campuses Connect Communities Shadduck says the furthest campuses from Kent are Ashtabula (north) and Tuscarawas (south). Those are each about 60 miles from Kent. “[KSU’s] total area served is close to the size of Connecticut, or about 500 square miles,” Shaddock says.

Kent’s regional campuses offer 26 associate degrees, multiple certificates

and multiple bachelor’s degrees. Each regional campus has a different mix of degrees that are intended to meet the student and employee needs for that region. There are bachelor’s degrees offered in multiple locations and fully online. Enrollment varies per campus.

“Students often attend more than one campus as a part of the Kent State system, making it difficult to determine exact enrollment numbers. However, we do keep track of what we call preponderant enrollment, which means the campus where a student is taking the majority of their classes. We also keep track of concurrent enrollment, which is how many students are attending the campus at all,” Shadduck says.

In 2019, enrollment for all regional campuses was 10,607, or 28.3% of all KSU enrollment (this number is preponderant).

“The Kent campus offers a greater array of degrees,” Shadduck says. “By concentrating some of the teaching facilities and research on the largest campus, the university can offer greater breadth

and depth than it could if all campuses were the same size. The regional campuses do offer courses and degrees that address specific needs in more rural areas or in the counties served by each campus. They also provide access to education nearby for individuals who are unable to commute a long way for their education, and for individuals who prefer the smaller environments of the regional campuses.”

Shadduck continues, “The regional campuses provide the high quality of Kent State University in small environments within local communities.

We are working hard to listen to needs and be responsive of those needs. That includes prospective students, current students, families of students, alumni, local community leaders, and employers in our communities.”

Denise A. Seachrist, Ph.D., is the dean and chief administrative officer at Kent State University at Stark.

“As Stark County’s public university, community means so much to Kent State University at Stark,” Seachrist

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Higher Education

says. “We exist to educate the community, providing the same academic excellence students expect from Kent State University without ever leaving Stark County. We provide affordable, quality academic programs that change lives across the region.

“The community makes us who we are. We are the county’s hometown university for a reason. One does not have to travel far to receive a quality education that supports families and local businesses – and builds futures.”

While connecting to the community is important system-wide, each campus does so in a unique way. At Kent State Stark, those ways include:

Community partnerships The campus partners with Siffrin Inc. (a local partner), which serves people with developmental disabilities in the region and has occupied space in the Fine Arts Building since 2019. Siffrin enhances the efforts to thread inclusion throughout every measure of the campus. The partnership also provides a gateway for Siffrin participants to take college courses, as well.

Earlier this year, the Stark campus welcomed Auditor of State Keith Faber’s East Regional Office into space at Kent State Stark’s Conference Center. This move provided significant cost savings for the state department, and thus to taxpayers, along with opportunities for recruitment and internships for Kent State Stark students, according to Seachrist.

Featured Speakers Series The Featured Speakers Series – back this year to celebrate its 30th anniversary – has attracted community members to campus to take advantage of a rare opportunity to listen to national and international experts speak on a wide range of topics and issues that shape society.

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The arch located at the entrance of campus on the Lester A. Lefton Esplanade

Faculty helping both in and outside of the classroom The faculty at Kent State at Stark are working to better the region by offering their academic expertise in a tangible way outside of the campus to community organizations, the healthcare industry, environmental groups and more.

Robert Hamilton IV, Ph.D., associate professor of biological sciences, is just one example. He has been a collaborator with Stark Parks in Stark County for the past 10 years, significantly contributing to the Cottonwood Wetland Restoration Project.

Rising Scholars program for first-generation students The Rising Scholars program is a college access program designed to give students from Stark County and their families the knowledge, rigorous academic exposure and social support they will need to be successful at university.

“As our campus prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary during the upcoming 2021-2022 academic year, we reflect on the relationships fostered, the lives enriched, and the countless community partnerships formed over the past 75 years,” Seachrist says.

Patricia Faulhaber is a freelance writer based in Canton.

KSU 2019 Enrollment

By Campus Ashtabula 2,064 Geauga 2,206

Trumbull 2,155 Kent

(Portage County)

26,804* Salem

(Columbiana County)

1,646

Stark 4,422

East Liverpool (Columbiana County)

1,159

Tuscarawas 2,089

*includes both undergraduate and graduate students

Photo: Courtesy Kent State University

Arts exhibitions & theater offerings to expand cultural experiences The expanded and renovated Fine Arts Building at Kent State Stark provides myriad art initiatives for the community to enjoy, whether it is a new exhibition in one of the esteemed galleries or a performance on the stage of the Mary J. Timken Theatre.

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Help us feed our neighbors in need.

