In Honor of Carolyn Hess, Founder of Project REBUILD Inc.

In 1998 Carolyn took a leap of faith and quit her full-time job to follow a dream. She was discouraged that area high school dropout rates exceeded 50%. Her friend, former Ohio First Lady Hope Taft, suggested Carolyn look at a program in Dayton aligned with AmeriCorps and YouthBuild USA. The model focused on those youth who had not found success in standard educational settings. Carolyn hoped it was a model that would help Stark County dropouts and committed to spending a year as an intern at the Dayton organization.

When she returned to Canton, Project REBUILD was born. For a couple of years, she worked out of her home, slowly building the program to what it is today.

Since the beginning, as a YouthBuild USA Affiliate, Project REBUILD has focused on “building” the lives of young people and providing them the tools to become successful. In 2010 the “Building a Future” Scholarship Fund was created to provide another tool towards success.

Scholarship Amount = $500 paid directly to the institution

Application Deadlines:

  • May 10th of each calendar year with announcement being made no later than June 30th.
  • November 10th of each calendar year with announcement being made no later than December 31st.

Download the application – Building A Future – Revised October 2021

For additional questions, call the office at (330) 588-3205, Option #2