Connecting people, neighborhoods, BUSINESSES, and government

We believe relationships and people are the ultimate currency. We believe in building an Akron where everyone has a place, a voice, and an opportunity to thrive. We desire to Build Bridges of connection so

LET’S

Connect People to Opportunity.

Connect Neighborhoods to Resources.

Connect Young People to Possibility.

Connect Those in Crisis to Care.

Connect Businesses to Talent.

Connect Government to the People.

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Platform

Every candidate can study Akron’s challenges and produce a list of ideas. Akron needs a mayor who has faced those challenges with action.
Kemp has spent his life opening his home to foster children, mentoring young people, walking alongside neighbors in crisis, and helping restore trust where it has been broken. He didn’t just witness Akron’s challenges, he has spent decades helping overcome them, one person, one family, and one relationship at a time. Kemp’s life is his platform.

As mayor Kemp will center…

Those who want or need safe, affordable housing. Those who want or need a family-sustaining job. Those living with trauma and mental health challenges. Those suffering from gun violence. Youth in need of hope and mentorship, and Those who want a police department ALL residents can trust.‍ ‍

Youth

1 out of every 3 Akron children live in poverty. For Black children in Akron, that number jumps to 50%. The number of Akron Public School children eligible for free and reduced meals is rising. The percentage of Akron youth not in school or a job is rising. We’re still losing too many of our best and brightest to other communities. For Akron to thrive, it must be a place where all children find loving-support and basic economic stability.

Kemp’s First Priority: Develop and launch Every Child Known – a citywide strategy to ensure no Akron child grows up without a trusted adult in their life.

Why?

Research is clear and consistent – one caring relationship can change the trajectory of a child’s future. Before we build more programs, we must build more people who are present in the lives of Akron’s children. Every Child Known will build an unprecedented coalition connecting schools, faith communities, nonprofits, businesses, and neighborhoods to ensure no young person grows up alone.

Community Wellness

Akron faces a serious trauma and mental health epidemic.Overall suicide rates are up – including a 191% for Black residents since 2009. Substance abuse and addiction still challenge our neighbors and those who care for them. Akron-Summit County have come a long way, but far too many still live with unresolved trauma and poor mental health.

Kemp’s First Priority: Work with community partners to establish a free citywide certification program for Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), enabling neighbors to better support neighbors.

Why?

As Executive Director of Love Akron, Kemp attracted grant funding to pilot a free certification program with great success. Mental Health First Aid is an evidenced-based training program that teaches individuals how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness and substance abuse. It can be offered to participants as young as 12 years old. Mental Health First Aid reduces stigma in community and can dramatically increase the mental resilience of families and neighborhoods.

housing

Akron faces a housing crisis. The average age of an Akron home in low-income neighborhoods is 88.2 years. We’ve seen a 119% increase in homelessness since 2022. There are over 16,000 families with children on the Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority waitlist, and Akron is short over 19,000 units of affordable rental housing. Akron needs more than policy change – it needs money to preserve the housing we have and build more affordable units.

Kemp’s First Priority: Develop an Affordable Housing Accelerator Fund to attract new dollars for home repair and affordable housing construction.

Why?

Policy change and code enforcement alone will not solve Akron’s housing crisis. Legacy homeowners and affordable housing developers need money to preserve existing housing and construct new homes and apartments. Housing accelerator funds have been successfully deployed in cities across the country. If Akron can raise hundreds of millions of dollars for polymers – it can do the same for safe, affordable housing.

Jobs

Everything costs more. Property taxes…groceries…gas…utilities. While working families stretch every dollar – Akron is losing jobs. Our tax base is shrinking. Anchor companies like First Energy and GOJO have undergone major transformations. Public employers like Akron Public Schools and the University of Akron have shed jobs. Summa – Akron’s largest employer – is now privately owned by out-of-state finance. It is getting harder for Akron residents to find and keep a good job.

Kemp’s First Priority: Refocus Akron’s economic development efforts on growing good jobs and preparing Akron residents for them.

Why?

50% of Akron households do not make enough money to afford life’s basic needs – they are living paycheck to paycheck. City Hall needs to focus its resources on (1) keeping the good jobs we have and stop the bleeding, (2) growing small and medium size businesses already in Akron, (3) attracting more good jobs to the region, and (4) working hand-in-hand with Akron Public Schools, Stark State, the University of Akron, and workforce nonprofits to prepare current Akron residents for real jobs they can get today.

Accountability for public safety

In a recent public opinion poll, only 32% of Akron residents reported having a positive view of the Akron Police Department. In communities of color, that number was a tragic 22%. The reasons for such negativity are well known, and we’ve all seen the countless mayoral town halls, FOP press releases, and public debates at Akron City Council meetings. The fact is police-community relations in Akron are getting worse. Safety isn’t something police deliver to a community - it’s something a community and its police build together, or don’t build at all. Real safety in Akron runs two ways: police who answer to the community, and a community that shows up for its police.

Kemp’s First Priority: Work with Akron City Council to fully fund and support the Citizen’s Police Oversight Board, seeing that Akron voter’s original vision for police accountability and transparency is realized.

Why?

In 2022, more than 60% of Akron voters approved a permanent change to our city’s “constitution” creating the Citizen’s Police Oversight Board, a permanent Police Auditor role, and additional positions to ensure Akron Police are independently held to the highest standards of professionalism. It also created a powerful way for citizens to get involved in community safety. Since then, the Citizen’s Police Oversight Board and the Police Auditor have struggled to find champions at City Hall. Their authority has been undermined and their recommendations dismissed. A community-built oversight structure only works if the institutions on the other side of it are accountable to it. A CPOB that gets ignored isn’t community-police accountability.

Gun violence

West Akron, Sherbondy Hill, Highland Square, Summit Lake, North Hill, South Akron, East Akron…gun violence is spreading neighborhood by neighborhood. While perpetrators of gunviolence must be held accountable – law enforcement alone hasn’t solved the problem.

As stated above – too many Akron residents are living with trauma and mental health issues. Too many live with fear, distrust, anger, and hopelessness – in situations where violence is common. We must interrupt these cycles of violence before they take root.

Kemp’s First Priority: Partner with Akron City Council to establish an Office of Gun Violence Prevention to increase and track investment in data-driven violence interruption programming.

Why?

A small number of people within our community generate most of the gun violence. They are often caught in cycles of victimization, trauma, and retaliation. Disconnected from school and work, they are isolated from the people and places that could help them make better life choices. Akron has begun experimenting with Community Violence Interruption (CVI), but for it to work it needs much more support from City Hall, Akron Police Department, and from the community.