Partner Profile: Eric Nelson, SWAG

Akron Civic Commons is highlighting the neighbors and partners that make our work in downtown Akron, Ohio & Erie Canal Park, and Summit Lake possible. This week, we’re highlighting Eric Nelson, Executive Director of Students With A Goal (SWAG).

Tell us about SWAG and your role with the organization.

My name is Eric Nelson, and I am the Executive Director of a nonprofit, aptly named, Students With A Goal (SWAG). SWAG is an academic mentoring program based out of the Summit Lake community of Akron, Ohio. The program assists Akron students (grades 6-12) develop leadership skills, as well as obtain academic and social-emotional support within a safe, nurturing, and engaging environment.

SWAG is an intensive youth program that offers transportation to and from our programs, an afterschool snack, recreation, tutoring support, a hot supper, and leadership development activities.

Through the academic school year, SWAG offers 16-hours of weekly programming. Through the summer months, the program switches to its summer enrichment curriculum called Summer SWAG, which capitalizes on the season by scheduling fun activities in which students continue to learn.

Tell us about SWAG’s partnership/work with Akron Civic Commons.

SWAG has been a part of the Akron Civic Commons almost from its origins here in Akron, Ohio.  With the Summit Lake being one of the three communities connected by the Towpath trail, Dan Rice (Akron Civic Commons Convener), and President and CEO of the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition, worked feverishly to identify and get to know key individuals to join the Akron Civic Commons Core Team.  Dan was intentional to assure that the Summit Lake Community was represented by nonprofit leaders, residents, and stakeholders.

I will admit that at first I was skeptical. I remember it like it was yesterday. At one of the first meetings held in Summit Lake, Dan was explaining what the Reimagining the Civic Commons was at our monthly Summit Lake Neighborhood Association meeting. After the meeting, I asked Dan if I could talk to him more about it. Of course, he agreed. As we walked outside, I turned to him and said, “I’m trying to better understand how this will help Summit Lake. There have been a lot of things done to this community and very little done for it. I cannot be a part of anything that will hurt this community!”

Dan explained that he was beginning to understand the history of Summit Lake better but made it clear that he was not asking me to trust him. He challenged me to join him in the Civic Commons work, and to be a part of the positive change that would come to the Summit Lake Community because of it. This was mind-blowing to me. Dan had invited me to have a seat at the table with other community leaders and residents, and representation across sectors, to envision a better, stronger Akron… for her citizens. I was sold and committed from that point on toward making that vision come to fruition. I have never once regretted that choice.

What do you love most about SWAG and your role?

What I love most about SWAG, hands down, is engaging with our youth. As a father of 5 daughters and 1 son, I began working with the youth for very selfish reasons…one day my daughters would need suitable husbands, and my son a suitable wife. When I first relocated from Cleveland Ohio, my family and I lived in the Summit Lake Apartments. I would see so many young people that seemed to be aimless and unmotivated. I figured if I wanted to be sure that my children found suitable spouses one day, I needed to abandon my bystander approach towards these other children and get involved directly. It turned out that I could not have been more wrong. When I started to engage the youth in my community, I realized that they are brilliant, talented, inquisitive, insightful, observant, and respectful. Many of the youth simply desired to be molded, challenged (like Dan Rice did me), and loved by a caring adult. I realized that I could commit the rest of my life toward helping youth obtain the support, confidence, and skill sets needed to be successful adults…I was forever changed. Here it is I thought I needed to change them and ended up being changed myself.

How has COVID-19 impacted SWAG’s work?

The COVID-19 pandemic caught everyone by surprise. SWAG was affected immediately and directly. With the Governor’s shelter-in-place order going into effect in March 2020, schools and City-owned recreation centers (like the one in which SWAG facilitates its academic mentoring program) were closed. We recognized immediately that many of our students would be cut off from four vital meal provisions (breakfast and lunch provided by schools, and the after-school snack and hot dinner provided by SWAG).

I could not have been more proud of the amazing support and response from Akron Ohio than at this time. Organizations like SWAG, The Ohio & Erie Canalway, Akron Public School System, The City of Akron, The Good Samaritan Hunger Center, the Salvation Army, The Friend Church, and countless resident volunteers worked together to feed hundreds of families affected by barriers to food security as a result of COVID-19.

The Akron Civic Commons has challenged Akron to reimagine how we might protect, provide, include, recognize, and celebrate diversity…together…better. It is the Reimagining the Civic Commons way! The Reimagining the Civic Commons is founded on a very simple concept… all citizens deserve amazing amenities. But to the soul of this work, the goal is even more simple; every human being deserves the best opportunity to have the best quality of life possible, and it is our collective community responsibility to make that happen… together!