Photo: Courtesy Kent State University

This fall, 1 in 6 children may struggle with hunger.

No family should have to choose between nourishing food and other essential expenses.

Please visit akroncantonfoodbank.org to make a donation today.

TOGETHER, WE CAN GET FOOD INTO THE HANDS OF FAMILIES WHO NEED IT MOST.

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SERVING 8 COUNTIES

9/23/21 10:11 AM

Business Spotlight

Hendrickson's trailer division headquarters, located in Canton

Hendrickson propels transportation sector forward in the metroplex If you’ve ever driven the stretch of highway between Akron and Canton, you’ve likely noticed the high volume of trucks in transit. Whether these trucks make a stop in the area or travel through to reach a further destination, there’s no doubt an efficient, well-built vehicle is crucial to their journey.

Of course, an efficient semi-truck is more than just a large structure with wheels—it’s the product of valuable parts working together. Axles, brakes and wheel-end systems are just a few components that help heavy-duty vehicles make their way across the country.

For a company like Hendrickson, creating products like these to help improve commercial transportation has been a longstanding tradition.

In 1913, inventor and businessman Magnus Hendrickson founded the Hendrickson Motor Truck Company. Based in Chicago, the manufacturing company originally built trucks used to haul building materials. A little more than a decade later, Hendrickson created the 40 Akron-Canton Metroplex

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first tandem truck suspension, which mounted axles on each end of an equalizing beam and improved traction. By 1978, Hendrickson was purchased by The Boler Company and soon expanded into producing adjacent products, like trailer suspension systems, springs and metal bumpers.

Today, Hendrickson’s work focuses on manufacturing suspension systems and components for the global heavyduty vehicle industry. The company has 15 manufacturing plants throughout North America, along with eight international plants overseas.

The company’s Canton-based trailer division, formally called Hendrickson Trailer Commercial Vehicle Systems, manufactures air ride suspensions and axle systems.

“When I joined Hendrickson in 1989, John Boler had purchased the Turner Suspension Company on Industrial Place SE in Canton the year earlier,” says Gary Gerstenslager, president and CEO of Hendrickson. At the time, Ger-

stenslager says sales were only about $25 million, and the plant’s manufacturing technology was primitive.

“My contribution was fabrication automation, where we automated welding [by] utilizing robotics and other advanced manufacturing technologies,” Gerstenslager says. “We began to focus totally on the trailer product line and, with some brilliant product engineering designs, created a paradigm shift in the market by inventing the INTRAAX Suspension.”

Prior to the INTRAAX, Gerstenslager says suspensions and axles were manufactured separately. At Hendrickson, they integrated the two and designed a connection that would not require maintenance.

“It revolutionized the trailer axlesuspension industry,” he says. “Few suspensions are sold without an axle today, and the trailer division [now has] $1 billion in revenue.”

Hendrickson’s trailer division has expanded not only its revenue, but

Photo: Courtesy Hendrickson

The manufacturing company, which operates on a global scale, moved its trailer division to Canton in 1989 and found success By Abbey Bashor

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also its physical presence in the AkronCanton Metroplex. The Canton headquarters maintains 160,000 square feet and houses research & development in addition to its other business disciplines. Most recently, the company built a $55 million, 200,000-square-foot axle-suspension manufacturing facility in Navarre, Ohio, and acquired another 200,000-square-foot facility in North Canton for its Controls Business Unit.

Employing roughly 5,400 people globally, with more than 500 employees in the metroplex area on a payroll of more than $40 million, Hendrickson holds a significant position in the region. Gerstenslager says the company’s commitment to and opportunities within the area are major reasons why it stays local.

“We are one of a few suppliers in our industry that manufactures all of our components in America,” he says. “Our suspension and axle systems utilize Alliance Tubular Products [a subsidiary of PTC Alliance Corp. located in Stark County], and Mansfield supplies most

of our blanked hot-rolled stampings.

The most creative design engineers we have had were born in this area, and the work ethic is second to none.”

When it comes to the idea of the metroplex, Gerstenslager says efforts to unite the region could generate a lot of momentum.

“The metroplex initiative is good because it can focus on bringing in new companies or industries to the area. Business leaders can use their local success to help influence decisions of other companies,” he says.

Gerstenslager adds that “it would be great to see this area rebound with good-paying jobs,” much like he saw at a Hendrickson facility north of Dallas in McKinney, Texas.

As a company, Hendrickson knows it must differentiate itself to attract top talent and make the region competitive. This year, Hendrickson Trailer Commercial Vehicle Systems joined the Stark County Manufacturing Workforce Development Partnership (SCMWDP), which Gerstenslager says

will help set employer-led priorities, goals and strategies in addressing current and future manufacturing workforce issues in the area.

