- I think that I'm City Centric because my job is so focused around the people who live in the city, in Medina.

(gentle music) - I think it's very important.

If I'm gonna make a change for my community, I think it's very important for me to center myself.

- I'm city centric because being born and raised here, it's ingrained in me.

I love the town.

I never had any desire to live anywhere else.

- I care about my community.

- [Interviewer] I'm gonna have you say it.

- Oh.

I'm city centric because I care about my community.

(gentle music) - Welcome to PBS Western Reserve's signature series, "City Centric."

Today, we're in Medina where the historic charm of the town square keeps this city alive.

I'm your host Sthephanie Marie, and this is "City Centric."

The show where we explore our region through the eyes of six passionate individuals who are shaping the fabric of our cities.

Their stories will inspire us with the ways they show up for their communities, making every one of us a little more city centric.

(upbeat music) This is City Centric: Medina.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (gentle music) - My name is Brian Feron.

I'm the president of the Medina County Historical Society.

I was born and raised in Medina, attended elementary school at St. Francis and went on to Medina High School.

And from there, I went to The Ohio State University in Columbus and graduated with a degree in business administration.

I was fortunate to see the town before it was restored and after.

And so the town you see today didn't look like that as a child growing up.

It was very ugly with a lot of signage and neon lights, and not a lot of planning involved in any of the commercial areas and the businesses.

But along the late '60s, early '70s, that began to change.

And so we witnessed the renovation of the Victorian buildings on our square, and that led to the construction of the beautiful gazebo we see today, which is the centerpiece of our town.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) The reason I stay active in the community I think was ingrained from my parents.

My father was very active, both politically as well as community, church-related activities.

We grew up a very strong Catholic family, six children.

Not a lot of money to spare, but we did have fun in our neighborhoods with games, and bicycles could take you to town, and we did so.

But I think my father was a big inspiration.

I lost him at a fairly young age, but I had some mentors in Key Club that just stepped right in as well as Rotary, and they helped guide me.

They were older gentlemen that really, perhaps they saw something in me like themselves, but in any event, they helped guide me from selection of college to getting involved in the community, and have you considered doing this or that?

So I think there's always this drive to help people.

If I had to sum it up, I guess that's the one reason why you do things.

I don't stay at home with a lot of hobbies.

I have an old antique truck I play with once in a while, but I think the point is giving back to your community is kind of ingrained in me.

(gentle music) - Starting a hobby to express yourself is also a way to connect with others in your community.

Our next guest, Craig Staufer, has found ways to connect by bringing his art to the city square.

(gentle music) - I create art because it's just a driving impulse inside me that I see the world, and I see nature, and I have to... That's my way of expressing it.

I have a hobby of playing music, but my true expression comes through the depiction of the scenes that I see and the feelings I get from that.

(gentle music) My name is Craig Staufer, and I'm an artist in Medina, the city of Medina, and do paintings of Medina County.

Growing up in Medina County more in the outskirts, not in the city of Medina as much as the farm land.

And my father was an art teacher.

And I loved doing art from as early as I can remember.

When I hold crayons, I was always just drawing.

I seemed to excel at it, so that was my calling.

I don't think I have a choice but to do paintings.

If I don't make art, I'm a very depressed person.

And my journey has...

I grew up in this area and I find inspiration in my local area, my local environment.

Like, now I live in the city, I paint scenes of the city of Medina.

(gentle music) Going outside here, of course, growing up in Medina County, that's my inspiration.

When I go outside, then I really make a connection.

It's different than looking at a photograph.

It's that mental image or the feeling that I'm trying to convey, not just a photograph.

If it's just a photograph, then you have a camera.

You don't need a painting.

So I like to get out.

That's the connection that I get.

Through my art, I'm trying to impart to the local community my vision of this area, of this city, of this county, rather than say, "Look, here's my travels.

Here's these other beautiful places."

The beauty that I see right here, maybe other folks that are living in this area, they can appreciate that, and I have found that to be true.

But to me, it's sort of a challenge.

This is where I live, and this is where the beauty is too.

If I can make a beautiful painting in my neighborhood or my backyard so to speak, that to me is the challenge.

That's why I do that.

(gentle music) - Sometimes we just don't recognize the beauty in our own backyards.

Our educator, Nichole Shill, is taking steps to show others that you don't need to leave your city to find breathtaking views.

