- If we had a mission, it would be that... We can't do everything, right?

But all of us together, we can do something.

So if everybody can bring the best of themself to a building or to the community and it can shine just because we have infrastructure here, then that's what our mission is.

I'm Jodie Oates-Owen, and I'm city-centric.

- My name is Abishak Gajmer.

- My name's Kay Phelps.

- My name's Jason Pullin.

- My name is Patty Guinto.

- My name is Sunny Park, and I am city-centric.

- And I am city-centric.

- And I'm city-centric.

- And I am city-centric - And I am city-centric.

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

Today, we're in Cuyahoga Falls, known for its breathtaking nature surrounding the river that flows right through town.

I'm your host Stephanie 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 community, making every one of us a little more city-centric.

(upbeat guitar music) This is "City-Centric," Cuyahoga Falls.

(triumphant music) (triumphant music continues) - My name's Jason Pullin.

I'm a recreation program manager for Cuyahoga Falls Parks and Rec.

I've been with our department since I was 16.

I'm 40 now.

I started as a lifeguard in the summer of 2000.

I've worked various different jobs.

I grew up on the Cuyahoga River.

I grew up fly fishing on the Cuyahoga River, and when I was younger it was a lot different than it is now.

Multiple dams have been removed, and the water quality is much better.

(bright piano music) We were fortunate to have a wide and deep park and recreation department here.

We have everything from ice skating in the winter to wading pools and splash pads in the summer, to aquatic centers.

But what I like to do is educational programs.

So we've worked with the ODNR and Trout Unlimited to do fishing classes on the Cuyahoga River.

We've done rainbow trout releases the past two years with ODNR, Trout Unlimited, and the USGS.

And, more recently, the ODNR and USGS have tagged fish.

So we've had tags implanted in rainbow trout, and they've gone up and down the river.

So the quality of the river is pretty exciting.

But I just enjoy teaching people, whether it's kayaking or fishing, just how to do fun things outside and even inside as well.

So this would be a good spot.

- [Off Camera Voice] Oh yeah, that'd be really cool.

I would take that class.

- There you go, you can help teach it.

So it has a lot to do with mental health.

It's important to have infrastructure like businesses and that sort of thing, but people need a release, and they need a place to calm down and to relax.

So whether you're kayaking on the river or fishing or floating or even just hiking along the river, it's a way to relax.

So I think for people's mental health and wellbeing, it's important to have recreational opportunities like a river.

We're very fortunate that the river's so close to the city.

The Cuyahoga River runs right through our town.

We have two parks, River Front Park and Water Works Park, that run along the Cuyahoga.

So we're very fortunate in that respect.

(soft piano music) (soft piano music continues) - Whether we're fly fishing or catching a live performance, coming together is an essential part of community building.

(soft piano music) (uplifting music) Small business owners are putting in the hard work to provide us with a space to come together.

Like our business leader, Jodie Oates-Owen, at the Jenks Building.

♪ Can we set sail from the isle of disenchantment ♪ ♪ Leave our fears on the shore ♪ My only heart is afraid it's been abandoned ♪ ♪ I got nowhere to go (bright music) (bright music continues) - I am Jodie Oates-Owen, and I am the hive queen here at the Jenks.

It's a strange title, but, you know, everybody at the Jenks gets to be the best part of themself.

And I guess when we started, I was kind of the center of the buzz, right?

We ended up here at Mile Marker 46 on the Cuyahoga River because this is my husband's hometown.

I grew up in Barberton, Ohio, and we both have histories in real estate and construction and urban-based development.

And the Jenks Building came up for sale right before the pandemic, and my husband wanted to do a project in his hometown.

So I'm a transplant, but I love everything about Cuyahoga Falls.

It's been the biggest welcome, and that's how we ended up here.

But people connect here, and I think that is the most important thing.

They come in and you meet people that may not normally mix.

But yet in here at the Jenks, they come together with no particular political affiliation or anything, just over a love of the space.

And it's amazing to see the friendships that are formed and the businesses that are formed and the things that have just grown out of this.

It's incredible in a way that, you know, I have no control over and couldn't develop.

And, again, I go back to it's so much bigger.

It's so much bigger than me.

And I think for the community, it's whatever they want it to be, right?

It's whatever they want it to be.

(uplifting music) - The Jenks is a truly magical place where everyone and everything can be celebrated.

Cuyahoga Falls is a great home to many creatives, just like our artist, Kay Phelps, who started a local business to pursue her dream of reaching people through art preservation.

