Terri has an article in the Akron Beacon Journal on her retirement entitled "'How do you replace her?' Terri Heckman retiring as leader of two victim agencies."
You will find that the Beacon often writes fluff pieces about corporate insiders. If the Beacon is still around when I die I guarantee their coverage will not be so lopsided (and it shouldn't be). Terri has done a lot of good work. But that's not the only side of Terri that I know. This is the perspective I can share about her:
Terri Heckman is retiring as the CEO of the Battered Women's Shelter. There is a really good write-up of her in the Beacon Journal.
In it, she says, "In the early years, Heckman said it was difficult convincing people that domestic violence was actually an issue in the Akron area. “In every single movement there has ever been in this country, the initial cases can be lost, and that is where the pioneers are,” Heckman told the Beacon Journal in October 1995.
I will never forget Terri sitting behind me in city council chambers exclaiming "YES!" when Akron City Council voted to shut down our tent city.
I will never forget when she had a feel-good peace done with me and her in the Beacon Journal just so she could look like she was on the side of homeless people when all she wanted to do was destroy our community... which she did.
I will never forget when she tore down the first shelter she was given FOR FREE after she and mayor publicly accused me of not accepting the shelter for homeless people. She never offered that shelter to us. It was all a lie.
I will never forget the op-ed in the Beacon Journal she co-authored with the entire Summit County Continuum of Care telling people that what we created at the Homeless Charity was hurting homeless people. So, they shut us down... the tent village AND the day center.
You can feel good about the work Terri has done. But don't forget you need to also include in her biography how hard she worked on destroying the community and center the homeless people of Akron created.
Yes, Terri. It IS difficult to convince people that things like domestic violence and homelessness are actually an issue in the Akron area. But you were a major force in hurting homeless people in Akron because you didn't like what they created for themselves.
Paid For By The People for Sage Lewis