(gentle music) - An educator, and my job is more about bringing people together and making connections with place, memories, each other.

If you could come and go fishing and have a great experience, and have that memory, and it is tied to Medina, it's tied to Medina County, that's the idea.

So I'm Nichole Schill.

I am the community education coordinator for Medina County Park District, but I still identify as a naturalist.

So I'm still doing a lot of outdoor education.

I grew up on a farm.

I loved being outside.

I was involved in Girl Scouts and 4H.

It was always something that I enjoyed doing.

And when I was gonna go to school, I actually thought I was gonna be a veterinarian.

I went to University of Akron and I loved my time there.

I had a lot of really great inspirational professors that were excited about ecology.

So a few years later, I was already working like three jobs, but I saw a posting for a naturalist at the city of Fairlawn.

And I got a job there, and it was kind of the perfect blend between education and science.

So that's kind of where I fell in love with the human aspect of it, so working with the kids, and just seeing those light bulbs come on, and going outside and showing 'em that sorcery that kind of captured me first.

So, it was a place where we could introduce and kind of draw in folks to see the world around them, so I really fell in love with that.

So, after I graduated, there's all those big parks out West.

We have the National Park, and Yosemite, and some of these big names, and I feel really lucky that I ended up here at Medina County Park District where we have these amazing parks in Northeast Ohio, and we can connect the community to their backyard.

The idea that you don't need to travel to see nature, it's here.

We're a part of this ecology and kind of that idea of I can serve my community right here where I live.

(gentle music) - Providing space for kids to learn and explore is a shared mission of Nichole and our humanitarian, Michelle Powell.

Her organization, Let's Make a Difference, creates opportunities for kids to express themselves through educational and creative programs.

- My name is Michelle Powell, and I am the founder of the Let's Make a Difference program.

I live here in Medina.

I was born and raised here in Medina.

My two kids were born here in Medina.

And what kinda got me started with the Let's Make a Difference program is I ended up getting into some trouble and I wanted to come back in to make a difference in the neighborhood that I felt that I messed up.

And I thought that would be very important because I didn't want the children to have to go down that path.

But during that time, I didn't have a vision.

I didn't know what that was.

It was kind of like a voice.

It's like today, just all I remember, it's like today.

I went to my refrigerator, there was four hot dogs.

They were wrapped up, and it's just like I've just felt like something was leading me to a park.

So I got my two kids.

I got two other kids that went down to Ray Mellert Park, and I just grilled hot dogs.

I had this broken grill, and my sister had a pitcher of Kool-Aid and some cookies.

And I was like, "Oh, this is cool."

You know what I'm saying?

I wanted to try to get my mind off of what I was going through, but also I thought my kids needed to have some fun not to be in a house under the stress that I was under.

Every Sunday I'm making food just to get to this park.

And by the end of that summer, I had 60 kids and I'm like, "Whoa.

Okay, what's going on?"

And then the next year is like a hundred kids.

And as time on, my story hit the paper.

There was a gentleman named John Jeandrevin, attorney here, and he called me in and said, "Hey, I wanna start your program for a nonprofit."

I'm like, "Okay, what's a nonprofit?"

And he explained to me, "I just wanna know what the need is.

How can I bring resources to my community that I can help alleviate some of the suffering and things that you all are dealing with here."

It's educating them on education, but the Let's Make a Difference program was more that summertime program.

That was your camp.

You get those opportunities if you did do good in school.

So it's kinda like an incentive, like, okay, you give me something, then I give you something.

We took them swimming, skating, and we did craft.

So it's a seven weeks program in the summertime.

And then when they go back to school, that's when we did our afterschool ACE program.

- The nonprofits working to bring people together are just one reason this city is thriving.

Our next guest, Revitalizer Andrew Dutton, knows that the structure of the city is almost as important as the people in it.

- My name is Andrew Dutton.

I'm the city of Medina's community development director.

I'm originally from Medina.

Mom is from here, so my grandparents on that side, so we have some history in town.

I grew up kinda south of town.

I went to school at Ohio University and then Ohio State.

I studied city planning and regional planning.

Married my wife.

We stayed down in Columbus for about 10 years.

She's also from this area.

So we also always wanted to kinda come back, and it wasn't necessarily to Medina, but just the Northeast Ohio.

