DAYTON — Leaders are working to secure state funding and come up with new plans in an effort to fight violence and crime in Dayton.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 11:00, the City of Dayton has had more than a dozen homicide cases this year.
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Augustine Uloho grew up in Dayton. He said the city feels like home.
Uloho was incarcerated, but when he got back, he said he didn’t recognize it.
“If you go back 15, 16 years ago, it was so many Black-owned businesses and it’s like they gone,” he said.
Uloho wasn’t aware of Dayton Mayor Shenise Turner-Sloss’s new “Flight Plan.”
She introduced the plan on Monday, which is focused on improving local businesses, the economy, and safety.
It created a new committee of seven to nine residents who provide a direct voice at city hall.
“That’s what needs to be done, but at the end of the day, it needs to be done at home more than anything,” Uloho said.
At city hall on Tuesday, the mayor called on everyone to be a part of the violence interruption.
“We know, in fact, that violence is a public health crisis. We know that it does not all fall on our Dayton Police Department; we know that this solution will require all hands, all bodies, everyone involved. If we want to see changes in our community, we need everyone to be involved,” she said.
She also called on her colleagues to permanently fund support to expand the Cure Violence Global Program to other neighborhoods in the city.
The program works closely with the group, “Felons with a Future.”
Its members get involved in the community and hope to prevent violence by providing resources and mentorship.
“It’s so much damage already done to this generation, like just don’t let this one generation pollute everything,” Uholo said.
Turner-Sloss has talked about working to build community trust through the city’s “Flight Plan.”
Dayton City Commissioners are expected to vote on a resolution to accept a grant from the Ohio Department of Public Safety for over $150,000 to reduce violence.
News Center 7 will be at that meeting and will continue to follow this story.
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