Twenty-three black community leaders focused on Akron and Summit County during an economic development meeting Tuesday with U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

They represented city and county government, higher education, the Akron Public Schools, health care, local agencies and businesses, nonprofit organizations, a foundation, banks, churches, unions and courts.

The leaders met for nearly two hours at the Akron Urban League and aired their major concerns about education, job losses and climbing home foreclosures in hopes that the federal government will be able to offer help.

''It's an opportunity for leaders to work together and
create a synergism that will be ongoing and gives me an opportunity to gather a list to take back to my office and see what we can do,'' Brown said.

Akron school board President Linda Omobien pointed out that the schools are trying to find ways to teach children how to be better prepared for college and give them the support they need at a younger age. Programs like Project Grad and Upward Bound give students the resources they need to expose them to college at a younger age, she said.

College education costs have skyrocketed and students are getting into debt early.

''It is amazing that 21-year-olds aren't old enough to drink, but have credit-card debt up to their eyeballs,'' said Candace Campbell-Jackson, an administrator at the University of Akron.

''College students get loans and grants, move out and get a car and plenty of credit cards. They take on all these responsibilities and many eventually get overwhelmed and drop out of college and then they can't get a job because they've got bad credit, so college turns out to be one of the worst experiences in their life.''

She wishes there was financial counseling for college students.

''There were about 4,000 foreclosures in Summit County last year and those homes are not being recycled, many are vacant or abandoned. It's like a war zone out there,'' said Louise Gissendaner of Fifth Third Federal Bank, who said her bank offers a program called First Home, First Loan.

Attorney Lewis Adkins described the meeting as ''polite conversation,'' calling economic empowerment a key.

''A job goes a long way in solving many of the problems we are discussing. The jobs that used to be here are gone and we have not fully embraced the kind of transformation we are going through,'' he said.