Known as an industry sector partnership, SCMWDP acts as a regional collaboration between manufacturers and stakeholders who seek to address the talent shortage in the area. Gerstenslager says the partnership is organized to ensure manufacturers play an active role in identifying and solving the challenges related to attracting, training and retaining a qualified workforce.

“Our plants have some of the most advanced manufacturing equipment and processes utilized in the industry today,” Gerstenslager says. “As we continuously innovate our products and processes focusing on anticipating customer needs, it drives the need for talent and draws people to the area.

Helping to bring talented people to this region is always a positive addition.”

Abbey Bashor is a freelance writer based in Akron.

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Community Spotlight

Visitors enjoy the Hartville MarketPlace & Flea Market.

Hartville: Charm on a Plush Countryside

At just the right time of the day on State Route 43, drivers on their way north from Canton may suddenly get a sense of comfort and family as they notice a rich smell of chocolate wafting through the air. The source: a centuries-old building housing The Hartville Chocolate Factory within the village of Hartville.

Visitors to the Akron-Canton Metroplex area will find bustling metro areas in the cities of Canton and Akron. Both cities offer culture and art, business and industry, and plenty of shopping, dining and coffee shops. But visitors driving between those areas will find all that and more, including charming farm-scapes and quiet countrysides, in the quaint village of Hartville, located in Stark County's Lake Township.

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Hartville sits at the intersection of two main roads—State Route 43 and State Route 619. Located near the borders of Stark, Summit and Portage counties, Hartville was recognized by Ohio Magazine as a Best Hometown of Ohio for 2019-2020. Tourism is lively, and visitors return again and again to enjoy the many activities and amenities the village has to offer.

Children and teens living in Hartville attend the Lake Local School district, which is ranked #77 statewide and #2 in the Canton area by U.S. News & World Report.

“People are attracted by the village of Hartville because of its charm, its rural feel and the great school district,” says Lake Township Chamber Interim

President Ronald (Chip) Weisel. “The area is a nice mix of young families and retirees. Plus, it’s 15- to 30-minute drive to all of the great offerings in Stark and Summit Counties.”

Weisel is a chiropractor with a practice in Hartville. He is also part of the Hartville/Lake Community Development Board.

The Hartville Chocolate Factory is just one of many small businesses that line the main streets of the village. Another popular attraction in the area is the Hartville MarketPlace & Flea Market.

“The Hartville MarketPlace brings 1-2 million people to Hartville per year. The tourists who visit the Hartville MarketPlace have benefited the

Photo: Courtesy Hartville MarketPlace & Flea Market

The Stark County village offers numerous activities and shopping spots while maintaining its quaint, small-town feel By Patricia Faulhaber

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Planning a Trip to Hartville The following websites can help you plan your next day or overnight trip to Hartville: experiencehartville.com discoverhartville.com hlcd.org

is just over 30,000. Despite the population difference, Kozy says Hartville has 242 businesses—almost about half the businesses found in all of Lake Township.

“It’s really the small-town feel, community values, excellent schools, safety and sense of community that attract people to live in Hartville,” Kozy says.

“Visitors are drawn to the area by the number of attractions we offer, such as Hartville Kitchen, Shops at Hartville Kitchen, Hartville Hardware, Hartville MarketPlace & Flea Market [which has 50+ independently-owned indoor shops], Akron-Canton Jellystone Park,

Maize Valley, Sable Creek, Seven Hills Golf, Historic Downtown Hartville, and so many more that it is difficult to mention them all. Stark Parks has a lovely facility at Quail Hollow Park, and [the] nearby Walborn Reservoir is also popular for visitors with the eagle observation area and marina.”

She adds that visitors come to enjoy Hartville for the many destinations, but they also stop to shop at the family of businesses in the center of the village and in surrounding areas to see what they have to offer.

“The economic impact of tourism in the area is great. While visitors are in town, they can discover the great variety of shops, boutiques and restaurants that our area has to offer,” Kozy says over email. “A day-trip visitor has been the norm for many years, but the addition of lodging options in our area has increased the number of overnight stays. Think about your last day or overnight trip—you spend more when you spend the night, you stop for another meal, you may fuel up your car,

Photo: Courtesy Hartville MarketPlace & Flea Market

area in a number of ways, including driving the startups of many small businesses along our main corridor to provide tourists with extended reasons for shopping in Hartville or coming back to shop in Hartville,” Weisel says.

Weisel says in recent years, many chocolatiers and purveyors have been opening in the area, which has attracted additional tourists.

