In August, Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz introduced the Save Our Community program as part of his initiative to reduce gun violence.
The Englewood and Junction neighborhoods became the starting point. As the end of the year approaches, the neighborhood is starting to see the results of the work that has been put in.
Neighborhood residents gathered at a community meeting at Mott Branch Library on Monday night to hear about the results.
Program manager JoJuan Armour said that after seeing nine homicides in that Englewood and Junction area last year, that number is down to three in 2021. Mr. Armour said that “any homicide is too many,” but the progress that has been made in Englewood and Junction should be underscored.
“That’s an outstanding statistic,” he said. “Because you wouldn’t know that. We never hear about the positives. We never hear about how things are getting better.”
He credited a multitude of factors in the improvement, including the addition of violence interrupters, bringing youth programming to public schools and putting a focus on having things to do in the community.
Violence interrupters work separate from law enforcement and are specially trained to spot and de-escalate situations before they turn violent. The addition came with the mayor’s announcement in August.
The meeting was less than 48 hours since the city recorded its 68th homicide of the year. Damontre Mills, 14, died on Sunday after suffering a gunshot wound in South Toledo late Saturday night.
His passing marks Toledo’s 68th homicide in 2021, a number that has already surpassed the previous record of 61 set just one year ago.
The focus of continuing to keep the violence trending down gravitated toward themes and conversations about topics like policing, community engagement and reaching children and parents alike with information.
The neighborhoods fall within an area between Collingwood Boulevard to Smead and Brown avenues, east to west. From north to south, boundaries are near the intersection of Bancroft and Monroe Streets, running down to Klondike Street. The border between the two is Dorr Street.
Gwendolyn Wilson, who leads the Englewood Neighborhood Association, has seen those results firsthand, especially in her corner of the neighborhood. She spoke about how things have improved in the Smith Park area, which is right next to Mott Branch Library on Dorr Street.
“Two years ago, this area had a lot of crime,” she said. “The park was considered a gang park, and now it’s one of the most beautiful parks in the city. People come over here from all over, they come from the university, they come from out of town to take pictures.”
She also spoke about the impact of teaching good habits to parents and kids alike.
“You have someone with a little child, and you weren’t really taught how to take the child out to the park...you weren’t being taught how to work out differences with other people,” she said.
Marketa Robinson of Toledo has worked in partnership with Mr. Armour in helping get information about the program out to the community. She said that community commitment is key to making sure that the program continues to work and eventually reaches other neighborhoods in Toledo.
“This is your neighborhood, this is your community,” she told the residents in attendance. “You are the ones that are impacted by this, so your input on coming up with a plan, identifying strategies...is really, really important.”
That idea of a community working together, especially those that have suffered from crime and lack of attention from the city, was not lost on Mr. Armour.
“We don’t vote, because nobody that runs looks like us,” he said. “Nobody understands our experience. We don’t build relationships with law enforcement as we should, because law enforcement has not always been fair with us. But we have an outstanding opportunity to build those relationships now.”
First Published December 14, 2021, 2:50 a.m.