(soft guitar music) - I am Kay Phelps.

I am the co-owner of Up Front Art Space.

I do all the framing here and the art restoration.

I'm also a photographer.

My education is in film photography, and that's kind of been a lifelong, I don't know, passion of mine.

I think it's important to create because I think it's what we were designed to do as humans, and I think there's a lot more creativity hiding in people than they realize.

I talk to a lot of people who think that they're not creative at all, and I think creativity is embedded in all of us in some way, shape, or form, and it's important to let it out.

(soft guitar music) As a teenager, I was into everything.

Like I would draw, paint, write, play music, take photos.

I had to pick something or else I was gonna end up as like a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

So photography was my strongest skill, and that's what I focused on.

And after college, after I graduated college, I needed a job, and there weren't any jobs.

So I learned how to frame.

I was like, "Well, I already learned "how to dry mount and display in college.

"I might as well learn to finish the process."

So I got a job at a frame shop at one of the big box stores, which eventually led to art restoration.

And we would go in to like houses and businesses that had experienced either a house fire or a flood and remove the artwork, keep it safe, and then bring it back to pre-loss.

And I really, really love that work, and that's why I still do it because it's very, very rewarding.

I grew up in this area.

I wasn't born and raised in Cuyahoga Falls, but I grew up in Kent, which isn't far.

And when I was younger, like a teenager, we used to hang out downtown Cuyahoga Falls.

At that time, the road was still closed off, like Front Street was still just a pedestrian mall.

But we would go and just walk around, walk down by the river, hang out, you know, do whatever teenagers do.

And I used to just walk around down here thinking, "How cool would it be to just have an art studio down here, "to just hang out in one of these old buildings?"

'Cause I've always loved old architecture.

"Hang out in one of these old buildings "and just make art all day."

That's like a dream.

And, fast forward, I'm not gonna say how many years, but here we are.

(soft ethereal music) (bright electronic music) - My name is Sunny Park.

I'm originally from North Carolina.

So I moved here for law school, went to a bar, met a boy.

He was from Cuyahoga Falls.

So we moved to Cuyahoga Falls in an apartment, and I fell in love instantly.

Being a humanitarian, being in service to other, being engaged in your community is a way for you to connect to the humanity of all people.

It's a way to show up for each other.

And it connects you to people, so then they show up for you.

I love being able to connect to people, see their humanity, respect their humanity enough to say, "I can serve you."

My life has been pretty relatively easy in terms of like my family and upbringing, right?

But my brother had cancer when he was nine and I was 12 years old, and he passed away when I was a kid.

And watching him get sick and watching him, I don't think you can be mentally prepared for that.

Got to spend a week in the hospital with him.

So he started to pick up and he wanted to go play, and he wanted to introduce me to his friends.

He started to get a little bit better, and I saw like life in him, and I was there for my whole spring break.

And I left and he ended up passing away two months later.

Before that week, my mom said I gave him life.

I think, for me, he's a guiding force for me.

And knowing that I could motivate someone who was dying for a week, then I can motivate people for life.

I think being able to motivate people, and "you inspired me" and all of this, it means a lot to me.

Especially the kids.

I think that our students, our kids, the kids of Cuyahoga Falls are great kids, and I love to be able to pour into them.

Somebody poured into me, and watching my little brother, his life was cut short.

I want all kids who are able to live to know, there are people who didn't.

I always say to people, be safe, powerful, and productive.

- The potential of our cities is in the hands of our young people.

And that's why leaders like Sunny are so important.

No one invests more into our future than our educators working in and out of the classrooms.

Just like our educator Patty Guinto.

- I chose to be an educator probably when I was in third grade.

I am one of six children, second to the youngest, and I only had one little sister that I could make be my student.

But I also realized too how much of an impact a teacher can have on a student.

We moved when I was in fourth grade, we moved to a district that had no other minorities except our family.

And I think that was an experince for me, part of why I find it so important to work with the immigrant population here.

But my teacher saw my name was Patricia, and she asked, "Well, what do you wanna be called, "Pat or Patty?"

I chose Patty even though I had never been called that my whole life.

So I know how much influence a teacher can have from the very beginning, right?

From influencing a student's identity.

So I felt that was an important role to play, and I felt like that's what I wanted to focus on.

(soft piano music) I'm Patty Guinto.

I am a children's librarian here at Cuyahoga Falls Library.

I am so happy to have finally found my happy place as far as employment.

