The Front Porch Café has become a hub of community activity in South Akron, offering employment opportunities for ex-offenders and a locally run eatery. Now, the space above the Café will be developed with a number of possible outcomes, like local business co-operatives, office space or affordable rentals for nonprofits.

Although the second floor of the building is still in the construction phase, Joe Tucker, executive director of South Street Ministries – the building’s owner -- wants to keep one question top-of-mind for its use: “What are the needs of the neighborhood?”

“It's approaching reality,” said Tucker, who estimates completion of the second-floor space at about eight months away. “We’re gathering a committee to see how to use this space well, and how to use this space functionally for South Street and for the neighborhood's good.”

The Summit County Children Services "Clothing Center," which provides new and gently worn clothing of all types for client families in need who are served by the agency, is asking area residents who may be cleaning out closets this time of year to make room for new school clothes to consider donating any gently worn school clothes and uniforms to the agency.

In addition to school clothes and uniforms, The Clothing Center is also in desperate need of toddler clothing, and boys and girls clothing sizes 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Regular hours of The Clothing Center are Mondays from 1 to 4 p.m., Tuesdays through Thursdays, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Fridays from 8 a.m. to noon. Those interested in making a donation after hours or on weekends can make use of the convenient large blue donation bin recently installed just outside The Clothing Center building on the Summit County Children Services campus.

Summit County Children Services is once again asking for the community's assistance to ensure that every child in agency care will begin the school year prepared with brand new school supplies to help them succeed in the classroom.

Each summer, more than 1,000 children in the care of Summit County Children Services are given backpacks filled with school supplies – all donated. However, because of limitations on the agency’s use of funds for this type of purchase, the agency depends on the generosity of the community’s organizations and individual donors in order to provide school supplies to the children we serve.

A donation of $25 will purchase a backpack and school supplies for the youngest children. A donation of $35 will provide essentials for a middle school or high school student – including a scientific calculator. Monetary donations can now be made online through PayPal at www.summitkids.org (click on Donor/Volunteer Opportunities and use the “Donate Now” button). Individuals also may mail a donation to the agency, 264 S. Arlington St., Akron, 44306 -- in care of the Community Relations Department.

Summit County Children Services will host a free foster care and adoption information meeting July 25, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the agency on 264 S. Arlington St.

As of the end of May, 62 children in agency custody were waiting to be adopted – and of those, 49 were age 12 and older. Residents who attend the information meeting will learn more about foster care and adoption, including what and how long the process is, what kind of support is provided by the agency and the costs involved with adopting a child. Agency staff will also share basic information about the children coming into care.

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.

Summit County Children Services – the coordinating agency of Child & Family Awareness Month – recently announced the names of 29 local students from public, private, independent and charter schools within Summit County who were selected as winners in the 2012 Child & Family Awareness Month© Creative Contests from more than 250 combined entries.

The winners, each of whom was asked to create an artistic piece honoring the all-important concept of ‘family,’ were recognized at an awards reception held at the Akron Art Museum, through the support of the museum, Wendy's and the FirstMerit Foundation.

The work of the grand prize winner -- fifth-grader Brianna Frank, from Erwine Intermediate School in Coventry, will be the basis for all the promotional materials (such as brochures, buttons, etc.), which will be developed for next April's 2013 Child & Family Awareness Month celebration.

A special parent training event entitled “Read Together, Sing Together, Play Together, Learn Together!” will take place April 5 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Children’s Library of the Akron-Summit County Public Library in downtown Akron. The event, presented by the Akron-Summit County Public Library and Child Care Connection, is part of this year’s 25th Anniversary Child & Family Awareness Month celebration coordinated by Summit County Children Services.

In this program, trainers Laura McFalls and Trish Saylor of the Akron-Summit County Public Library will explain how play helps young children learn skills needed for life and how through joyful, hands-on play experiences with adults, children gain a love for learning.