The Litchfield Scholarship Committee announces that its two scholarship funds are now affiliates of Akron Community Foundation. The Litchfield Community Scholarship Fund and the Vincent Yambrovich Engineering Scholarship Fund are two in a family of nearly 400 community foundation funds, the assets of which are pooled and invested using the foundation’s long-term, growth-oriented strategy.

While the Litchfield-based scholarship committee will continue to administer the program that selects scholarship recipients, the community foundation will handle all the tax reporting and audit work.

“Partnering with Akron Community Foundation has helped us in a multitude of ways,” said Judy Scaife, chair of the Litchfield Scholarship Committee. “With the community foundation managing our investments and meeting all fiscal regulations, we can focus on our primary mission: helping local students achieve their academic dreams. This affiliation supports the longevity of this community gem.”

Barberton Community Foundation has authorized $50,000 in grants to Barberton nonprofit organizations working in social services, public education and community arts and culture.

Grants are awarded in focus areas determined by the Foundation's Strategic Plan 2011-2020 each quarter. Defined focus areas help the Foundation continuously filter its decisions and realign actions to more effectively realize the vision of strengthening the community. By proactively directing its flexible grant dollars to the community's greatest needs, the Foundation stives to achieve measurable results in the areas of economic development, social services, educational excellence and community image.

Community members will have increased access to free digital media training and equipment, thanks to a new partnership between Akron Community Foundation and the Akron-Summit County Public Library.

The Akron Digital Media Center, funded by Akron Community Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, reopened today in a newly created space on the first floor of the downtown Main Library, offering another resource for library patrons and increased community visibility for the media project that has trained more than 500 residents.

The media center was launched in 2010 to help cultivate local storytelling and community news gathering. It offers free multimedia workshops in blogging, news writing, photography, videography and video editing, as well as one-on-one mentorships that train community members to serve as journalists and neighborhood storytellers in the digital age.

A look at food donations from the ground level

Arlington Memorial Baptist Church recently gave away 18,000 pounds of food to residents in need, thanks to a donation given by the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.

Every week, the Foodbank donates food to this church, as well as to many other agency members across the county. Mary Coppenger, 72, and her husband Jack, 75, have been giving out food at Arlington Baptist for four years now.

The happily married couple of 50 years arrives at the church at 5 a.m. every Tuesday morning to set up, staying until 1:30 p.m. "When we first started there was only about 15 people coming. We'd sit here, read the paper and have coffee," Mary said of their beginnings.
Now they average 100 to 150 people each time.