Category: Press Coverage

Canton Repository (12/26/24) Construction crews will be busy in Stark County in 2025 with projects to address housing and medical needs, give businesses new or expanded homes, reconstruct roadways and improve local parks. Here’s a look at some of the construction projects that will be underway in 2025: Stark County housing projects planned for 2025 Local planning commissions are seeing an increase in housing development projects for 2025 that help address Stark County's housing shortage for people with low and middle income and for people who are aged 55 and older. Canton For All People, a nonprofit development corporation formed by Crossroads…

Ideastream Public Media (10/28/24) A former church in Canton is set to be transformed into an early childhood center with the goal of increasing kindergarten readiness in a neighborhood that experiences a disproportionate amount of crime and poverty. The former Canton Calvary Mission Church, across the street from Gibbs Elementary School on Gibbs Avenue, will soon be repurposed into Gibbs Avenue Center.   Canton For All People, a ministry of Crossroads United Methodist Church working to improve the lives of residents in Canton, wants to build back the Gibbs neighborhood with local partners. First step: educating its youngest residents. More…

Canton Repository (9/29/24) A partnership among the city, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and ICAN Housing, a nonprofit mental health agency, will result in some new housing aimed at reducing the number of homeless residents. Duncan Square will be built at 35th Street and Harmont Avenue NE. Construction is expected to begin next year. The complex will consist of 12, one-story Craftsman-style units and will include case management and wrap-around supportive services, said Julie Sparks, ICAN executive director, and Sherice L. Freeman, the city's director of community development. Freeman said the city has committed $1,754,327 in American…

Canton Repository (12/7/23) A year after crews demolished the troubled Canton Inn, the plans – and funding – for a new family housing complex on the site are taking shape. A half-mile away on Shorb Avenue NW, a market offering free fresh food opened last week. And Canton officials have committed more city and federal funds to the Shorb neighborhood to help homeowners improve their homes and to help developers build new ones. "The neighborhood, with the challenges it has, didn't get this way in just two years," said Don Ackerman, executive director of Canton For All People and lead pastor of Crossroads United Methodist…

Canton Repository (2/9/23) Three newly constructed houses, eight renovated residences and a community center. Those are what Canton For All People intends to accomplish in the greater Shorb neighborhood this year. In the past eight months, the community development corporation created by Crossroads United Methodist Church and the Lemmon and DeHoff family foundations has purchased 11 properties, demolishing two that were not safe to renovate, said Don Ackerman, lead pastor at Crossroads and executive director of Canton For All People. "Primarily, we're here to rebuild the neighborhood," he said.  The city and Canton For All People each produced their own studies…