Christa Kozy is the marketing and group tours coordinator for Hartville Kitchen, Restaurant, Bakery & Shops, a mixed-use venue with a homestyle eatery, a candy shop, a bakery and shops.

She also works on Experience Hartville, a destination website running tourism campaigns. Additionally, she serves on Discover Hartville's tourism committee and is the president of the Lake Township Rotary Club.

Hartville’s population sits at around 3,000 people, according to the 2020 Census data. In comparison, the population of Lake Township, which includes Greentown and Uniontown in addition to Hartville,

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etc. We are excited to have the Comfort Suites Hartville next door to us and increased options at Akron-Canton Jellystone for their cabins, as well as the lovely Quail’s Covey Bed & Breakfast adjacent to Quail Hollow Park.”

With Hartville’s proximity to both Akron and Canton, it is easily accessible to residents of both cities and surrounding areas. It is also a hub for travelers, with frequent overnight stays from Cleveland, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis, Kozy says.

Kozy adds, “I was raised in a small town in North Central Ohio and was always taught to ‘love where I live.’

I’m teaching my daughter to do the same. There is so much to love about Hartville, but the people here are my favorite part. We are so fortunate to have so many people that love this community and come together when there is a need.”

She says visitors and guests to the area often mention the warm hospitality, the smiles and the great experience they have, as well as the variety

The Hartville Chocolate Factory sits in the heart of downtown Hartville.

of shopping and experiences they can have in Hartville.

More often than not, Kozy says the feedback pertains to the friendliness extended to them by the businesses and residents. Visitors also note the “slower pace” and quieter atmosphere.

“I originally chose to live in the area when I was at the Lake Township Chamber of Commerce. I felt that in my leadership position there, I needed to live in and learn the place that I was

representing. … I love that Hartville/ Lake is in the middle of it all — we are 20 minutes from so many great towns and cities, but at the end of the day, we appreciate the quiet atmosphere and knowing our neighbors. I absolutely love to travel and see new places, but I’m always so grateful to come home to Hartville.”

Patricia Faulhaber is a freelance writer based in Canton.

Photo: Discover Hartville/Lake Township Chamber of Commerce

Community Spotlight

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Photo: Discover Hartville/Lake Township Chamber of Commerce

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9/22/21 5:45 PM

Tourism

A conversation with Gregg Mervis The local organization leader reflects on the importance of tourism to the Akron-Canton Metroplex As an enthusiast of the area’s parks and the father of a photojournalism student, Gregg Mervis has a personal passion for the region’s arts and recreational opportunities. Entering his 10th year as president and CEO of the Akron/Summit Convention & Visitors Bureau, he’s looking forward to seeing the local travel and entertainment industry bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the year before the pandemic struck, tourism brought in $1.1 billion to Summit County and supported 16,000 jobs.

Here, Mervis discusses tourism in the age of COVID-19, opportunities to draw more visitors to the area and more.

Karen Hanna (KH): What kind of impact does tourism have on the community? How has the role of tourism in economic development evolved during your time with the Akron/Summit Convention & Visitors Bureau?

Gregg Mervis (GM): I think there’s been an increased focus on the economic

Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad

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impact that tourism to the area repre19. Another is Reactivate Akron, which sents and an increased understanding has a goal of reactivating Akron, letof the importance of a visitor to a comting people know and see all the difmunity — not only from the standpoint ferent things that are going on here, as of them creating cash flow far as activities that they can to attractions, restaurants, be involved in – things they hotels, but there’s also cercan do from at home virtually tain intrinsic value to someand all the wonderful, unique body coming here for the first assets that they can enjoy. time as a tourist and thinking, “This is potentially a place I’d KH: What impacts might the like to do business.” It gives COVID-19 pandemic have on people a quality glance of tourism in the area long-term?

Gregg Mervis what a community has.

GM: I think it will definitiveIt’s also important to recognize that ly change people’s travel, and people tourism provides job opportunities for will be more aware and more cautious. everyone from entry-level positions to Eventually we will get back to a new management-level roles. normal, and hopefully this will happen sooner rather than later.

KH: What are some of ASCVB's current Last year’s tourism numbers are initiatives to promote tourism? going to be significantly lower than GM: We have a couple ongoing initiain normal years, and it’s going to be tives: One is akronREbound, which is a continuous and gradual climb back helping us rebound from the devastaout over the next 6 to 18 months to get tion to our industry [caused by] COVIDback to where we were.

Photos: Top, courtesy Akron/Summit Convention & Visitors Bureau; Bottom, File/Akron Beacon Journal

By Karen Hanna

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People doing staycations and visiting local instead of traveling outside of the community ... helps to provide some relief and some industry revenue. By depositing their dollars here in our restaurants and local attractions, they help increase industry revenue.