My work experience in the past, I'm a retired school teacher, having taught about 20 years in public education.

That was in southwest Ohio.

And I made my journey up to northeast Ohio to be closer to family.

(soft piano music) I see our youth as the hope for our future, of our community and on through to the country.

So the students are the people, the youth right now are the people we need to turn to, that they understand the opportunities that are out there and also some of the responsibilities as far as, "How am I gonna make this world a better place?"

- The city of Cuyahoga Falls is making big changes for a brighter future.

After listening to the stories of our guests, I see how every contribution counts.

Whether it's adding multicultural books to the local library or starting a culture fair in the schools, moving forward happens one step at a time.

(soft ethereal music) (soft ethereal music continues) - My name is Abishak Gajmer, and I'm a senior at Cuyahoga Falls High School.

I was born in Nepal, but I immigrated into the United States when I was seven years old.

My main reason on why I want to do what I want to do is because, well, there is a growing, you know, like diverse population in Cuyahoga Falls.

And when I look back into like the middle schools and elementary schools, there's a lot more people who look like me.

And I just wanna make sure like, you know, when they move into the high school, they feel, you know, confident and comfortable being themselves.

And I just want to, you know, guide them, in a way.

(soft ethereal music) Culture Fair was an event that I helped plan, organize, and host.

We had over 25 different, you know, countries in Cuyahoga Falls, like the high school alone.

And a lot of them got to showcase their culture by performances like singing and dancing.

(soft ethereal music) (soft ethereal music continues) A visionary is somebody who is a trailblazer, you know, someone who's not afraid to, you know, like try new things, create new things, do what they want to do.

I guess I fit that role as a visionary through, you know, me trying new things and, you know, like hosting different new events like the Culture Fair that's like never happened in the high school before.

And, you know, just being involved in community and setting examples and, you know, like, um... Oh, dang.

- [Director] It's almost like being a leader for your generation.

- It's inspired me to see how people embrace change, how people of Cuyahoga Falls are willing to open their arms.

- You don't get that in every community.

- You can encounter so many different very interesting people here.

- The people make the city great.

- Everyone gets along with each other.

- Cuyahoga Falls is my family.

- It's been a blessing in every single way.

(triumphant music) (triumphant music continues) (triumphant music continues) (soft piano music) - So I think, if I understand it correctly, before the EPA was founded, you could just dump your pollutants into the river.

So up near Cleveland, there's a lot of factories, and the river literally caught on fire.

That's how dirty it was.

But after that, the EPA was formed, and now it's one of the cleanest rivers in the country.

People kayak it and fish in it all the time.

So it's come a long way since then.

- The biggest misconception of the city would be that nothing goes on here.

People might say this is like a boring place, but it really isn't.

'Cause the city has, you know, continuously developed new ways to entertain and, you know, like bring fun into the city.

- The biggest misconception of Cuyahoga Falls, I think, is that there's nothing here to do.

The misconception is that there's not a lot here to do 'cause in reality, when you think about it, there's something here for everybody.

- It's not just about Blossom.

So Blossom is probably one of the most popular things about our city.

So if you're from Ohio, you know Blossom.

There's something for everyone in Cuyahoga Falls.

If you're not a concert goer, there's parks.

We have places to eat.

We also have a lot of places to work as well.

Cuyahoga Falls is a great place to live, work, and just hang out.

- Even when we talk about Front Street, right now, it's a bustling like hub of, you know, business and just people going there.

But like 10 years ago, it used to be a place for dead businesses.

Like nobody went to Front Street, but they turned it around within like 10 years.

There's new businesses everywhere around here.

- No matter what you like, you can find it right here in Cuyahoga Falls.

It's such a variety and such a melting pot of different people with different loves and different tastes.

I think you can find anything in Cuyahoga Falls no matter what your passion is.

- I think a big misconception is that Cuyahoga Falls is not very diverse, that it's all very white, very middle-class, very suburban.

And I don't think that's true at all.

- Yeah, the biggest misconception of Cuyahoga Falls would probably be that it is not as diverse as it is now and that Cuyahoga Falls is not as welcoming to that.

Because they are.

They just held a culture day at the school.

They had some African dancers come in, Nepali folks have shown up and shown who they are.

- There's a lot of good people running businesses and organizations down here who really, really want to change that reputation and who really want to welcome people of color and people from different cultures.

And there's actually a huge Nepali and Bhutanese community.

