Akron, Ohio (left) and Detroit. Photos by Flickr users Ian Freimuth and Paul Bica.

The musician, business owner, student and lawyer had more in common than they thought. Not only were they leaders in their own circles, but also they shared a passion for their city: Akron, Ohio.

And after spending 30 hours together in Detroit on a recent Akron2Detroit trip, the young leaders have stepped up to advance the city they love, each other and themselves.

One man was inspired to organize a tour of his Akron neighborhood with the hope of attracting new businesses there. A business owner was inspired to create a map of downtown businesses. Another was inspired to help other entrepreneurs get started.

“I would have been satisfied with people starting to know each other better,” said Josh McManus, Akron program director for Knight Foundation. “All this is bonus in my book.”

McManus worked with Kyle Kutuchief and Nicole Mullet of the Akron Torchbearers, a young professionals group, to organize the impromptu trip to Detroit to share some of the innovations he worked on before he joined the foundation in July.  Akron and Detroit are both Knight communities where program directors administer the foundation’s grantmaking.

Thirty-six emerging leaders went on the mid-October trip to tour innovative businesses in a few Detroit neighborhoods. They visited Ponyride, which offers inexpensive office space to small entrepreneurs in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit. They also visited D:hive, which functions as a welcome center to connect people with jobs and neighborhoods. D:hive also promotes lesser-known Detroit neighborhoods to Detroiters through tours.

Within days of returning from the trip, Lauren Ward, owner of Noto Boutique on South Main Street in downtown Akron, took the initiative of drafting a map of downtown businesses to share with potential shoppers.

Aa’Rron Epps launched a venture in nearby Cuyahoga Falls called the Self Advancement Center similar to another Detroit spot the group visited, Junction 440. He plans to offers working space for entrepreneurs to work and collaborate, according to the Beacon Journal, which documented the trip and the buzz that has been happening since.

For Rick Stockburger, vice president of collaboration at the consulting firm ESCALYS, the trip to Detroit was especially interesting because it gave him a chance to see how things have changed there since he worked on a documentary about Rust Belt cities, “Red, White and Blueprint.”

When he returned from Detroit, Stockburger organized a tour of the Firestone Park neighborhood of Akron. “My family has lived here for ages,” he said. And after returning from Army service in Afghanistan, he bought a Firestone Park home his mother used to own.

The Firestone Park tour is set for Dec. 20 and already 38 people have signed up for it.  One of the tour stops will be at the statue of Harvey Firestone, founder of the Firestone Rubber and Tire Co. The blue-collar neighborhood was built for Firestone company employees in the 1910s.

But it’s the Aster Avenue business district that Stockburger is excited to show. He says eight of the 20 storefronts are vacant.

“You can get [a storefront] for $700 a month with a lot of room to create,” he said.

Stockburger also said an added draw is the estimated 7,000 people living within a half-mile walking distance of that business district.

“It’s not just about restoring or desperately holding on to the history; it’s about moving forward together not just as a community but as a city,” he said.

McManus plans to organize another trip of even more Akron young professionals to another city – maybe Pittsburgh – in 2015, but in the meantime, the ideas from this trip continue to blossom.

Susan Ruiz Patton is a freelancer writer based in Northeast Ohio.