Multi-Development Services of Stark County is a non-profit organization founded on March 31, 1999, by Betty M. Smith. The Multi-Development Services of Stark County’s vision is to create neighborhoods where there is a sense of dignity and pride in self and respect for others. These qualities should be exhibited in each of the families who live there, as well as in the homes that make up the neighborhood.
MDS was established to tackle and arrest some of the problems plaguing the economically deprived, inner-city northwest Summit neighborhood. The area suffers from a significantly high rate of transient housing, single-parent families, and low-income individuals and families in the city of Canton.
The Multi-Development Services of Stark County efforts were focusing on women and children and transforming the community known as the Summit neighborhood. Because of Stark County’s widespread economically-deprived population, MDS services extended beyond the boundaries of the Summit neighborhood into Massillon and Alliance.