The newly renovated Front Porch Cafe in South Akron is another installation in the story of Akron’s neighborhood renaissance along with North Hill, Kenmore, East Akron and Highland Square.
The Front Porch Café is reopening on Friday, Feb. 5, serving breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. With a full commercial grade kitchen and a friendly atmosphere, the Front Porch Café is an ideal destination for a morning meeting, quick lunch or extended conversation.
Located at 798 Grant St. and operated through South Street Ministries, the Front Porch Café is the heart of the Front Porch Project: the renovation of the Croatian-American club into a community hub for conversation, recovery and reentry support, and economic opportunity. The Front Porch Café opened in 2011 with a vision of creating jobs and job training for the unemployed and ex-offenders in the Akron area.
“Like the front-porch of a home, the Front Porch Café serves as a transitional space for people from different backgrounds,” says Pastor Duane Crabbs, founder of South Street Ministries. The building hosts recovery meetings in the evenings as well as the Summit County Reentry Network every Tuesday at 4 pm. For more information, visit www.southstreetministries.org and visit the organization on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheFrontPorchCafeAkron.
In addition to breakfast and lunch, the staff at the Front Porch Café has started catering lunches and special events. “We are committed to providing good food, on-time, at a good price,” says Café Director Thomas Jones. The Front Porch Café will host a Grand Reopening on Wednesday March 2, with an extra Open House hours from 5 to 8 p.m. to celebrate the history of ministry and showcase the upgraded facilities.
