A member of the national CC! Coalition, the city of Akron has worked steadily since 1996 to make CHARACTER COUNTS! pervasive throughout the school system and the community at large. Hundreds of school teachers, counselors, community members and city officials have gone through character education training; graduates make presentations throughout the community. Local institutions such as the Peace Education Foundation and other community groups emphasize the Six Pillars in their activities or their materials. Now the public schools are working to integrate character education into the statewide proficiency test.

Other highlights include:

• The 3,500 employees of Akron Public Schools (APS) started the 1997 school year with a special CC! orientation, where they each received a character-development resource guide along with CC! pencils, bookmarks, magnets and stationery.
• The Akron Beacon Journal has been very supportive of CC!. The paper provided refreshments and manpower for the back-to-school kick-off and worked with Children’s Hospital to select and recognize a "Kid of Character," profiled each week in the newspaper
• The Akron police department’s "Do the Right Thing" program recognizes 10 students each month with a city council ceremony. The mayor and police chief make presentations, and the students receive plaques, T-shirts and other donated gifts.
• A local Presbyterian church works with a nearby elementary school to implement a six-week evening CC! program for youth and parents. The church provides dinner and a play focusing on the "Pillar of the night" for each session. The play is followed by a class for students and a separate class for adults on the given Pillar.
• The city bus service has placed CC! signs (with Pillar definitions) in all buses for the beginning of the school year.
• Thousands have attended special CC! events, from "Community Awareness Day" in 1997 to "CHARACTER COUNTS! Day" in August 1998 (which drew 9,000 and was held to coincide with a baseball game).
• In addition to fruits, vegetables and other comestibles, one of Akron’s Acme grocery stores now displays portraits of local notables whose lives exemplify the Six Pillars of Character. It’s part of an effort to recognize and promote the CHARACTER COUNTS! program in the schools. The nine honorees were chosen by a committee of business and community leaders and their portraits unveiled by APS students. The portraits, paid for by Acme’s parent firm, the F.W. Albrecht Grocery Co., were created by University of Akron art professor Neil Sapienza. Those honored included: Judith Resnick, the astronaut who died in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion, and Edward Davis, the first African-American president of the Akron City Council. The store also sells a poster of the honorees for $25, with proceeds benefiting the local CHARACTER COUNTS! program.
• On August 29, 2000 Akron celebrated "CHARACTER COUNTS! Night." This was the opening day for Akron Public Schools, so to kick things off, a celebration was held at Canal Park, home of the Akron Aeros (AAA baseball team). Students from several schools participated in a pre-game parade for character. And then the president of the CC! Akron Board spoke on character as attendees gathered. The vice-president of the Board threw out the first ball. It was a great evening for character in Akron ... and the home-team won the game: 4-1.