ABCD founder looks back on community contributions as he retires
- The Repository
- Dec 28, 2025
- 6 min read
Though many people aren't aware of it, The ABCD Inc. was born out of a faith-based effort to improve people's lives
By Charita M. Goshay | Canton Repository | December 27, 2025
CANTON − The Scriptures make numerous references to charity and caring for the least among us.
Though many people aren't aware of it, The ABCD Inc. was born out of a faith-based effort to improve people's lives, said founding CEO Will Dent.
Dent has been at the helm of the nonprofit organization, which has offered job training, affordable housing, home weatherization, medical and senior transportation and community development programming for more than 50 years.
Since 1973, the nonprofit's initiatives have contributed more than $75 million to the local economy, including adding more than 1,000 people to the employment rolls through job training programs.
Dent, 81, retires on Dec. 31. He will be succeeded by the Rev. Tomier Davenport, a former banker and current Canton City Schools administrator who has served as the ABCD's treasurer, board vice chair, and board chair in 2024. Davenport is also senior pastor of True Light Ministries.
In the late 1960s, Dent, the Rev. Gilbert Carter, and the late Councilman Charles Ede formed the Southeast Community Investment Association, which advocated for more single-family housing, secured resources for Black families, and created an Afrocentric alternative school, newspaper, bookstore and cultural programs.
ABCD's roots in Canton
But the group encountered obstacles, particularly resistance to funding for housing.
"It was very frustrating to me," Dent said. "I was a psychological wreck because I would wear a suit during the day, and then I'd go home and change and put in my dashiki and get into my revolutionary (activities) in the evenings with the SCIA. I didn't know what I was going to do."
Dent said the seeds of ABCD were planted by the Rev. George Short, a Black United Methodist pastor who brought the idea to Canton after attending a Black United Methodist conference. Dent said Short encouraged him to consider a United Methodist development-consultant training program.
"I said, 'Well, it seems good. I could kill some time while I decide what I was going to do,'" he recalled. "They had us go through this training session in Hendersonville, North Carolina. At first, I didn't want to go."
In March 1972, Dent attended a national conference sponsored by the United Methodist Church's Community Developers Program, a global initiative which awards $10,000 grants to foster outreaches for youth programs, job growth, housing, community needs and racial equality, and to fulfill a need for local organizations dedicated to helping low-income families.
"It was my first time that I'd ever experienced the interpretation of theology to community development, and hearing people that talk about like nationalism and theology, and Jesus being on the side of the poor people," he recalled. "I had stopped going to church for five years, but I came back from that and immediately joined Turner Chapel and started to pull together the organization of ABCD."
In 1988, following a major strategic planning session, ABCD moved from being a regular social services organization to a community development corporation, which still maintains its affiliation with the United Methodist Church.
"When we started out, that was our only funding source," Dent said.
Dent said ABCD, which has an operating budget north of $1 million today, works hard to respond to growing community needs.
Dent and ABCD cut the ribbon on a $9.3 million three-phase project that includes an operations center at 2021 Harrisburg Road NE in 2024. To house its offices, ABCD purchased and transformed a former bank building known as the "rotunda."
Last summer, ABCD's board of directors surprised Dent by christening the office building "The Will Dent Center for Community Economic Development."
The second phase, a 23,000-square-foot operations center to house its fleet of vehicles and job training facilities on five acres adjacent to the office building, has been completed.
The third phase, a 100-unit apartment complex for seniors, will have to be built elsewhere due to wetlands. The original intended site is located just east of Cook's Lagoon. The Stephen A. Perry Apartments will be built on other property owned by the nonprofit, Dent said.
A native of Canton, Dent graduated from McKinley High School in 1962 and from Wilmington College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. He also undertook studies at Kent State and Case Western Reserve universities.
Prior to ABCD, he was an adjunct professor at the former Stark Technical College and was a training consultant with the United Methodist Church. He also served as director of community services and housing with the Canton Urban League, and as assistant executive director of the Bradford Community Center is Lima.
Will Dent's impact on Canton
Dent, a longtime member of the Stark County branch of the NAACP, has been on several community-based boards, including Leadership Canton, Stark County Out of Poverty, the former Canton Regional Transit Authority, and served as secretary of the East Ohio Conference on Ministries of the United Methodist Church and its Commission on Race.
With leadership activities too numerous to list, Dent was founding president of Alliance Area Farmworkers Housing Development Corp., and launched a food co-op that operated a neighborhood grocery store and a state-chartered credit union. He also developed a weatherization program which later became part of ABCD.
Hector McDaniel, president of the Stark County branch of the NAACP, said Dent's life of service is one worth emulating.
"Will's selfless commitment to community remains a blueprint, a framework for community development, that has established a lasting legacy, that shall remain for ages to come," he said. "Will and I always conferred about the power of community collaboration."
Canton Councilwoman Christine Smith has served on ABCD's board of directors for more than 30 years.
"He's a genuine person; he has personality-plus," she said. "He was an awesome board director. He's a very passionate person and a compassionate person."
Smith said Dent has been a role model of trustworthy leadership.
"And he's a great friend," she said.
Dent has earned dozens of awards for his community service, as well as all-city and all-county recognition for football at McKinley. A four-year varsity letterman in track and football at Wilmington, he was inducted into the Canton Negro Oldtimers Athletic Association Hall of Fame and McKinley's Sports Hall of Fame.
Successor: Dent is a servant-leader
Davenport said Dent has been one of the most impactful community advocates Stark County has had.
"Mr. Dent is not only a product of this community, but he has dedicated his life to assisting, aiding, and supporting the people of Northeast Ohio," he said. "He has mentored countless individuals helping to positively change their lives."
Davenport shared what he's learned from Dent's leadership.
"One of the best lessons that I have learned from Mr. Dent is to be open and willing to mentor people regardless of socioeconomics, race, creed, or religious affiliation," he said. "I have witnessed Mr. Dent courageously lead ABCD Inc. in the same manner regardless of if the organization was doing well or suffering. Mr. Dent throughout his career modeled what it means to be a servant leader."
Dent said ABCD leadership should stay focused on the mission.
"They have to keep a focus of maintaining this, and looking at this as being mission versus a job," he said. "They have to understand there will be trials and tribulations that you have to go through, and to be prepared to handle some tough moments and storms."
Dent was asked what he was most proud of during his tenure.
"I think it's the lives of people that have been changed," he said. "It's probably been about 40 people that we have enabled to become homeowners. Numerous people have gone through our training programs. ... We were the main instrument that enabled people's lives to be upgraded and improved."
Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP
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