- So my impression of Cuyahoga Falls, if anything, has grown more fond of all that Cuyahoga Falls has to offer.

And I didn't realize how much culture is actually in the falls itself.

As far as natural beauty, the falls has everything.

So you really couldn't ask for more beautiful natural resources that are here through the parks, through the falls and the river.

So I think that my appreciation for all that Cuyahoga Falls has to offer just grew over this last year.

(soft ethereal music) (soft ethereal music continues) - Cuyahoga Falls is a thriving city of entrepreneurship, artists, and endless recreation.

From art walks and movies at the downtown amphitheater to kayaking on the Cuyahoga River, there's always something to look forward to.

- I think a city-centric person is somebody who is trying to make the world a better place.

So they start where they live, they start where they love to be.

- So a city-centric person, they know about downtown.

That didn't just happen overnight.

The city's worked hard to make downtown what it is today, and they continue to work hard.

The river didn't just happen overnight.

- I think the city on the river is becoming a part of who we are.

And so if you're plugged in and you're city-centric, you know that you need to plug in.

(bright guitar music) (bright guitar music) - Here at Cuyahoga Falls, it's been really easy for me to get involved both spiritually, career-wise, in education, in my neighborhoods.

It's been a great place to focus because you can make a difference.

- I'm hopefully doing a great job of making sure that people know I care and love this place and like want the best and want the best for its residents and want us to like thrive.

- I think I'm city-centric because I love where I'm at.

I love this city.

I love being here.

I love my shop, I love my customers.

And I do try to give back.

I try to support, and I shop here.

- I'm city-centric because of, you know, the amount of, you know, like community stuff I've done.

I've volunteered a lot to the community, and I've also hosted, you know, culture programs, and I'm planning on hosting more.

- Future's very bright.

So Cuyahoga Falls has leaders and top-level managers that want to continue to make things better.

The EPA is gonna take out the Gorge River Dam here soon.

That'll bring people.

So the river will improve.

The schools are building a new high school and middle school complex right now.

We're gonna continue to get new restaurants and new businesses in Cuyahoga Falls.

Yeah, the future's very, very bright.

- The infrastructure is here, the people are here, the ecosystem is here.

Let's embrace it and all move toward a more sustainable future, right?

The more times that you can use something that's already there and celebrate your national resources and your natural things that are here.

I think that's the future is everybody coming together for a common cause of sustainability and growth.

(bright guitar music) - So I love that they're gonna make it so that this river, it flows in a way that it'll encourage people to come here.

I see building the recreational aspect of the city, and tourism is gonna be key here.

I also hope that the building of this new high school will encourage some of our students to like come back.

I think we are growing some great leaders in this community, and we need them to come back.

- A lot of my generation, they're kind of tired of Cuyahoga Falls, you know, they're kind of tired of Ohio, and a lot of them just want to, you know, get out of here as soon as they're graduating and like move away from here.

But I think it is important that we stay and, you know, help better the community.

- We need to expose students to different cultures, to different career opportunities, to different ways of thinking.

- I think anybody who really loves their city, whether it's the city they live in, the city they work in, who either does things to enact change and help or give back or help grow the city or is honestly just a patron.

- I have no idea what the future holds, but I do know it's bigger than me, and it's gonna be ever expanding and growing, and yeah, I don't know, but we're gonna find out.

Together, right?

Together is the most important thing.

- Like, there's a saying, you can't build a house without like the structure.

And what we're doing is kind of building a structure and praying on like they finish the house.

- What steps can you take to be city-centric?

When we find ways to inspire, innovate, and energize within our community, we invest in a future that is better for all of us.

Are you city-centric?

- My name is Jason Pullin.

- I'm Jodie Oates-Owen.

- My name's Kay Phelps.

- My name is Sunny Park.

- My name is Patty Guinto - My name is Abishak Gajmer, and I am Cuyahoga Falls-centric.

And I am Cuyahoga Falls-centric.

- And I'm Cuyahoga Falls-centric.

- And I am Cuyahoga Falls-centric.

- And I am Cuyahoga Falls-centric.

- And I am Cuyahoga Falls-centric.

(triumphant music) - That's a good question.

- [Producer] Good job!

- [Director] Great job, man.

- [Producer] How long have you two been here?

- Too long.

- Forever.

No.

Forever and not long enough.

- Oh God, I don't have to say Cuyahoga Falls-city centric?

I just say city-centric?

- [Director] Cuyahoga Falls.

- Oh!