Joy Park Knows How to Bring the JOY!
If you know the Joy Park neighborhood (aka East Akron), you know: Joy Park knows how to bring the JOY!
For generations, the people of East Akron have built a neighborhood full of culture, creativity, family, friendship, faith, celebration, and community. From block clubs and neighborhood traditions to the Labor Day Parade, Joy Park has never been short on ways to bring people together.
That joy matters.
And it exists alongside a very different reality.
Joy Park has carried layers of burdens that no community should have to carry alone: systemic racism that’s inhaled every day as toxic pollution; an industrial landscape crowded around homes; waste and environmental hazards; limited access to healthy food and healthcare; unhealthy housing; extreme heat; and continued pressure for development that can benefit others while placing additional burdens on the people who already live here.
Some of these forces are visible. Many are not.
Structural racism can be written into zoning codes and housing policy. Pollution can be in the air we breathe or the soil beneath our feet. Disinvestment can show up years later as vacant homes and lost opportunity. Decisions made somewhere else can shape what happens on a neighborhood block for generations.
At Big Love, we call this the stinky onion.
Pull back one layer, and there’s another underneath.
These aren’t separate problems. They’re layers of the same story.
And Joy Park residents have been living with those layers for generations.
But the layers are not the whole story.
YOU TOLD US WHAT MATTERS. WE FOLLOWED THE LAYERS.
Residents know their neighborhood because they live it. They know what they love, what they worry about, and what they want for their children, their elders, and their community.
They tell us what matters: safety, healthy homes, clean air, fresh food, trees and shade, healthcare, opportunity, investment, safety, and a real voice in what happens here.
We follow those priorities into the history, data, policies, permits, environmental conditions, and systems underneath them.
Lived experience tells us where to look. Research helps us understand what we find. Together, they help us uncover the layers.
FROM EXTRACTION TO CARE
Transformation is foundational to how Big Love works.
We don’t believe every problem needs a separate solution. We look for connections—and ways to stack functions, creating solutions that do more than one thing at a time.
That means transforming vacant land into food forests. Expanding tree canopy for shade, cooling, cleaner air, and healthier public spaces. Using environmental monitoring and organizing to challenge harmful development and protect public health. Fighting site proposals that would add another burden to the neighborhood. Using art and storytelling to preserve history and build across generations. And organizing with residents to create meaningful power over the decisions that shape their lives.
Together, these efforts move us toward a Caring Economy—one that creates and circulates value within communities rather than extracting it from them.
We aren’t just trying to remove the layers.
We’re transforming what is possible.
JOY MEANS JUSTICE
Joy isn’t something we wait for.
It is already here—in our relationships, our families, our creativity, our culture, our celebrations, and our connection to one another.
Joy Park knows how to bring the JOY.
JOY MEANS JUSTICE means that the people who create that joy should have the power and resources to shape the conditions around them.
It means investment without displacement. Development without exploitation. Healthy homes. Fresh food. Clean air. Trees and shade. Safety. Opportunity. Community power.
It means a future where Joy Park doesn’t have to be sacrificed to become valuable.
The people already living here are its value.
JOY IS JUSTICE.
This is where we begin.
Stay tuned as we add more information and slowly roll out the JOY MEANS JUSTICE Campaign. In order to move at the speed of trust, we must roll out information gathered over the past 6 years that has led to this campaign. We will continually be adding content and updating our beloved community all within divine timing.
****CALL TO ACTION!!!***
Last year, over a thousand community members spoke up about Alterra’s illegal pollution in East Akron. The Ohio EPA still hasn’t addressed our concerns, and allows Alterra to keep incinerating plastic, business as usual. Now, the Ohio EPA is seeking approval of Alterra’s pollution control proposal (RACT) so the facility can be added to Ohio’s state plan to meet federal air quality standards for ozone air pollution. Alterra is located in Summit County, which was reclassified in 2025 as an area of “serious nonattainment” for ozone. To address Summit County’s persistent, unhealthy ozone levels, the federal government is now requiring stricter pollution limits across the county.
Alterra produces significant amounts of pollutants called VOCs, which contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone. To comply with federal law, the Ohio EPA is requesting approval of its proposed “best” pollution control technology for Alterra.
But the Ohio EPA’s proposal is not enough. East Akron residents need stricter pollution controls and ongoing stack testing. Tell the Ohio EPA to reject this plan and do their job to protect our health, families, and future!
Submit a written comment demanding stricter pollution control and more testing for this toxic facility by September 30, 2026. After writing your comment, join us at the public hearing to hold Alterra (and the Ohio EPA) accountable! This public hearing will be in-person on September 30, 2026 at 6 PM in the Akron-Summit County Public Library, Meeting Room 2AB.
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