#HomeInAkron chronicles the challenges, stories, and hopes of residents in Akron where they envision living in a safe, secure, and neighborly community where they can thrive.
The series reflects the housing stories and experiences of the City of Akron residents. Inspired by YVO community conversations in 2019, the initiative was developed by media partners The Devil Strip, Akron Beacon Journal, and WKSU. In 2020 Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and News 5, Cleveland partnered to enhance collaborative reporting across platforms and expand the reach of this special series.
The #HomeInAkron series presents stories of Akron residents along with a list of housing resources compiled by media partners. #HomeInAkron looks into issues that many have experienced and provides resources and solutions to improve resident’s lives.
Journalists dived deep into the experiences of renters and service providers to share the stories that have often remained untold. This exploration also highlights challenges that persist since Your Voice Ohio community conversations in 2019 surfaced housing as a way to address several identified needs, such as relationships, education, transportation, health, safety and democratic action.
At Your Voice Ohio, we believe lifting diverse voices is essential for communities to thrive. That’s why, through engaged journalism and collaboration, we are committed to listening and ensuring that community members’ voices are heard.
While this project reflects some harsh realities about housing access, it also presents reasons for optimism. This collaborative media partnership will continue with a series of online community forums in April and additional reporting to follow. You can stay up to date through our Twitter, Facebook or by subscribing to our newsletter.
Your Voice Ohio is the nation’s largest sustained, statewide media collaborative in the US. YVO is managed and coordinated by The Center for New Democratic Processes, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civic engagement organization who’s been engaging with Ohioans since 2012.
The Center for New Democratic Processes operates Your Voice Ohio by securing funding, managing the day-to-day operations, designing and facilitating the engagement events, and coordinated media partner collaboration. Media partner collaboration is coordinated by Doug Oplinger, a former Pulitzer Prize winning managing editor at the Akron Beacon Journal.
If you are a member of the media and interested in joining this collaboration, please contact Doug Oplinger.
If you are an Ohioan and wish to stay up to date with YVO activities or you would like to participate in future events, you can sign up for the Your Voice Ohio newsletter below.
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We’re a collaboration of news organizations across the state responding to the needs and aspirations of all Ohioans.