Welcome to forum 360.

I'm Stephanie Yorke, your host today.

Thank you for joining us for a global outlook with a local view.

Today we're here with Kemp Boyd, executive director of Love Akron.

Kemp, the mission of Love Akron Network is to call Christian leaders of greater Akron area to pray, unite and collaborate in ministry for the advancement of spiritual and social transformation in our communities.

Kemp is also on the City of Akron’s Police Oversight Board, and he's the head coach of Garfield High School football team and an overall great guy.

Thank you, Kemp, for joining us today Man, Stephanie, thank you so much for having me.

Absolutely.

So, Kemp, you're the executive director of Love Akron.

-Yes.

Tell us what is Love Akron?

What does it do and what's its mission?

Wow.

That's a good question, right?

And so Love Akron has been around now for just over 28 years.

it was started by Pastor Newt Larson, Reverend Ron Pastor, Reverend Ron Fowler, and also the founding executive director, pastor Mark Ford.

And so what we've always tried to build upon is love Akron.

We are very dedicated to kind of unifying The colors, cultures and congregations to see and to help greater Akron to thrive.

We're dedicated to seeing that happen.

And we say we do this by being a really great connector and a convener, and a collaborator with change makers to make a collective impact.

But this is all really guided by our faith.

And so we want to see positive influence across Greater Akron.

So we have a being and a doing statement versus a vision and a mission.

-Okay.

So what you're being statement our being safe is just what I say.

We're a Christian based organization and we're dedicated to unifying or seeing the unifying.

- Yeah, exactly.

- Awesome.

What we're doing is, is we're a great connector and convener.

- Yes.

- Collaborator.

- And you are.

- Yeah.

So tell me a little bit about yourself.

The trajectory of your career, including how you ended up as executive director of Love Akron?

Man, it kind of just kind of happened.

It was one of those, like, moments, if you will, to where I wasn't looking for anything else.

I was working at what is now Red Oak Behavioral Health under Megan Kleidon.

And, you know, I had a promotion on the table and really was excited about that.

And then pastor Mark Ford said, hey, you may really want to look into this.

And I honestly just kind of brushed it off because I was, I would say this, I was comfortable where I was - Sure - Right?

And so through talking to my wife Stacy, and some other trusted just colleagues and friends, Stacy saw the job description.

She said, hey, this looks like you and, interviewed and the rest is all she wrote.

You know, as they say.

So it but it wasn't anything I was looking for.

I would say that I think Love Akron kind of found me, and I believe I found myself in it.

And so which is really been really good.

So I'm just over four years.

- Alright.

In my role - And are you from Akron?

Not originally.

No.

I've been in Akron since ‘94 - Okay.

- Came up To the University of Akron.

graduated, been here ever since.

But I'm originally from Tennessee.

I'm a southern.

Southern young man.

- Wow, wow.

But you sure have grown your family here.

Absolutely.

I like to tell people that I love Akron because I found my life, my wife and my calling here, and so that's exciting.

- That is exciting.

So you are also a pastor at Garden City Church?

- Yes.

- Okay.

Where is that located and how did that evolve?

Man, that's we're right off Exchange Street - Sure and we do our services in Emmanuel Christian Academy.

We utilize the sanctuary right behind the Women's City Club.

And I actually copast with a good friend of mine named Brian Kunkler, and that just kind of happened maybe about six years ago.

- Okay.

Where he just, me and him were just meeting and, you know, we had a good vibe of one another.

And he said, hey, man, would you would you mind copastoring this church with me.

And I said, yeah, man, what does that look like?

And so we've been able to grow and build that ministry, together, which is really cool because it's good to have like two.

- Sure.

and so we're able to kind of meet and we build relationship with one another as well as our families.

And so yeah, that's really exciting.

I love being able to do that.

So all the different things in my life, they interconnect really well together.

- Absolutely.

So how does love Akron engage the community?

Yeah, we we engage the community by looking at our fields of love.

So we have three fields of love that we are really, really excited about.

One is our Least of These fields, where we're really focused on youth and their familes.

So we have a great partnership with Summit County Children's Services.

- Great.

because the number of young people that are in their custody, really is a lot.

- Sure.

You know, you're looking at over 850, but then when you look on the other side, as far as the number of foster families in Summit County, it's about at 140.

- Wow.

So those numbers are really They're a little bit obviously they're unequal.

But what I found Stephanie is, it's not that people don't care.

People just unaware.

