Building Community Around Downtown Jobs

Akron, Ohio, is a city that built its fortune on rubber. From the late 1800s into the mid 1900s, Akron was the rubber capital of the world, eventually housing the headquarters of all four major tire and rubber producers. But in a tale seen across the Great Lakes region and beyond, Akron’s booming industry eventually went bust. Businesses left and whole parts of town effectively cleared out. But, being a rubber city, Akron’s getting ready to bounce back.

In what’s hoped to be a significant part of that recovery is a plan for the redevelopment of a 50-block area in the city’s center. A multi-sector team of city leaders have joined the effort to dramatically reshape part of downtown Akron near the University of Akron, an area known as University Park. Led by the non-profit University Park Alliance, the project aims to revive the area in to a mixed-use and vibrant neighborhood, leveraging the university and other major institutional employers in the area to lure people back to what was formerly—and what officials hope will someday be again—a thriving neighborhood. And according to locals, it certainly needs the help.