Dozens of Portage County communities and organizations are getting a financial boost, thanks to the efforts of state Rep. Gail Pavliga, state Rep. Steve Demetriou and Ohio Senator Vernon Sykes.
Most of the funds flow from a one-time distribution from the state’s Strategic Investment Fund, part of Ohio’s fiscal year 2025-2026 capital budget bill, which Gov. Mike DeWine signed June 28. Lawmakers created the fund using federal money the state received but did not use during the pandemic years, Pavilga said.
Record-Courier reporter Diane Smith detailed some of the projects in a July 2 story, which The Portager linked to on July 3. Those projects included $29 million to Kent State, $1.5 million for AxessPointe to open a fully-staffed health center in Ravenna, $1 million for NEOMED, $250,000 for the Kent Rotary Club’s Safety Town project, and several more.
This article will take a look at more of the recipients, as well as details on how they intend to spend the money:
- $700,000 for Neighborhood Development Services to open a small residential facility on Lover’s Lane in Ravenna Township. “Serenity House” will provide short-term and long-term residential options with a suite of support services for people experiencing homelessness and mental health challenges. Services could range from filling immediate needs like clothing, shelter and food to more long-term goals like employability, permanent housing options and ongoing medical care, NDS Director Stacy Brown said, adding that who will do what for whom is not yet finalized.
- $500,000 for a new welcome center for Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary. The center will replace a welcome center the facility has outgrown and will include some office space, as well.
- $274,396 to build a permanent, ADA-compliant restroom with changing tables at Randolph Township’s Mila’s Hope and Rowyn’s Dreams Playground, an inclusive playground on Route 44.
- $250,000 for the Kent Rotary Club to create a permanent Safety Town site just to the south of Holden Elementary School. If additional funds may be needed, the club will reach out to community members and organizations, said Kent Rotary Club Past President Dave Myers. Safety Town is currently run by Kent Junior Mothers at various elementary schools.
- $225,000 for the Shalersville Township Trustees, who will use the funds to scrape and paint the township historical society buildings on Route 44 next to the town hall, to pave walking trails that surround the baseball and football fields in the township park, to install a gazebo and a second pavilion on park property, and to install a lighted, changeable sign next to the town hall on Route 44, Trustee Frank Ruehr Jr. said.
- $105,000 for the Freedom Township Historical Society to add electric service and a concrete floor to the township’s historic museum, located near the historic schoolhouse on Route 303. Society President Judy Thornton said the concrete floor will permit displays of antique farm equipment. Extending the concrete floor under the building’s overhang will also allow the society to install picnic tables and have added space for demonstrations and meetings, she said.
- $51,000 for the Village of Mantua to replace pavilion roofs and gable ends at Buchert Park and to convert part of the pump house into ADA-compliant public restrooms, Mayor Tammy Meyer said.
- $40,000 for Portage County Children’s Advantage to install a new HVAC system at its Ravenna facility located on 771 N. Freedom St.
- $35,000 for a paved parking area at Rootstown Township Park. The funds follow a $120,000 state grant the township received last year to construct a road through the park that connects Cook Road with Case Avenue, Trustee Dave McIntyre said.
- $12,700 for the Palmyra Historical Society to renovate four cemeteries in Palmyra Township. Historical Society President Della Evans said funds will be used to install new signage at Welsh, North, Whippoorwill and Robinson cemeteries. The signs marking Welsh and North cemeteries on Route 225 are currently switched, with Welsh marked as North and North marked as Welsh. Whippoorwill Cemetery is on Wayland Road and Robinson Cemetery is on Route 225. New driveways at each cemetery will also provide visitors with safe places to pull in, turn around and exit, Evans said, adding that funds will also be used to repair and restore historic grave markers that have toppled over.
And the Windham Historical Society will receive $27,950. The society will use some of the funds to purchase the rights to use a digitized version of the Garrettsville Journal, a newspaper which ran approximately from 1868-1972.
The newspaper was the only newspaper in the vicinity and carried all the local news, including items from Windham and Windham Township, which were a single entity until the village split off in 1993. The Journal will be available only to the historical society for research purposes, WHS Founder and President Lynnea St. John said.
The funds will also allow the historical to restore a monument marking where the township’s first cabin once stood. The cabin, built near what is now the Alford Glen Wedding Barn on Werger Road, no longer exists, but a monument noting its existence was erected in 1883.
Windham Historical Society will also be able to transcribe VHS recordings of the township’s early days to modern technology so members of the public may view them. St. John said she and society member John Gourley videotaped some of the township’s older citizens about 15 to 20 years ago and gained first-hand accounts that are not available anywhere else.
The society will also be able to memorialize some of Windham High School’s first graduates. Though the township produced its first graduating class in 1886, high school yearbooks did not exist until 1916 and even then combined all of Portage County’s townships into a single yearbook. The historical society’s idea is to reproduce and enlarge Windham graduates’ photographs from the 1916 to 1954 volumes and to add those framed photos to the walls of Windham High School.
The wall of graduates’ pictures currently only dates to 1955, when Windham formed its own school district.
St. John said the windfall will also allow Windham Historical Society to publish a book, some 20 years in the making, that she’s been writing about Windham’s history and to obtain laptops, software, display and office items and other supplies the society needs.
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.