- Sure.

And so we want to if you will, shine love on some of these fields, some of the things that are happening so that people can become more aware of what's happening and going on.

another field that we have is our Mental Health and Wellness field to where, you know, as you know, mental health right now within our society is at an all time high from an awareness perspective, but also from a stigma perspective as well.

So we want to help to progress people out of stigma towards more awareness but also more understanding.

- Sure.

And so we do mental health first aid training, for different individuals who work with youth, but also individuals who work with other adults so that they can become aware of a sign and symptoms of a mental health challenge.

- Sure.

And then we also, within that field, we do what we call the Grief Recovery Method and helping people to process grief so that they understand grief is not a destination.

It's just a journey that we're on.

And what causes grief.

I was not aware until I got to training that, you know, getting a promotion can be grief because you're leaving one thing and go to another, and it's this sudden change in your life.

And then our last field is our United Through Love field, where, man, we really want to be intentional about how we are able to have the hard conversations relationally, but also about race without our hearts becoming hardened towards one another.

And so we do this through our Jedi experience.

- I’ve heard about that.

- Yeah.

Right now we're in our third cohort.

- Yeah.

So tell me about this Jedi experience.

It sounds very Star Warsy - Yeah.

So, Jedi for us is just another great way because everybody was saying, DEI, and it's just kind of boring.

- Yes.

So we said we're going to say Jedi Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

- Love it.

And so people loved it.

And so now when every cohort graduates they all get a lightsaber.

- Oh, I love it.

- Which is really cool.

And grown people going bananas - about getting these - For a lightsaber.

- It’s really great But what started out, Stephanie, as back in 2020 when we were in Covid and then the murder of George Floyd, there became this heightened awareness of what was going on and really how disconnected we were when it came to conversations about race.

And so we started what we called at that time, connection versus collision, the black and white conversation.

And it wasn't a conversation that we wanted to be filled with guilt or shame, but it was having a conversation around terms and language.

- Nice.

What do words mean?

And so as we continue to do that, one of the stats that we brought up was, it was a survey that was done back in 2016.

It was a national stat, but it said that 75% of white people said they didn't have a relationship with a person of color.

And so we kind of led with that.

- That's a huge number.

That's a huge number.

Right?

And it doesn't mean that all those people are racist.

It's just mean that, you know, that's not my environment.

- Sure.

That's not where I'm at.

And so what happened as a result, the more we did these connection versus collision episodes, there were more people that were identified within that 75.

And they said, I don't want to do that anymore.

- Right.

So they actually pushed us to do a little more.

So we got out of the episode space to start creating these intimate kind of gatherings of conversation in the little breakout rooms on zoom.

Yeah, that really developed and manifested into now what has been the Jedi experience cohorts.

That now we're in our third, we’re up to about 25 people per cohort And it's just kind of taking on a life of itself.

But all those people who are our alumnus that went through it, they actually volunteer to help lead the next cohorts, which are really great.

- That is really great.

How does one become part of the Jedi experience?

Oh, man, you just got to go to our website, - Okay And just click.

Hey, you want to learn more?

You want to apply to become a Jedi?

It's right on You know loveakron.org - I love it.

- Yeah.

- So Love Akron is a Christian based organization.

Does love Akron only serve Christians?

No, if we are only, this is what I say, If we're only serving Christians, then we're not really loving Akron, right?

We're called to, I think, as a mandate from us.

And the two greatest commandments is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Well, who is my neighbor?

Stephanie York is my neighbor.

Anybody's my neighbor.

And so we really want to show the love of God through this platform.

And so no, it's just not for Christians.

Yeah, I agree, as a leader in our community and you are a leader in our community, what do you feel is the biggest issue facing the Akron community right now?

Man, I think one of the biggest issues is that I think we have to get back to humanizing ourselves to one another.

I think we really gotten caught up in the titles we've gotten caught up with our perspective of who people are, and we don't know people outside of what they do.

Right?

Like like we don't know police officers as humans anymore.

We just know them as, hey man, police officers, we need to defund the police.

We need to do change.

We need to change up things.

But I will say the same thing about politicians, city council, our elected officials, we just see them as elected officials.

But they're human beings like their spouses.

They, their parents like they hurt.

- Yes.

- Right?

Their feelings get hurt, too.

So I think that's one of our challenges.

We have to rehumanize ourselves to one another.

And I like to encourage people and instead of asking people how are you doing?

