Stories

Grant helps women take control of their finances

A few short years ago, Gabrielle Blackshear was a single mom struggling to support her family. Like many young women, she had poor credit and did not understand how to live on a budget or manage her finances. All of that changed, however, when she found...

Homeless moms get new lease on life

Imagine waking up at 3 a.m. every day to get to work. This is a reality for many of the clients at H.M. Life Opportunity Services in Akron who have recently escaped homelessness and have no individual method of transportation. To get to work, these clients...

Grant helps teens recognize signs of dating violence

Sept. 11, 2007, is a day Akron resident Nikki Washington will never forget. It was on this day that Nikki took back her independence and walked through the doors of the Battered Women's Shelter with her five children. From the outside, Nikki looked like a...

WEF co-chairs kick off campaign to raise $2.013 million by 2013

Before the Women's Endowment Fund could embark on a $2.013 million endowment campaign for its 20th anniversary, it needed a champion: someone who could get people excited about helping women and girls forever. It didn't take long before two incredible...

Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank

Do you know where your next meal is coming from? For thousands of people in Summit County, the answer is no. Now more than ever, families need help putting food on the table, and Akron Community Foundation is stepping up to the plate through grants to...

Fathers and Sons of Northeast Ohio

Growing up as a young boy in a single-parent home, Donald Lykes lacked a strong father figure. Without a male role model, Lykes said he grew up not knowing how to be a father - or more accurately, a "dad" - and was unprepared for the responsibilities of...

StoryCorps

The history of Summit County got a little richer as hundreds of people came to the Akron-Summit County Public Library in downtown Akron to record oral histories of their lives. With the help of a $20,000 grant from Akron Community Foundation, the...

Case Study: A Story of Partnership

"Are you happy doing your charitable giving over a 1-800 number?" A rather unconventional question from a financial manager, it was one of the first Dale Koblenzer of Merrill Lynch asked of his client, a local executive. The man had a donor-advised fund at a...

Robertson-Hoyt Orthopaedic Fund

An astounding one in three people will suffer from arthritis or joint deterioration in their lifetime, according to Dr. Scott Weiner, director of the orthopaedic surgery department at Summa Health System in Akron. The department sees thousands of patients in...

Philanthropy multiplied: the John A. McAlonan Fund

The quest to be bigger and better: it's what John A. McAlonan was all about. Born in Cuyahoga Falls in 1880, he earned a living moving from place to place across the country, holding a variety of occupations in the process. But he found his greatest...

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