A lot of our family's back up here.

And I kinda remember just being at a farmer's market, and I don't know, when you're a kid, you always just wanna...

I wanna get outta here.

I wanna explore the world.

This place is just where I'm from, but just kinda standing there and thinking, "Wow, this is a beautiful setting."

And we're there with our kids.

I'm with my wife.

I'm like, "This is fantastic."

I guess it didn't occur to me when I was younger, the benefits I had growing up.

So I thought that was pretty neat.

And then a few years passed, and I was able to apply for a position for the city of Medina.

I like working with people.

I like improving communities.

I like working through development.

I think it's a challenge and I think the payoff is great.

And I'm just a piece in all these.

I'm not the guy who's building the building.

I'm not the guy with my business on the line and I'm putting it all out there, but I'm someone in the chain that can help coordinate things and help get them where they need to be.

So there are a lot of times when you have a project and you know it's a really good thing or it's just all right.

I wanna be the one who promotes the things that'll most benefit our community.

That's not always the big swing, that's not always the flashy thing, but to incrementally move it forward.

(gentle music) - Creating initiatives for your city is a great way to make your voice heard.

Our visionary, Arthur Ruffin, is using his voice to create a more unified Medina by bringing people together from different walks of life.

(gentle music) - My name is Arthur Ruffin.

I grew up in Akron.

16 brothers and sisters grew up on the north side.

Was there most of my life.

I was licensed to preach in 1984.

I left Akron in '99.

First church was in Wooster.

I met my wife, which is a resident of Medina.

The reason that I'm here, I met her in Wooster.

After I left Wooster, we planted a church here in Medina for about five years.

And then this church that I'm at now, which is called Second Baptist Church in Medina became vacant.

They were interested.

We did an interview.

And so that's how we became pastor here at Second Baptist Church in Medina.

I think a visionary is somebody that sees something beneficial, and they go after it with everything they have.

My goal was never to be a visionary in the city of Medina.

That was not why I came here.

I wanted to pastor this church.

And when God says that's it, I'm done, I don't wanna do no outside stuff.

But in between that, God uses us to do different things, to bring different people together, to bring different denominations together, to bring different colors, different races together.

And I think I've accomplished... Let me rephrase that.

I have accomplished some of that.

We have unity revivals during the year.

We drop our denominational titles and we all come together and worship.

We do things up on the square where the square is a big thing in Medina, come together, bring everybody.

Let's see what it looks like.

And people are like, "Yeah, this can work."

And so it is good to hear people say, "Hey, listen, we appreciate you.

I know you don't hear it a lot, I know you don't see it a lot, but your vision that you have for the city of Medina is great.

Unfortunately, you just got here.

We wish we coulda had it a long time ago."

But I have the vision to just bring unity to the city of Medina.

- The historical city of Medina is the quintessential American hometown.

The people of Medina bring the feeling of home to the entire city, through the genuine care they have for their community.

They're devoted to making sure every need is met from offering arts and entertainment in the town square, to providing kids with safe spaces to express themselves.

- I would define a city centric person as someone who values the community they live in, that appreciates what you have, and I will tell you that I love living in Medina.

- I really think it's the collaboration.

And all these organizations are working together, and businesses, to really make a nice wholesome community.

- So a lot of the people in these organizations, they're not just there 'cause it's a job.

They're there 'cause they really care about this community.

- They really care about Medina and the safety of the people, so I think that's what I most like about Medina.

- I need you in my corner because I can't do that.

So I need you to be that energetic person.

I need you to be that outspoken person.

I need you to be that person that can get that group of people and all of that.

- Those extra steps give a level of comfort to people as citizens that know that there's people here to help you, and I think that resonates in the town.

I think Medina has that heartbeat that really sends the right message.

Well, the history of Medina starts with, actually, the growth of the state of Ohio.

- In 1818, the county was settled as well as Medina City, and those are mostly people that transferred from the Connecticut area.

A lot of New England settlers reached Medina.

Inexpensive land.

It was also known as the Western Reserve, so there are great plots of land in this area that were sold off mostly to New Englanders, but Medina got settled, very small.

We didn't even have a flag.

We had one simple bar that doubled as a courthouse upstairs and a tavern downstairs.

People brought reading materials and educational materials with them.

So schools were very important at that time of our state history as well as our local history.