KH: What about initiatives to promote conventions and tradeshows? Does our area have the venues for those types of events?

GM: We have some wonderful facilities here within Summit County, from the [John S.] Knight Center to the [Akron] Civic Theatre to Blossom [Music Center] to Stan Hywet — they are some other wonderful partners that have unique venue space that can entertain both large and small groups of people.

Photos: Top, courtesy Akron/Summit Convention & Visitors Bureau; Bottom, File/Akron Beacon Journal

KH: In this area, what do you see as some of the biggest opportunities for tourism?

GM: I think the Cuyahoga Valley National Park certainly is an appreciated, but potentially still underappreciated, wonderful venue. It’s the

seventh-most visited national park in the United States. There’s tremendous trails, birdwatching, a river that runs through it. It’s right on the gateway to downtown Akron. There’s some wonderful activities that go on there almost every day. Our community continues to grow the understanding of how important that is to us. We continue to work with the national park in communicating to travelers what is available.

KH: Does ASCVB have partnerships outside the area?

GM: Our primary focus is here in the Akron and Summit Region, but on a grander scale, we certainly look to partner with neighboring communities the best we can to make it mutually beneficial to the communities and to the person planning the event.

There’s some great partnerships that have been funded through the state on a statewide and regional basis. One longstanding partnership we have had is with Visit Canton, and we con-

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tinue to work together to see what’s out there that can possibly overlay both the Summit and Stark county areas. It’s a constant evolution of seeing what the meeting planner or the events right holder is looking for in a destination and working to best support those goals.

KH: What are your favorite activities and destinations here? What does your family like to do?

GM: We love to be outside in the national park and in the Metro Parks.

One of our favorite things to do is the Bike Aboard on the Cuyahoga Valley railroad. The views are fantastic and you can get a little exercise in. Sometimes, we end up at Szalay’s Farm on the way back, so we can get some corn to cook out during the summer.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Karen Hanna is a freelance writer based in Cuyahoga Falls.

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032-048_BOB_ACM_FALL.indd 47

Akron-Canton Metroplex 47

9/23/21 10:12 AM

Snapshot

Economic Indicators

2021 Top Metroplex Industries Number of Employees

How the Akron-Canton Metroplex is faring Population

Health Care and Social Assistance

Changes in Population, According to the U.S. Census Stark County

Summit County

2010: 28,836

2010: 375,586

2010: 541,781

2020: 26,721

0.23%

2020: 374,853

2020: 540,428

-7.33%

Portage County

-0.20%

-0.25%

Akron

Canton

2010: 199,110

2010: 73,007

2020: 190,469

2020: 70,872

-4.34%

-2.92%

81,377

2010: 161,419 2020: 161,791

2.28%

7.35%

Ohio

U.S.

2010: 1.5m

2010: 308.7m

2020: 1.8M

2020: 331.4m

Manufacturing

63,267

Retail Trade

56,379 Changes in employment

Transportation

Akron-Canton Airport

Portage

$3M

$15.8M

0%

Total passengers 2021* 2020

Total Costs of Current ODOT Projects

by County Carroll

10-year percentage change

291,657

-2.5%

-3.2%

220,005 5-year percentage change -3.2%

-9.7%

-7.4%

Number of Air Carriers

Stark $67.5M

4

Average Daily Arrivals 2021

Total costs:

$345M

Most popular routes: Orlando, Fla. Ft. Myers, Fla. Tampa, Fla. Charlotte, N.C. Myrtle Beach, S.C.

10

Average Daily Departures 2021

Summit $258.7M

10

*Jan.–July 2021

employment

15%

Unemployment Rate

Metroplex Total Employment

13%

Metroplex through Q2 2021: 6.2%

11%

U.S. through Q2 2021: 5.8% 9%

527,674

534,781

537,015

536,449

525,831

472,129

498,044

517,571

517,807

508,073

7%

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

2019

2020

48 Akron-Canton Metroplex

032-048_BOB_ACM_FALL.indd 48

2021

5%

Q1

Q2

2019

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

2020

Q3

Q4

Q1

2021

3% Q2

Sources: Akron-Canton Airport; Bureau of Labor Statistics; Census Bureau; Greater Akron Chamber/ Brian Anderson; Ohio Department of Transportation

Carroll County

\\ Fall 2021

9/22/21 5:48 PM

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Sources: Akron-Canton Airport; Bureau of Labor Statistics; Census Bureau; Greater Akron Chamber/ Brian Anderson; Ohio Department of Transportation

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