Gracious Acts of Service Span Three Generations

Gracious Acts of Service Span Three Generations

 

(Courtesy of OPEN M- Opportunity for People Everywhere In Need Ministry)

Captain Sylvia Trundle was seeking ways for the police department to partner with OPEN M after having worked as a patrol officer in the Summit Lake neighborhood. She began using OPEN M as a resource in her job, but that became just the beginning of her involvement and support. She began supporting OPEN M with her time and resources, and she invited two very special ladies in her life to join her – her mother, Kay Hine, and her grandmother, Sylvia Phillips.

What Better Block means for your neighborhood

Story by Chris Miller, The Akronist

The intersection of North Main Street and Cuyahoga Falls Avenue
in North Hill will be the location of Akron’s
first Better Block event (Photo: Chris Miller)

 

By now, you’ve likely heard about the Better Block event that takes place next weekend in the North Hill neighborhood of Akron, but this program is much more than the sum of its parts. Better Block’s an exercise in civil disobedience and imagination. It’s also a look ahead at what a neighborhood could be. And while it’s happening in North Hill this time, it could happen in your neighborhood, too.

On May 15 through 17, the “Temple Square” block in North Hill (the intersection of Cuyahoga Falls Avenue and North Main Street) will be adorned with temporary landscaping, bicycle lanes and popup businesses in currently empty storefronts, along with live music, art, an open air market and a number of other attractions.

Better Block Coming to Akron Ohio

Photo of Main Street in Akron, Ohio by Flickr user Kevin T. Quinn.

 

Have you heard the term Better Block? It’s spreading fast here in Akron these days. Google “Better Block, Akron Ohio” and you’ll see nine different references.

The Better Block is a community development demonstration tool that uses grassroots efforts to show residents the potential to create a walkable, bikeable, lively, neighborhood center. The project helps residents envision “what could be,” with temporary “pop-up” businesses, bicycle lanes and pedestrian friendly design. Better Blocks are being performed in cities around the world, and have helped communities rapidly implement neighborhood improvements that can become permanent.

The Knight Foundation and Team Better Block have begun laying the groundwork for their first collaboration with the city of Akron. The North Hill neighborhood has been selected for the city’s first Better Block, and residents, business owners, and city staff have partnered to prepare the Temple Square block (Cuyahoga Falls Avenue and Main Street) for this transformation.