Girls living in Akron will have a unique opportunity to help shape the direction of their city, with the launch of the Girltopia program. Joining is easy and FREE.

GIRLtopia: Akron will kick-off on Sept. 15 with 75 Akron girls in grades 6-12 learning persuasive speaking, planning and networking – skills that will prepare them to complete 'Take Action' projects and become the women leaders of tomorrow.

"Girl Scouts have been committed to serving their communities for 100 years," said Girl Scouts of North East Ohio Chief Executive Officer Daisy L. Alford-Smith, Ph.D. "When you enlist help from girls who have a vested interest in the future of the city where they live, they will become engaged and feel empowered to make a difference."

One in four teens who have been in a serious relationship say their boyfriend or girlfriend has tried to prevent them from spending time with friends or family. Does this apply to you or someone in your life?

This statistic, among many more, is provided by the Tina Project, an organizational collaborative that helps Ohio schools meet and exceed state laws in order to prevent teen dating violence and promote healthy healing.

The project assists schools by providing classroom-based education, professional training for teachers and school personnel, policy assistance, crisis intervention and support services and assistance in building relationships with domestic violence and rape crisis agencies. More recently, the project has launched a free educational webcast on topics of teen dating violence for educators and school personnel in collaboration with The Battered Women's Shelter of Summit and Medina Counties.

Authorities still looking for suspects

It was just an ordinary Saturday when a volunteer went to check on the community garden at Mason Park, but to her dismay, she found its plants had been ripped out by the roots and the beds all tore up.

“We have a mom come to water, she’s there every day faithfully helping us out, and she gave me a call in tears. Vandals pulled out almost all of the plants,” Tom Crain, of the NEOhaus Institute, said.

They went after the children’s garden and four family gardens, of all things. The community garden, in its early stages of just two years of growth, was really beginning to bloom until being uprooted and destroyed. The damage was reportedly made two weeks ago.

The City of Akron Recreation Bureau is participating in the Summer Food Service Program by providing meals to all eligible youth (18 years and under) and summer day camp programs that meet the income guidelines for reduced-price meals in the National School Lunch Program.

Children who are part of households that receive foods stamps or benefits under the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) are automatically eligible to receive free meals. Acceptance and participation requirements for the program and all activities are the same for all regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability.

Click through for a complete list.

As part of Keep Akron Beautiful's Clean Up Akron Week, a number of young people met in East Akron to clean up the streets. Click through for a few photos from the group, led in part by Ameer Williamson (aka A Minus), who also mentors young people through the A New Way hip-hop program.

Throughout the United States today, more than 500,000 children are in foster care – in fact, by one estimate, there are now some 12 million alumni of the foster care system nationwide. With May being National Foster Care Month, Summit County Children Services has planned several activities to honor its nearly 450 foster parents and express the agency’s sincere appreciation for the love, care, hope, guidance, and nurturance they provide to the abused and neglected children of our community.

This year’s theme for Foster Care Month in Summit County is, “Be the Sunshine in a Child's Life, Foster a Child,” which was created by Charles & Shannon Woods of Uniontown. Promotional buttons with this theme have been distributed to the agency’s foster parents.

Have you ever dreamt of having your own farm? How about your very own garden? Maybe you live in an apartment and it’s just a matter of not having the space... Well, a solution to that problem may be right around the block.

Your garden dream can become a reality through Akron Grows, a community gardening program managed by the city of Akron. Before you know it, you can grow your very own fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs and/or colorful flowers.

The program uses vacant city lots to provide an opportunity for Akron residents, and residents in any of the surrounding communities, to grow their own food.

There are a lot of misconceptions about Greenleaf Family Center.

One being that it’s just a counseling center, or that the agency only helps people with anger management issues. Or that the Community Services for the Deaf program is a completely different agency.

However, it’s important for the nonprofit and Dina Younis, Fund Development & Marketing Director at Greenleaf Family Center, to raise awareness about Greenleaf's programs. There is more to the agency than what you might think.

Training scheduled for March 6, 8 and 13 at Summit County Educational Service Center

The Summit County Educational Service Center is sponsoring a series of three programs related to child welfare during the month of March as an early kickoff to the 25th Annual Child & Family Awareness Month celebration coordinated by Summit County Children Services and numerous other community organizations in April.

The March in-service training programs on child welfare will be held from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on March 6, 8 and 13 at the Educational Service Center, 420 Washington Ave., Cuyahoga Falls. This series of three, two-hour programs will provide teachers and other professionals throughout the county with a comprehensive overview of issues related to child welfare, including: recognizing and reporting child abuse; bullying; suicide prevention and substance abuse; and positive youth development.