So Medina continued to grow slowly.

1848 had a tragic fire that burned most of the town down, and we did not have a fire department, so they rebuilt the town.

But in 1870, a much larger fire hit the square and the town and pretty much burned everything down, except one building, the original courthouse.

H.G.

Blake, the namesake of the McDowell family here, was one of the leaders in convincing people to rebuild the town.

So what you see today on Medina Square was a result of the 1870 fire.

The biggest misconception of Medina, it's hard to drive through.

The convergence of the highways does make driving through it a little tricky.

We have a great deal of truck and commercial traffic that comes through the area.

But when they see the square and the beautiful buildings all fully occupied, that sends a big message for not only economic vitality, but just having a variety.

We have gift shops, food stores, restaurants.

- I think the biggest misconception of Medina is that we're kind of monochromatic that it's kinda just one...

I don't know if suburban's the right word, but there's a lot of variety.

We have single family homes.

We have apartments.

We have shops and restaurants.

We have a big industrial base on the west side.

I don't wanna say it's super diverse, but it is a community with a lot of different aspects that I don't think people really realize just by kinda driving through.

- Medina, for me, was a challenge.

Medina is predominantly white.

It's only probably 3%, four at the most, African American.

I wasn't used to that.

I come from an African American city where everybody looked like me.

So it was a challenge for me to integrate myself into that type of environment and still be able to be who I am.

- I think it's very important to have diversity.

Medina doesn't have that, a lot of diversity.

And I'm very big on my people having diversity, but I just felt like I needed to be here.

Medina's beautiful.

It's a beautiful place.

For the most part, it's safe.

I've looked at other places, but I'm just drawn to Medina.

I have great friends here in Medina who supports me.

I have great teachers.

- So Medina is kind of in a unique spot where it's rapidly growing, but it's still very rural.

And I think that's part of what makes Medina so special is we have a beautiful historic square with lots of history.

There's businesses.

You can go shopping.

You can spend a day or just run and get what you need.

So there's kind of a little bit of both.

You have a place where you can have experiences and also just get your basic necessities.

So I think anybody from Medina kind of has that very casual sense of everybody in the county is kind of your neighbor, even though we're kinda spread out and there's lots of farms and big land, but I think everybody still identifies as a community.

- A Medina-centric person would be a person that would probably enjoy the Square a great deal in terms of shopping, dining experiences.

But I think people enjoy coming home for the respite of a nice community, knowing that your sports and education programs are topnotch.

There's plenty of entertainment, plenty of dining experiences.

We have some tremendous floras and greenhouse, gardening experts right in our backyard.

It just makes an all-around great place to live.

(gentle music) - I think a city centric person would be somebody who's invested in the community, whether that means just partaking in the festivals and all the great offerings on the square, or somebody who's actively giving back.

- I see the future of Medina.

It's becoming busier and busier.

It's getting to... there's so much activities to do that it's almost crowded on the weekends that it's in a good way because it's small independent shops.

I think to have a community that can support such a wide range of interests, that's a good thing, and I see that actually just continuing.

Well, I mean, I think the future of Medina is just staying strong.

We keep working on what we have.

We've been fortunate to have a strong downtown, strong neighborhoods, strong workforce.

it's really just keeping those things where they need to be.

- I think, in closing, I would just say, regardless of who you are, where you've been, where you're going, never think that you can never make a difference in life because you don't know how you could be used.

You never know until you get there, especially if you wanna make a difference.

You could be that one individual that can start a chain of everything falling down if you just believe in who you are, and what you are, and what you wanna see done.

- What steps can you take to be city centric?

When you find a way to inspire, innovate, and energize within your community, you invest in a future that is better for all of us.

Are you city centric?

- My name is Andrew Dutton.

- My name is Craig Staufer.

- My name is Michelle Powell.

- My name is Nichole Schill.

- My name is Arthur Ruffin.

- My name is Brian Feron.

- And I am Medina centric.

- And I'm Medina centric.

- And I am Medina centric.

- And I'm Medina centric.

- And I am Medina centric.

- And I am Medina centric.

(upbeat music) - Man, I'm just O for two here.

O for two.

- And jittery.

(laughs) All the coffee I think I had earlier.

- My favorite thing about PBS is their local programming.

"City Centric" ♪ Ooh oh oh