Foundation has broken ground on I Promise Housing

Standing in the spot that will soon be home to dozens of Akron families, Gloria James put into words what secure housing truly means for children.

“It will be a place where they can be safe, loved and supported,” said James, the mother of NBA star and Akron native Lebron James.

The Lebron James Family Foundation on Wednesday broke ground on a massive construction project that will offer families in its programs access to safe and affordable housing.

The I Promise Housing project will create 50 apartment units with two, three or four bedrooms for families in the I Promise School, a partnership school between the foundation and Akron Public Schools. The units are expected to be ready in early 2023.

The units will be about a mile from the school on a 2-acre plot of vacant land at Rhodes Avenue, Maple Street and Cedar Street that the city sold for $1 to East Akron Neighborhood Development Corporation (EANDC), an affordable housing provider.

“It’s all about building the village, building the family,” EANDC President and CEO Cheryl Stephens said.

The Ohio Finance Housing Agency awarded $10 million in tax credits to EANDC to cover most of the cost of the $15.5 million construction project.

Families earning 30% to 60% of Akron’s median household income, or between $11,259 and $22,519, with students attending the nearby I Promise School on West Market Street will get priority placement in the new apartments.

The project is the foundation’s second step in offering housing to its families. The first was the opening of the I Promise Village last year, a temporary emergency housing building for families in need.

This next phase can offer longerterm housing as families transition out of the temporary village units.

In remarks at the groundbreaking, Mayor Dan Horrigan highlighted the revolutionary approach to educating a child beyond what happens in the classroom.

“If a student doesn’t need to worry about where their next meal is coming from, or where they lay their head at night, if they don’t have to worry about basic survival, then they do have a real opportunity to thrive in an educational setting,” said Horrigan, a former teacher.

“What the I Promise model is demonstrating, in a real way, is meeting students’ basic needs is crucial and critical to their academic career.”

The school launched four years ago with the goal of offering wraparound services to students and their families, but leaders quickly noticed housing was the biggest obstacle.

Gloria James said she knows firsthand how much a difference the homes will make, and how much of a difference it could have made for her as a single mother raising Lebron in Akron.

“We would have been pretty privileged and happy to be in a place like this,” she said.

Contact education reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, at 330-996-3216 or on Twitter @Jenpignolet.

PHOTOS BY MIKE CARDEW/BEACON JOURNAL Gloria James, left, talks with Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan and Cheryl Stevens, president and CEO of East Akron Neighborhood Development Corp., before the official groundbreaking of I Promise Housing on Wednesday in Akron. I Promise Housing will provide 50 units of two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments for longer-term, affordable housing for I Promise program families.

Shovels cast shadows as dignitaries arrive for the official groundbreaking Wednesday of I Promise Housing in Akron.

Shovels stand at the ready Wednesday for the official groundbreaking of I Promise Housing in Akron.