INSIDE AKRON: Akron Documenters are fanning out across the city’s 24 neighborhoods to elevate places, faces, voices and vibes — as shared by the people who live there. Expect a new profile every day through October.
The Chapel Hill neighborhood derives its name from the mall that was there for more than 50 years. But in recent years, the mall closed, and the former shopping destination became a business park.
There’s still a ton of retail in the area, and a lot of apartments — 70% of the housing in the area is rental property. One area renter, Kelly Stubblefield, told Signal Akron that she would like Chapel Hill to have more of a sense of community.
One group that’s trying to build that is the Kirat Community Organization of America. Members of the immigrant group, who are from Bhutan but came to the U.S. from refugee camps in Nepal, have plans to build a community center and temple on green space that used to house a school.
Akron Documenter Jackie Jantzi is the primary contributor for this story. She is a Chapel Hill resident and has been a Documenter since October of 2023. Learn more about Documenters, including how to join.
Chapel Hill has become a hub for immigrants. A third of the neighborhood’s 5,600 residents are Asian, making it the Akron neighborhood with the largest percentage of Asian residents. (North Hill, with 17,500 residents, has more people, but fewer than 30% of residents there are Asian.)
Documenter Jackie Jantzi talked to a number of immigrant residents in the area about the Kirat community’s plans and their own experiences in Chapel Hill.
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
Chapel Hill is a diverse neighborhood with 60% of residents identifying as non-white, according to City of Akron data. Three immigrant families sat down with Documenter Jackie Jantzi to talk about their neighborhood.
Dawlat Hamed has school-aged children and is originally from Jordan — she has lived in Chapel Hill for 10 years. Hind Aldarrghi is from Iraq and came to the United States with her family a year ago. Sar Bhujel is a father from Nepal who has called Chapel Hill home for 10 years. Each family said Bettes Park, next to the site of the now-demolished elementary school, is an important space for the community.
What is the most interesting thing about Chapel Hill?
Dawlat: She said that it’s quiet, though not as quiet as it was a couple of years ago.
Hind: She likes the neighbors and talked about sharing bread and Iraqi food with them.
Sar: “[The] most important thing is, over here, we are so nice. Everybody’s nice to us and nice to them, our families. Everybody is talking to each other,” he said, adding that his family has gotten to know neighbors and they help each other out.
What is missing from your neighborhood?
Dawlat: She would like improvements to the park where the former Bettes Elementary School was located on Hyde Park Avenue. She said that she and others would like it to be cleaner,with more equipment for kids to play on.
Her kids have attended Harris-Jackson and Barber community learning centers and liked both schools.
Hind: She wishes the schools were closer to where they live.
Sar: There’s a vacant house next to his with a messy backyard that attracts nuisance animals, he said. He cuts the grass in the front yard to keep it looking neat.
How has Chapel Hill changed over the time you’ve lived here?
Dawlat: Chapel Hill is busier than it used to be. She said she sees more children around the neighborhood. “[I] see more kids, yeah, lots of kids. I didn’t see many kids when I came here, maybe because I see kids my kids’ age,” she said. She’s also noticed an uptick in police activity.
Sar: Generally, he doesn’t think there is a need for many changes. The 2023 demolition of Bettes Elementary has been a big change. He said that it would be good for the neighborhood to still have it.
Where is the Chapel Hill neighborhood in Akron?
Chapel Hill is located directly east of North Hill. This neighborhood is characterized by its densely packed retail district.
What’s the biggest challenge facing your neighborhood, and how do you think it can be solved?
Hind: She sometimes sees a lack of respect on display in the neighborhood. She also said that she’s been yelled at — once a kid waved what appeared to be a fake gun at her.
Sar: He said the whole neighborhood is good and the important thing is to keep things clean. He wants to know what the city will do about the vacant house next door.
What do you think about the green space and the park?
All three said the park is important to the neighborhood and for their children.
Nonprofit perspective
Kirat Community Organization of America, 1333 Betana Ave.
Naresh Subba, founding member and adviser
Tell me about the purpose of your business or nonprofit. What do you do every day?
There is a large population of the Kirat Community in the Akron area, Naresh said. The members of the community are refugees from Bhutan and arrived in the U.S. after living in camps in Nepal.
There’s a need for worship, prayer, meeting place and a common platform, he said, which is why the group wants to construct a temple. The Kirat Community Organization of America is currently fundraising to build a temple on the property it purchased in 2019.
How does your organization fit into or support the Chapel Hill neighborhood?
“This is going to be a unique design,” Naresh said of the temple and community center that the group is planning to build. “You know we’d like to make a beautiful place where people from all faiths, backgrounds can come visit.”
After the temple is built, the Kirat community wants to build a community center for the neighborhood on the same property. The community center would serve everyone and include a food bank, clothes bank and other support for the neighborhood. They are also looking at ways they could keep the park open for the community.
What’s the most important or interesting thing about your neighborhood?
“The people in the neighborhood are so helpful,” Naresh said, mentioning a neighbor who cuts grass on the former site of Bettes Elementary. “He started mowing right after we bought the property. He’s been doing that for years, even when the school was there. He volunteers.”
He said that Ward 2 Akron City Council Member Phil Lombardo has supported them from the beginning and that the community response has been positive. “The neighborhood is beautiful,” he said. “We need the community support.”
What’s missing from Chapel Hill, or what’s the biggest need in the neighborhood?
Naresh said that in the U.S. generally, he misses the openness of his home culture.
Akronites are welcoming and open to outsiders, but he “would like to meet, talk with our neighbors without a formal invitation,” he said. “Back home, if you wanted to talk to a neighbor, you just go knock on the door, and they would gladly invite you in, give you a cup of tea and some snacks.”
What else do you want to say about your organization and the neighborhood?
The Kirat community is young, Naresh said. The first generation in the U.S. has only been here since 2008 and they are learning American culture, history and systems. He talked about the recent Kirat Cultural Festival that drew Akron Mayor Shammas Malik, among others. They are focused, he said, on finishing construction of the temple so their elders can see it in their lifetime. Naresh said they need financial help — maybe from foundations and the city. And from the neighborhood, he wants openness and to be welcomed.
Can you tell me about the Kirat people?
There are thousands of Bhutanese people here, formerly refugees from Bhutan, he said. The community moved to neighboring Nepal and lived in refugee camps for many years.
Within the Bhutanese population, based on language, culture, faith, there are sub-communities. Kirat is one of them. “Kirat” is multi-faceted and can refer to either ethnicity or the Kirat religion. Some people are Christians, some follow other traditions.
Public space shoutout:
The green space in the neighborhood is what is left from Bettes Elementary School. The land was sold at auction in 2019 and is now privately owned by the Kirat Community Organization of America. The school was torn down in 2023. The playground remains.
The playground is older and includes swings, funnel ball, a half-court basketball area and a grassy area. This area has been important to the neighborhood as there are not many playgrounds and green spaces nearby. The Kirat Community Organization of America is looking for options on how to keep the park area accessible for the neighborhood.