Just simply ask people, how are you?

Because that's a question.

We don't ask each other a lot.

And so but I would say that for me.

People are just see me as, oh man, well, you're a pastor or you're a coach and all this, I'm like, no man.

But really, what I love being able to do is, man, I'm, I'm I'm Stacy Boyd's husband, right?

I'm a father of six.

- Yeah.

So let's remember that as we engage and deal with people that they're not just the title, that they are.

The uniforms that they wear.

So in the last several years, it seems every time we turn on the TV or look at our phones or watch the news, there's another violent incident.

racially, ethnically or religiously motivated.

Does this scare you?

And should it scare our community?

Yeah, I would, I use the word It concerns me.

- Yeah.

more than it does scare me.

It concerns me because I think it goes into the questions you just asked about some of the challenges we have to really get back to seeing one another just as humans and just human beings.

But I think our society calls for us to be more for human doings.

We really get caught up in what we do.

- We do, you’re right - You know and that's kind of, I learned this from Bishop Joey Johnson, and he says, you know, can we actually live and serve in two cultures?

And of course, I said, oh, yeah, man, white and black is like, no, the been in the doing culture.

Right.

And and he says, we get so caught up in accomplishment and achievement and productivity Right.

We do, do, do ,do, do.

And it makes us feel good.

Why?

Because we feel like we've impacted.

- Yes.

And he says, really, it's about our being.

And then the bridge that gets us over to the doing culture is what we are becoming.

And so that's the thing that Stephanie, for me, I try to let guide me.

I'm not perfect at it yet, but I really try to, I guess, operate and function from more of my doing than - my being, I'm sorry, versus my doing.

And, and I think that is what concerns me.

I think because and it's not only race.

Stephanie But I would also say it's, you know, socioeconomic.

- Sure.

- Right?

If I am, in a sense, in poverty, then I need to get what I need to get for my family.

And so the only way I know that I get it is by doing this.

I don't think anybody, I hope most people don't roll over in the morning, get up out of bed and say, hey, I want to go and commit a crime today.

I want to go and hurt someone.

Right?

And so how much of this is personality versus mental health versus just, poverty ridden?

- Sure.

I need to get food on the table And how am I going to do that?

No one's hiring me.

Nobody's, you know, looking at me.

So I got to go out and get it.

- Absolutely.

And we all have to, I think, acknowledge how much it's changed pre-COVID.

- Right?

- Sure.

Like there's been a huge change in how we do life now and how we do work now, but also how we treat ourselves as humans.

And so but it does concern me very much so.

So I want to remind our viewers and those who may have joined late that we're here with Kemp Boyd, executive director of Love Akron.

We are learning about what Love Akron is, what it does, and how Love Akron helps to connect and strengthen organizations and people in Akron in Northeast Ohio.

So what can we do locally?

What can I do individually to counter this big issue?

Yeah, I think, you know, this is a good question.

I was with someone having a conversation and they acknowledged how concerned they were, and I would see how scared they are from a safety perspective, - Sure.

To what’s happening and going on, right?

So much so that I think sometimes we feel like we have to avoid.

We have to avoid people.

We have to avoid people that are not in our circle.

And I actually challenges person to do just the opposite.

I said, hey man, if you're walking on a street, just say hello to people.

- Right.

Like it's just to me, it's that simple - Right.

Like it's just getting back to just saying hello.

Just speaking, as my wife Stacy would say, hey man, just speak to people because I believe that becomes a pathway of us humanizing ourselves one another.

But think about how many times, and I'm guilty of this, that I'm so caught up where I'm going that I don't even acknowledge people.

- Sure.

I don’t acknowledge people when I walk in a room.

I don't acknowledge people when I'm walking down the sidewalk.

- Yeah - When they walk right beside me But I think sometimes that's all people need is just to be acknowledged.

- Yup.

- Right?

It makes me feel better Like it's happened.

This happened just now.

When you saw me, you had this big, bright smile for like, Kemp you made it!

Like that did something on the inside of me?

Yeah.

And I think if we can all take that time to do that with one another, whether we know the person or not, just to say hello.

- Sure.

Just to acknowledge.

I think that helps.

And I think we can all do that.

And that doesn't take any money.

- It doesn't, it doesn’t Right, It doesn’t take anything It just takes a little bit of our own vulnerability.

And I think that's why, Stephanie, we're in some of the, some of the challenges we’re in, we're so afraid of being vulnerable - For sure you know, so afraid being vulnerable because what is that going to cost me?

