Strategic Plan

 

 Strengthen the systems that help Barberton attract and retain young families, equip working parents and families, and prepare more children to enter kindergarten ready to learn.
Empower


Support Barberton to attract and retrain young families by supporting working parents and expanding opportunities to improve school readiness.

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Build a stronger local economy and expand financial stability for Barberton residents by investing in career pathways, workforce development, and post-secondary scholarships.

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Activate Barberton's downtown by helping property owners, business operators, and developers create a more vibrant, walkable, and resilient city core.

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Meet urgent community needs through nimble, responsive grantmaking and grassroots solutions that help Barberton residents build stability, achieve self-sufficiency, and improve quality of life.

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Strategic Priorities

The new strategic plan sets four core priorities for our work moving forward. 

Early Learning

  • Goal: Invest in stronger early learning systems for Barberton children from birth through age 5, so more children enter kindergarten ready to learn, and more families see Barberton as a city that prioritizes their futures. 

  • Current Situation: Long-term data and local experience make one thing clear: children who attend high-quality preschool enter kindergarten with a meaningful advantage. Yet cost continues to limit access for many working households in Barberton, while others remain unaware of how foundational the early years are for emotional regulation, language development, and lifelong learning.

  • Key metric: 22.8% of Barberton kindergarten students were assessed as “demonstrating readiness” on the 2024 Ohio Kindergarten Readiness Assessment, compared to 40% countywide. That's roughly only 1 in 4 children entering school ready to thrive.


in Early Learning

Career Pathways

  • Goal: Advance economic mobility by building career pathways that connect Barberton’s recent high school graduates and established workers to post-secondary credentials and high-demand careers with opportunities for growth.

  • Current Situation: In Barberton’s evolving economy, stability and income growth often depend on a worker’s ability to adapt, build relevant skills, and earn credentials aligned with employer demand and an evolving economy.

  • Key metric: Ohio often talks about the 3 E’s after high school: Employment, Enlistment, and Enrollment. At Barberton High School, 52% of the Class of 2025 chose employment over post-secondary enrollment or military enlistment. That raises an important question: are young people entering jobs, or building pathways to long-term careers? Post-secondary learning, from apprenticeships and industry credentials to technical training and four-year degrees, can open doors to higher wages, stronger mobility, and long-term career growth.

barberton workforce development


In Career Pathways

Downtown Revitalization

  • Goal: Upgrade building stock and activate Barberton's downtown to make the city a desirable place to live, work, and play.

  • Current Situation: Barberton's downtown suffers from high vacancies and deferred maintenance. Strong downtowns do not happen by accident. They grow when property owners invest, businesses see opportunity, and the community creates the conditions for long-term growth.

  • Key metric: 25% commercial vacancies across 74 downtown buildings concentrated around Tuscarawas Avenue and 2nd Street. That's 1 in 4 downtown buildings sitting empty.

downtown barberton


In Downtown Revitalization

Basic Needs

  • Goal: Meet the urgent basic needs of Barberton residents and empower neighbors to make a difference. 

  • Current Situation: Barberton Community Foundation addresses essential needs like food security, housing stability, personal safety, and physical and mental health. But traditional poverty measures do not always reflect what it actually takes to live and work in today’s economy. We focus on what it truly takes for Barberton residents to achieve stability, dignity, and a stronger quality of life.

  • Key metric: 4,966 Barberton residents currently receive SNAP benefits, averaging $194 per month (as of October 2025). Consistent reliance on assistance points to a reality that often leaves working households caught between public assistance and long-term self-sufficiency.


In Basic Needs

Our Role

Funder: Direct grant and investment dollars to drive meaningful, measurable change.

Convener: Bring experts, research, and lived experience together in partnership.

Advocate: Tell our story to align partners, institutions, policymakers, and resources around the decisions, investments, and systems Barberton needs to move forward.
 
 
Convening and advocacy work exist to align and inform funding decisions.