If we believe Benjamin Franklin’s old adage, “an investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” But today’s student loan market can discourage many young people from realizing their potential through higher education. As a result, I was thrilled to accept an invitation to chair The University of Akron Williams Honors College Alumni Board’s Endowed Scholarship Committee, which selects a junior in The University of Akron Williams Honors College to receive a scholarship to defray the costs of their senior year of study, allowing them instead to focus on successfully completing their college education while also juggling post-graduation plans.

Since assuming the role of Secretary on the Executive Committee of the Williams Honors College Alumni Board (WHCAB) in 2016, I have participated in many wonderful opportunities to meet emerging leaders and successful alumni dedicated to building the Akron community. However, reviewing the scholarship applications provided a renewed sense of pride in my alma mater and the place where I grew up; each student was incredibly accomplished, and determined to meaningfully contribute to their campus and community.

At our annual Alumni and Student Breakfast held April 8, 2017,  the Committee honored ten outstanding seniors, the recipient of the The John B. and Kathryn M. Hunter Award in Community Leadership and Service, and the 2017 Endowed Scholarship winner, Neil Bernard. Neil is a native of South Africa who chose The University of Akron Williams Honors College to begin his educational journey towards becoming a doctor, and he was selected for his excellent scholastic accomplishments, in addition to his civic engagement.

Looking to the future, I hope to continue fostering relationships between University of Akron students, alumni, and Akron’s community leaders, ideally to help Akron maintain bright, driven young people. I am extremely grateful to State and Federal Communications, Inc. for supporting me in this goal.

Elizabeth Bartz had a surprise visitor stop by our office. ADaM, the mascot for the Summit County ADM Board, came by to say ‘Thank You!’ for her donation to the annual ADM Recovery Challenge.

State and Federal Communications is proud to contribute to the ADM Board, and we are committed to their dedicated efforts to those individuals most in need in Summit County.

Learn how you can get involved on the Challenge’s Facebook page or at www.admboard.org.

Elizabeth Bartz, president and CEO of State and Federal Communications, was excited to stand with the Akron community in celebrating the life and legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Akron Urban League MLK Celebration on January 16, 2017.

The Akron Urban League presented its inaugural Lifetime Achievement award to Reverend Ronald J. Fowler and featured Keynote Speaker Antwone Fisher.

State and Federal Communications was proud to be a sponsor of this superb event. Elizabeth Bartz serves on the organization’s Board of Directors.

State and Federal Communications is proud to work in Akron and we recognize our responsibility to reach out to the community around us.

This month our team has been busy gathering food for the United Way Holiday Snack Packs Food Drive helping the children of Summit County. We also had fun playing Santa by collecting gifts for the Summit County Children Services Holiday Toy Room Program. Take a look at the fun we had!

The Summit County grand jury indicted Akron Councilman Bob Hoch on three first-degree misdemeanor charges. Hoch was accused more than a year ago of violating Ohio conflict of interest laws by voting on legislation and speaking on issues benefitting his sons, who are Akron firefighters.

The three counts pertain to actions taken in 2012, as well as an ongoing alleged conflict between 2014 and 2015.

Hoch previously denied a conflict of interest existed, as did City Council President Marilyn Keith. If convicted, Hoch could face up to 18 months in jail and lose his council seat.

On Monday, October 31 State and Federal Communications is hosting its annual Halloween Donut and Apple Cider sale. All sales will go directly to the United Way of Summit County.

Drop in and say hello from 8:30 to 11:00 a.m. and enjoy a delicious treat. We’ll be in the lobby of 80 South Summit St. in Downtown Akron, across from Quaker Square.

The Krispy Kreme donuts are $1.00 per donut or $7.00 per dozen. The apple cider will be $1.00 per cup or $8.00 per gallon.

To reserve your donuts, you can email Tony Didion at adidion@stateandfed.com, or call us at 330-761-9960.

The new school year has arrived and State and Federal Communications is proud to support United Way of Summit County’s Stuff the Bus program to make sure all children in the Akron Public Schools have the supplies they need! We had a wonderful time gathering a mountain of crayons, markers and notebook paper.

Thank you United Way for everything you do to make our community thrive.

Summit County Executive Russ Pry passed away Sunday, July 31, after a brief battle with cancer.

The county’s statement described Pry, who served as county executive for nearly nine years, as a leader who helped restore stability in county government, led the county through an economic downturn, and created and kept jobs for thousands of people.

Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan said Pry had “an uncanny knack for empathizing and identifying with all people, regardless of age, race, gender, orientation, or creed, making him well-loved by all.”

County Council President Ilene Shapiro will be sworn in as interim county executive until the Summit County Democratic Party’s central committee appoints someone to serve for the remainder of Pry’s term. The term expires December 31.

State and Federal Communications was pleased to welcome Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan as he shared career advice and his goals for the city of Akron with the interns and employees.

“I want to start from the core up and bring people into Akron,” Mayor Horrigan said. “Downtown Akron is a huge focus for the growth of the city because of the amount of traffic that it brings in.”

More than 60,000 people move throughout downtown Akron on a daily basis and Mayor Horrigan addressed what’s next after the city’s Innerbelt highway (State Route 59) closes, how to make traffic run smoothly, and issues concerning the city’s combined sewer flow problem.

