Toledo city leaders believe the commitment to the youth programs has paid off with the decrease in youth crime and violence.
TOLEDO, Ohio — Nestled between Indiana Avenue and Hawley Street is a mainstay in the Junction neighborhood.
“I’ve been around the Frederick Douglass Community Center since I was 3 years old,” said Stevenson Harris Jr. with the Fredrick Douglass Community Association. “My granny used to bring me here. I used to come over here right there in that room with her.”
It’s what many would consider a second home and a place where they’re always welcome.
“It’s full circle, just coming back here and seeing everything,” Harris said.
There’s a community inside the community center.
That’s because kids and families are constantly coming in and out of the doors.
The Fredrick Douglass Center is one of the many places around the city that offers youth programming to more than 5000 kids each year.
“They’re engaged to do so many different things, whether it’s a mentoring program or arts program, gardening, they get to do so many different things,” Toledo’s Youth Services Commissioner, David Bush said. “We know everything isn’t about sports but all the sports are covered.”
On any given day there are 60 to 100 kids inside.
Although these programs have been around for decades, having the city help fund them is fairly new.
“In that first summer, we actually funded 39 different programs and to the tune of about $900,000 and it’s gotten more sophisticated and broader every year,” Toledo Parks Commissioner, Karen Ranney Wolkins said.
It started in 2021 with the money coming from the American Rescue Plan Act Funds (ARPA) because of COVID-19.
“A lot of the people who were disproportionately affected were people in our central cities,” Ranney Wolkins said. “Young people who had been kept out of school and all of what that meant and we’ve known now over many years of research that this has had a dramatic impact.”
City officials deemed their efforts a success when the number of programs offered more than doubled the next year.
“It shows that our administration is serious about being able to help kids and youth within our community and also that our kids can continue to be encouraged during the summer,” Bush said.
There’s no longer federal money coming in, but the city is working to sustain the progress that’s been made.
City council recently approved $1.25 million from the city’s budget to support these programs.
“I know there are tough times and we have to make tough choices for budgets, but in my humble opinion, there could be no more important place to invest,” Ranney Wolkins said.
More money means more opportunities to keep kids engaged.
“We would love to do an increase with the programs to deal with a larger body of youth and then also some of the new ideas that are going on,” Bush said.
Something the Fredrick Douglass Center is looking at possibly starting is an artificial intelligence program.
“Basically teach the young adults, their families and their children about artificial intelligence and how important it is because you can’t escape it. It’s inevitable,” Harris said.
The city is also trying to make sure certain zip codes get more representation.
“East Toledo, I’ve lived over there for 10 years. People say it’s different but I think it’s a great thing,” Bush said. “They call it the nickel, but we’d love to see more programming in that area. We know those resources are needed, so we want to make a push for that to happen.”
It’s these investments that the mayor credits for helping to reduce crime and violence in the city’s youth.
“I can think of no more important way for this community to continue to invest that money. In my opinion, it’s chump change,” Ranney Wolkins said. “That money to invest in our youth, it’s giving back dividends like few other things can.”
For the city, that is the biggest reward.
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