And all I'm asking is just acknowledge.

- I love it.

Let's talk a little bit about what makes you such a good leader, because you are a good leader.

I appreciate that.

You're a football coach?

- Yes.

Everybody calls you coach?

- Yes - Even I call you coach.

So how do you take those skills of being a football coach and use them in your everyday life?

Well, you know what's interesting, Stephanie, is I have never been an executive director or a CEO, but what I realize is I've been a head coach longer.

and I've been that.

And so I have been a CEO or executive director.

I've been a head football coach.

- Yeah.

So I take a lot of those attributes into what I do every day, because here's what I don't do, with all the young men that I've coached throughout the years.

I've never asked them to.

I've never asked them to fit in to anything but the team concept.

- Okay.

Outside of your race, where are you from, your religious beliefs It was just like, hey, do we all believe enough in one another?

And the name on the front of the jersey, - Right.

To go and really play for each other.

And so we really operate from a concept in my coaching twofold from our head coaches.

We try to coach in these values.

and any coach I've ever interviewed, I've always talked about this.

It says, I let them know.

I say, hey, we want to empower and not enable.

We want to discipline and not dispose, and we want to be demanding but not demeaning.

because we believe those values are what is needed for the young people that we coach, at the end of the day, and then too, what we ask of our players is, we say, hey, we can, we will, we must like that's our golden standard for the Garfield Golden Rams.

And I said, hey, we can play fast, we will play physical, but we must play for each other.

And I think that is very relatable to all the different aspects of my life and where I believe God has placed me to really serve that.

And and that same thing that I ask from our city on a bigger scale, like, hey, it's not about us.

listening to agree, but can we listen to understand?

Because here's what I know.

And you know this, right?

I've been married 19 years.

It was last Tuesday, me and Stacey haven’t agreed on everything in our marriage.

But the thing that that kind of binds us together is first of all, is just the love that we have for one another, right?

We're in this covenant relationship.

And but I've listened to her over the years to where I understand why she feels the way she feels, or why things make her feel the way she feels, right?

And so I, I always try to lead that way.

I always say, if we can listen, then we can learn.

If we can learn, then we can go and lead together.

But a lot of times we don't know how to really listen to one another without defending.

- That's true - Our perspective.

And sometimes if we can just stop and listen, man, it gives us a deeper understanding of who people are and why they believe what they believe.

Without me trying to convince you otherwise.

- Because most people listen to respond.

- Yes.

Like I'm formulating my response while you're talking versus just listening to understand.

- Absolutely.

- And I get it.

And just be like, wow, I get that.

- I hear you - Absolutely.

And players that I've coached throughout the years and my own children, they've taught me that.

- Yeah - You know, they've taught me how to do that because it wasn't about me fixing it for them.

- Yes.

- they just wanted me to listen.

So I even ask people the question when something goes on, most of the times we'll again, doing culture.

We'll ask people, okay, well, if you need me to do anything, all you gotta do is call - Right.

Just call me.

Right?

And so I start changing that language step and I start saying, hey, let me know who you need me to be.

Do you need me to be a listener?

Right?

Do you need me to be this?

Do you need me?

- Do you want me to fix it?

Or do you want me just to listen?

- Absolutely.

- And be a sounding board.

- Yes.

And so I think giving people that option and saying it that way, it's like, oh, well, I need you to be this for me right now, okay.

- Yep.

When you don't need me to be that anymore, just let me know - Be your friend or your boss?

- Exactly.

- Yeah, I love it.

So you're also on the Akron Police Oversight Board?

- Yes.

Tell me about that.

What is that?

we've been now established for about a year.

It was a year in April, and it was, founded through issue ten.

Yes.

It was a group, issue ten committee, I think it was a group made about 10 to 12. individuals, one of them being, right now, our current mayor in Akron, Mayor Shammas Malik, Nanette Pitt, Senator Sykes was a part of that.

Reverend Ray Green, Judy Hill and many, many others.

- Yeah, a lot of big leaders.

- Yeah, yeah.

Councilwoman Linda Omobien And so because of them and the work that they did writing and getting it on the ballot, that issue passed by 62% of the vote, meaning it was over 30,000 residents and citizens of Akron who voted to say, hey, this is important.

And really what we're here to do is we're here to help create oversight for, first of all, the office of the Independent auditor.

- Yes.

- Which, now has three employees in it.

