Akron is putting $100,000 behind the neighborhood teams, mentors and outreach groups that work with its young people every day, dividing the money into $2,000 grants for 50 local nonprofit organizations in the second year of the city’s Sports and Wellness Grants Program, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
The program is part of the city’s broader effort to prevent youth violence, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. Recipients can spend the $2,000 on eligible expenses including program fees, mental health services, coaching certifications and training, safety improvements and equipment — but not on staffing, according to the Beacon Journal’s account of the city’s announcement.
“We have so many dedicated organizations across our city creating those opportunities every day, whether through sports, mentorship, after-school activities, or other programs,” Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said in a prepared statement quoted by the Akron Beacon Journal. “These grants are one way we can support their work and help more young people access experiences that enrich their lives and set them up for success.”
The city launched the program in 2025 in collaboration with Akron City Council and funded 49 organizations in its first year, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. The 2026 grants are divided into four categories: after-school programs, mentorship and life skills programs, street outreach and community norm change efforts, and violence intervention and prevention programs, according to the city’s Nov. 6 news release as reported by the Beacon Journal.
The after-school list runs from the Akron Inner City Soccer Club, Akron Promise and Buchtel Youth Wrestling to the West Akron Little League, Popeye’s Boxing Gym and Students With A Goal, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. The mentorship and life skills category includes 100 Black Men of Akron, Ladies First Akron, the Firestone Akron Swim Team and the West Akron Baseball League, according to the release.
Street outreach and community norm change grants go to groups including GoalGetta Academy, the Akron Bengals, Akron East Youth Football and Keys to Serenity, the Beacon Journal reported. The violence intervention and prevention category includes the Akron Sneaker Academy, Akron Boxing Academy, the Fallen Father’s Foundation, First Glance Student Center and the D.O.P.E. Program, according to the release.
The city also showed what last year’s money bought, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. Akron Armor Football used its grant for extra helmets and shoulder pads that brought its players up to national equipment safety standards. The Akron Bobcats spent theirs on uniforms, gym time and tournament fees for a fifth-grade AAU team. Keys to Serenity ran a fall kayaking and wellness event for students at Burning River Adventures, and Students With A Goal built new partnerships, including with the YMCA, that put its students into basketball and swimming, according to the Beacon Journal.
The grants are deliberately small and deliberately wide. Two thousand dollars does not transform a program’s budget, but spread across 50 organizations in every corner of the city it pays for the helmets, certifications, gym rentals and tournament fees that volunteer-run groups otherwise pass along to families as higher fees — or do without.
“Every young person in Akron deserves opportunities to explore their interests, build meaningful connections, and discover what they’re capable of,” Malik said, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed, from the city’s release as reported by the Akron Beacon Journal: 50 organizations will receive $2,000 each, the money cannot be used for staffing, and this is the program’s second year. What is not yet public in the announcement: the payment schedule for the 2026 grants and the reporting each group will file on how the money was spent. Akron’s youth calendar stays busy meanwhile — NewsForce247 recently covered the Video Game Symphony’s Nov. 21 concert at Akron Civic Theatre, and the city’s courts are in the news as well, in our report on Monday’s sentencing in an Akron murder case.
What happens next is the work itself: the 50 groups put the grants to use in gyms, pools, boxing rings and classrooms across Akron, and the city will be able to point — as it did this year with helmets, uniforms and kayaks — to what the second round bought when the third round is announced.