CANTON – A tear slid down Octavia Shipp’s cheek as she watched volunteers on Saturday dig into her yard along Sherrick Road SE.
The volunteers were widening and fixing her concrete walkway so Shipp could more easily push her daughter’s wheelchair up and down the ramp and avoid pushing it through the grass.
“Nobody ever helps here,” said Shipp, a mother of seven children and grandmother to three grandchildren who moved to Sherrick Road SE eight years ago. “We’re the lost cause of the city. … It’s a beautiful feeling to have people see us.”
Duzire Shipp-Bentley, 8, and sister Amiracle Shipp-Bentley watch out the window of their Sherrick Road SE home in Canton on Saturday as volunteers make repairs to their walkway during Impact Canton.
Volunteers also fixed the gate to her backyard fence, painted her porch and railings, removed overgrown brush and an old tree and installed flower beds.
“I could never make it pretty,” said Shipp, who hopes to plant fruits and vegetables in her new backyard garden. “Now that they removed (the tree), I’m so excited. I’m ready to go to Dollar Tree to make it pretty.”
The volunteers at Shipp’s house were among the more than 150 volunteers who participated in the inaugural Impact Canton, a daylong revitalization project. The event was organized by the Community Building Partnership of Stark County, with funding from the city of Canton, the Gerry and Sally Planchard Charitable Fund, the Patricia A. and Larry A. Merriman Community Charitable Fund, the David B. and Mary Jane Queen Charitable Fund and the Marilyn S. Shortridge Charitable Fund.
Here are four things to know about Impact Canton:
1. Effort modeled after Impact Massillon
Kathy Catazaro-Perry, executive director of Community Building Partnership, said the event was inspired by Impact Massillon, an annual neighborhood cleanup event organized by the Massillon Area Clergy Association. Catazaro-Perry, who served as Massillon’s mayor for 12 years, credited Roger Alber, senior minister of First Baptist Church and a leader of Impact Massillon, for leading the agency through the inaugural event’s logistics and Walter Moss, associate pastor at The Father’s House church in Canton, for helping to recruit other churches to participate.
She said the agency chose to focus on Sherrick Road SE at the recommendation of Canton Mayor William V. Sherer II.
2. Some Sherrick Road SE residents were hesitant to participate
Catazaro-Perry said the agency sent letters to Sherrick Road SE residents to see how many would participate and what repairs were needed. Only four residents responded.
A second letter also yielded little response. Catazaro-Perry said she and other agency members then went to knock on residents’ doors to gain more interest. They found that residents were hesitant because they believed there was a catch to getting the free improvements.
“They think it’s too good to be true,” she said.
Fourteen homes participated Saturday.
3. Impact Canton volunteers came from Stark County churches
Emily George and daughter Addie, 6, paint a porch on Sherrick Road SE in Canton during Impact Canton, which was a daylong revitalization project that helped 14 homes in southeast Canton.
Nine churches brought teams of volunteers to Sherrick Road SE Saturday for the daylong revitalization event. They were joined by some Canton City employees and a crew of laborers from Beaver Constructors who drove the construction vehicles and handled the more complex projects.
Members of Dueber Church worked in the front and backyard of Octavia Shipp’s home. Krystle Taylor and others from First Christian Church in Plain Township replaced the deteriorated siding of a resident’s front porch with other members working in the backyard.
Members from Cathedral of Life/Trinity Gospel Temple gave Tyrone Brook’s detached garage a facelift with newly painted siding, while others cleaned out the flower beds around the home’s rose bushes. Many of the participating homes were power-washed last week.
Ashley Charles, Ivana DuBose and Denise Aman from the Total Living Center scraped and repainted the front porch railing of a home.
Charles said southeast Canton is overdue for a facelift.
“I hope this street can be a ray of sunshine that can pour out into other neighborhoods,” Charles said.
Other participating churches included All Saints Church, Community Drop In Center/Light in Christ Church, Emerald House of Valley Chapel, Mount Zion Church of God in Christ/Sherrick Road Church of God in Christ and The Father’s House.
4. Event is part of a larger revitalization effort in southeast Canton
Volunteers worked to improve 14 homes along Sherrick Road SE in Canton on Saturday as part of Impact Canton.
Southeast Canton was devastated in the 1960s and 1970s when hundreds of homes, businesses and churches were demolished to make way for U.S. Route 30, the Cherry Avenue SE overpass and industrial space. The predominantly Black and immigrant neighborhoods also were victims of the discriminatory practice of redlining, which limited residents’ ability to acquire mortgages or home-improvement loans.
Canton and multiple community groups and agencies have been seeking to reverse the damage done.
The Stark Economic Development Board and a coalition of community partners targeted the southeast area in their application for a multi-million-dollar federal grant that sought to help southeast residents find jobs. The coalition won a $500,000 federal economic development planning grant but didn’t receive the $20 million in federal funds it sought to develop the workforce and training programs. Officials say they still are working on ways to launch the programs.
Habitat for Humanity of East Central Ohio has made a multi-million-dollar commitment to improving southeast Canton, including opening the Southeast Community Playground at 1445 14th St. SE in 2023.
Canton For All People, the community development arm of Crossroads United Methodist Church, led efforts to open the Southeast Market Plaza at 1318 Gonder Ave. SE in 2024, which brought the area a much-needed health clinic and grocery store.
Canton has named the Sherrick Road SE area as one of its priority improvement areas. The city plans to improve the area’s sidewalk access, add decorative street signs and build new crosswalks at Cherry Avenue and Sherrick Road SE and at Gonder Avenue and Sherrick Road SE. A gateway arch welcoming visitors to historic southeast Canton will be erected over Cherry Avenue SE, near the bridge that spans Sixth Street SE. The estimated $1.4 million project is expected to begin by fall.
The Stark Metropolitan Housing Authority targeted the Jackson Sherrick public housing complex in southeast Canton for its $500,000 Choice Neighborhoods planning grant. It has been hosting community events and surveys to create a plan that could ultimately lead to $50 million in federal funding for improvements to the housing development and neighborhoods.
Community agencies, such as My Community Health Center and the Stark County Urban League, also regularly host giveaways and educational events to help southeast residents in need.
Reach Canton Repository staff writer Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Impact Canton helps to improve homes in southeast Canton