Downtown Akron Partnership Inc

Programs: First night akron is an all ages new year's eve celebration of the city created with and for the community. It is held in numerous venues in downtown. Last year, nearly 10,000 people attended with more than 2,000 of those attendees participating through a community outreach program that provides admission buttons to social service agencies to be distributed among our underserved community members. Admission buttons are $10 for audience members 10 years of age or older with children under 10 attending for free accompanied by a button wearing adult. More than 100 artists and performing groups presented visual and performing arts and interactive activities. The event is akron's signature city celebration with intentional effort in creating a diverse, integrated, welcoming and safe event for the community. This is the 21st year of this program.

dap provides cleaning and safety ambassadors through our contract with block by block. Ambassadors patrol the neighborhood to remove trash, graffiti and safety hazards, report environmental issues and provide hospitality assistance including jump starts, lock outs, and fuel emergency support. The team power washes sidewalks, maintains clean ash urns, pull weeds and checks in with local business owners. Ambassadors also assist in maintaining a robust beautification program including hanging baskets, planter boxes and above ground planters to make the environment beautiful and welcoming. Dap coordinates an adopt a planter program to engage local employees in the plant selection of the planters located near their place of business. Dap reimburses up to $25 toward the cost of the plants for each pot. We contract keep akron beautiful to maintain in-ground flower displays and landscapes. We create and distribute safety brochures, maps and other collateral to familiarize downtown residents and visitors with common sense safety practices and wayfinding to better enjoy the city. Dap maintains towpath wayfinding signs throughout the downtown corridor and creates maps for distribution to connect towpath users to downtown. We also fund the presence of an off-duty akron police department sergeant in the district during late evening/early morning hours to oversee nightlife activity in the district dap also coordinates a volunteer program in the spring to engage more than 400 volunteers in cleaning and beautification projects in the neighborhood. Volunteers retouch paint, transform neglected lots, paint murals, mulch, weed and plant flowers and other plants to beautify the city.

business retention, parking/wayfinding, residential, project development, sid management, district initiatives, emerging leaders, dap provides a number of services to enhance the downtown environment for business owners, property managers and employees. We meet with stakeholders every month to determine and help resolve any issues they may have. We coordinate the connection to the city of akron's recycling program. We welcome new businesses to downtown and introduce them to our services and other service providers in the district. We convene a team of young professionals called emerging leaders to assist with implementing projects in downtown. We manage and implement seasonal concerts and a farmer's market. We also coordinate a pop up retail program that provides lease subsidies for up to 6 months for new storefront retail that aligns with our retail plan. We started phase 1 of the downtown akron redevelopment plan, meeting with the city of akron and downtown property owners.