It's a Saturday morning in Akron. You're in a room with 64 strangers, and seated at a table with 5 of them. The person next to you grew up in a different neighborhood, votes differently, and has experiences with housing that are nothing like yours. For the next several hours, together, your small group will try to figure out something genuinely hard.

At the Opening Ceremony on March 13, 2026, a group of Akron residents did something they’d never done before. Together, they rose, recited a shared covenant, and signed their names. 

The Akron Civic Assembly is a bet that a representative, randomly selected groups of Akronites — different ages, different neighborhoods, different politics — can sit together for ten weeks, wrestle with real tradeoffs, and arrive at recommendations for the community that are wise and fair. 

Will this work? Here’s what local elected officials are committing.

Dominique Waters, a youth-serving nonprofit leader in Akron and the founder of Akron Sneaker Academy, reflects on why housing feels foundational to youth opportunity and what gives him hope about Unify Akron’s Civic Assembly on Housing.

On January 26, the Akron City Council unanimously affirmed its support for Unify Akron and the Akron Civic Assembly on housing. All 13 members confirmed their shared commitment to collaboration, transparency, and meaningful action.

From the beginning, Unify Akron was designed as a learning lab, one that improves as people step into it, question it, and help shape it. Here’s some of what we’ve learned in January 2026.

How are people chosen to participate? Through a lottery that’s carefully designed to be fair, transparent, and truly representative of the city.

“This partnership seeks to renew the promise at the heart of self-government: that the well-informed wisdom and goodwill of the People, met by a government willing to listen, engage, and act, will lead to enduring progress, a better Akron, and a more perfect union.”