Mission & History

Embracing Futures, Inc. is striving to make a difference in the lives of needy and underprivileged children in Summit, Stark, Portage, Medina and Wayne counties by providing financial assistance for orthodontic and other dental care, and oral health education for elementary school students.

We were originally founded in 1946 by Akron Beacon Journal publisher John S. Knight and several other fellow civic leaders, under the name of the Beacon Journal Charity Fund. And while their efforts supported many community-wide projects and programs, they focused much of their attention on “poor and working poor” families, struggling with financial medical and dental problems.

Today, Embracing Futures, Inc. operates as a separate, non-profit organization with an interest in oral health for children.

Our core program provides braces for children’s teeth, who are suffering from severe orthodontic problems. This specific support of orthodontics’ is in response to Medicaid providing very little support for poor and working poor families with children whom orthodontists have identified and diagnosed “severe” and in need of treatment.

Our secondary program teaches children how to care for their teeth, setting in motion a good and solid approach to better oral hygiene.

We are proud to state that Embracing Futures, Inc. will continue to honor the founding mission of its charter Trustees, “serving as a safety net for families who have exhausted all other financial resources for medical need”.