About Non Stop Growth
Sometimes, it takes someone showing up to help them see that a different life is possible.
This belief guides Non Stop Growth's approach to Community Violence Intervention. Through Curbside Counseling, youth development, workforce preparation, and practical support, we help build safer communities by creating real pathways forward.
Our work is rooted in Akron and contributes to a broader understanding of community safety built through trust, opportunity, and care for the whole person.
Non Stop Growth grew out of two different experiences with incarceration. Marcel came home and had to rebuild his life while dealing with the barriers that follow a record. Growing up, Mia saw firsthand how incarceration affected families, not only the person serving time.
They both knew that telling someone to make a different choice meant little if no one showed them what another way could look like. That understanding led them to create Non Stop Growth and still guides the work today.
Mission and Vision
Mission
Our mission is to reduce community violence and expand equitable access to support, resources, and opportunity through Curbside Counseling, youth development, workforce preparation, and whole-human services that address the emotional, social, economic, and environmental factors shaping people's lives.
Vision
We envision communities where every person has equitable access to the relationships, resources, and opportunities needed to live safely, develop fully, and move toward a stable and meaningful future.
Our framework
Curbside Counseling is Non Stop Growth's distinct framework for Community Violence Intervention. Curbside Counselors are trained community-based professionals who build trusted relationships, respond to conflict, connect residents with support, and address the conditions that can contribute to violence and instability.
Leadership and board
Co-Founder | Executive Director
Marcel leads Non Stop Growth's community violence intervention strategy and partnerships across Akron, from the Street Team to Safe Passages. He represents the organization in national community violence intervention learning spaces and works daily with residents, partners, and public agencies.
Co-Founder | Operations Director
Mia leads operations, program delivery systems, and organizational infrastructure. She keeps programs running with the structure, documentation, and follow through that participants, partners, and funders can rely on.
Learning and exchange beyond Akron
Non Stop Growth maintains meaningful relationships throughout the broader Community Violence Intervention field.
The organization participates in the Human Justice Network and has collaborated with Dr. Donald H. Tyler of Chicago CRED, Juard M. Barnes of The Rehoboth Project, and Detroit Friends & Family. Its leadership also participates in the annual GIFFORDS Community Violence Intervention Conference.
These relationships broaden Non Stop Growth's perspective, strengthen its practice, and support its larger vision for community safety.