“I am concentrating on giving quality customer service to the Akron community and giving them a transparent and open-government,” Horrigan said. “We’ll have over 30 acres of land to use after the Innerbelt is closed and we are constantly considering ways to fill the space.”

State and Federal Communication’s eight summer interns attend either Kent State University or The University of Akron and Mayor Horrigan earned degrees from both universities.

“When I talk to interns, I always let them know that what you are striving for is hard work,” Mayor Horrigan said. “You will have to learn from the ground up because you don’t just fall into an amazing position.”

IT intern, Chris Jackson 24, has lived in Akron all of his life and jumped on the opportunity to suggest ways that Mayor Horrigan could fill space in downtown Akron.

“There is little to no place for teens to go and have fun in downtown Akron,” Jackson said. “I’m a gamer and arcades are coming back into style and could be a great thing for the city of Akron.”

Among other suggestions the interns and employees offered were to have food trucks throughout the city, especially near Summit St. and more art work in downtown Akron.

One thing marketing intern Clémence Besnard took away during Mayor Horrigan’s conversation was his views on success.

“I liked when he suggested that we take responsibility for the decisions we’ve made and being able to sleep peacefully with those decisions is what’s important,” Besnard said. “The mayor also let us know that it is okay to pat yourself on the back and celebrate the good you’ve done when talking about success.”

Patrick Kennedy is coming to the John S. Knight Center for Akron Roundtable on Thursday, July 21 at 12:00 p.m.! He will be signing his new book, A Common Struggle, and we are ready!

One of the benefits of working for State and Federal Communications is the availability of Charitable Service Hours. These hours are provided by the company so employees can volunteer in the community and help out on various service projects.

This year I used my hours to work on a project for Mitzvah Day. Mitzvah Day Akron is a day devoted to helping various groups in the area. Started by Temple Israel in 2002, it has become a community service day involving many faith-based and secular organizations. In 2016, 14 organizations participated in this day of caring and service.

The project I worked on is Project Linus, which makes no-sew fleece blankets for patients at Akron Children’s Hospital. This was my fourth year working on this project. This year I spent three days assisting the project leader, Ruth Huber, (full disclosure, we are related) in preparing for the work to be done on Mitzvah Day and in finishing the blankets and delivering them to Akron Children’s Hospital.

The first day of prep work was mostly spent buying the materials. While it may sound fun, it actually requires a large amount of time. Shopping took a good part of the day because we needed to go to multiple stores to find enough material in a variety of colors and patterns. We ended the day with enough material for more than 40 blankets.

Finalizing the volunteer lists, sending volunteers reminders, and handling administrative duties rounded out the day. Given my writing and computer skills, I was drafted to handle the emailing.

The second prep day was spent preparing the material for the volunteers. While we bought it cut to size, we still had to remove the selvage. On each piece of fleece there are two edges where you can see machine marks from when it was woven. That area along the edge has to be trimmed off before the blanket can be made. Also, any uneven edges have to be trimmed so each blanket starts with four straight edges. Trimming took almost all day, as there were over 80 edges to trim and only three of us working.

On Mitzvah Day, Project Linus had 10 volunteers who produced 39 blankets.

The final day of work took place after Mitzvah Day. We finished four blankets, sent thank-you notes to the volunteers, and delivered the blankets to Akron Children’s Hospital so they could be distributed to the children.

And then we did a final good deed. All of the selvages we were left with didn’t get thrown away. Instead, we cut the long pieces into shorter lengths and tied them together: instant kitten toys. These we delivered to Kitten Krazy, a nonprofit rescue shelter in Medina.

All told, the volunteers of Project Linus were able to make dozens of kids and kittens happy.

We had a great time at the 2^nd annual #artypartyakron hosted by the Summit County CASA/GAL Volunteer Board. This juried art show at Akrona Galleries featured 100 works of art from local young artists ranging from pre-school to college. The art was auctioned off at a fun and exciting event with all proceeds going to the CASA/GAL Program of Summit County. The mission of the CASA program is: To provide every child who enters the court system as a result of allegations of abuse, neglect, or dependency with a trained community volunteer to advocate what is in the child’s best interest.

As vice-chair of the CASA Board, I am grateful for State and Federal’s event sponsorship and support of this important work in Summit County.

State and Federal Communications held a Brown Bag Lunch Day on March 15 to raise money for the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank’s 2016 Harvest for Hunger campaign. Employees offered donations to the cause, shared their lunch time, and the company matched those donations. “We were thrilled to help this vital program. Let’s eliminate hunger in our community!” said President and CEO Elizabeth Bartz.

The Foodbank’s President and CEO Dan Flowers dropped by to visit the office and to say thanks.

Here is our March calendar:

March 2   Ohio Birthday Celebration, Washington, DC

March 7-10   National PAC Conference, Miami Beach, Florida

March 9   NCSL Foundation Luncheon, Washington, DC

March 10   Women’s Endowment Fund Annual Dinner, Akron, OH

March 16   PLEN Mentor Awards, Washington, DC

March 17   Akron Roundtable, Akron, OH

March 20-22   NASPO: How to Market to State Governments Meeting, Atlanta, GA

March 30-April 2   ACES National Conference, Portland, OR

March 31, 2016   Akron Press Club hosts State of Summit County Speech, Akron, OH