Before this was in place, the auditor for about 16 years was Phil Young.

- Yes.

And it was just Phil Young - Yes.

He had no help, no support.

He did.

I know Phil.

Yes.

- Yes And so back in, I want to say was the Racial Equity Social Justice Task Force that was developed under Mayor Horrigan.

actually, I was a co-chair with Bill Rich for the criminal justice.

That's why I first met Mr. Young and I heard about how he just didn't have any support, help and support.

And so now, as an oversight board that's made up of nine of us across different wards in Akron, we're now better able to support the office of the independent auditor.

So we have an independent auditor.

Who is Anthony Finnell, I think he's now been in place for just, I think, a month?

- Yes.

who was an expert in his field.

He is fantastic at what he does.

We have an office admin now and we're actually right now just posted for deputy auditor.

- Okay.

And so we're really excited about that.

And we are here to really work collaboratively with the Akron Police Department, the city of Akron.

And I would even say, the Fraternal Order of Police.

- Okay.

- because the the use of force complaints, are in a high number.

Right?

- Sure.

And I know that historically, those numbers from APD perspective has been really good nationally.

And so but we have to ask the question, are they good?

Because people, A, don't really know how to file for a complaint - Right.

- Right?

Or, B, they've done it before and they don't see anything come up anything And so - They see it's futile.

Exactly, exactly.

So we're we're trying to work.

We don't have, the type of accountability that we would have wanted from a perspective of really being able to have true oversight and really hold the police department accountable due to collective bargaining.

but what we feel is, is that we have a good working relationship with our police department.

and we're still, you know, like anything else, we're still navigating our way through.

Sure.

See what that looks like - It's taken a while to get on your feet, but, I mean, I've been reading the paper and stuff like that, and I'm not going to bombard you with questions about the police oversight committee or board, because we we could have a whole show on that.

- Yes, absolutely.

But I just want you to know that we're I'm glad you're on it.

Oh, I appreciate that.

And that that your wisdom is there because I think it's needed.

so you're a strong family man.

- Yes.

We don't have much time, but I do want to end on a good note.

Always talking about your family.

You glow.

So tell me a little bit about your family.

Well, I'm married to, I think, the best person in the world, which is Stacy.

We've been married.

As I said before, 19 years, and we have six beautiful children.

- A whole team yourself.

Oh my goodness.

Like, yeah, we got a whole team.

We we've been playing a lot of zone defense now a lot of years.

- Sure.

Yeah.

We've even recruited some of our older kids.

I'm just very proud of my children.

Like, they, man, they make me a better individual every day because I think I'm learning a lot from them.

But also really excited for our oldest, Virginia, who's going to be graduating this month.

She just went to prom.

You know, so we got all the great pictures and I, I will I will acknowledge I got a little misty, you know, because I remember, as you remember saying, I remember when we brought her home.

- Yes.

From the hospital.

This little human.

- Yes.

- Right?

And now she's, you know, this, this, young lady who, - Right.

has the world in front of her We have a set of 14 year old twins, a boy and a girl.

Asa and Ashlyn.

And we have an 11 year old, Majer who's 11, but he's more like 21.

- Okay.

Yes.

Wise beyond his years.

He knows what he wants to do and where he wants to be.

We have Umari, who is, seven.

Stacy say he's our bonus baby because we've adopted him in.

We got him when he was three weeks old.

And then we have Matthias, who's our six year old.

So, - Hands are full I don't know how you do it all.

As an extrovert, this is great, because I never come home And the house is empty.

There's always someone to have community with.

- Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

So, we're going to end.

We're getting real close.

So when you go to work every day, what's the one thing you look forward to doing most?

Oh, man.

Really just checking in with my team.

- Yeah.

I have a great team at Love Akron But in every, every place where I'm at.

So I love checking in with people.

and again, just humanizing them to me and myself to them.

So thank you, Kemp, for the really interesting discussion about Love Akron, the City of Akron’s Police Oversight Board and coaching your first true passion, I think.

As everyone's coach, we're glad you could join us today.

I certainly learned a lot and know that our viewers did, too.

I'm Stephanie York, thank you for joining us today on Forum 360 for a global outlook with a local view.

Forum 360 is brought to you by John S and James L Knight Foundation, the Akron Community Foundation, Hudson Community Television, the Rubber City Radio Group, Shaw Jewish Community Center of Akron, Blue Green, Electric Impulse Communications, and Forum 360 supporters.