CLEVELAND — The Greater Cleveland Congregations are calling on Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb to continue crucial improvements, funding and support to five of the city's most needy neighborhoods.
The GCC hosted a Neighborhood Now event at Elizabeth Baptist Church on Jan. 30, asking the Mayor for more resources to address crucial issues in the Fairfax, Central, Lee/Harvard, Mt. Pleasant and Slavic Village neighborhoods.
The Greater Cleveland Congregations also praised Bibb for the re-opening of Gassaway Pool in the Fairfax Neighborhood, community led conversations on the future use of Gracemount lot in the Lee/Harvard neighborhood, the creation and hire of a Southeast Side Strategist and the creation and execution of neighborhood grant funds.
Mayor Bibb talked about his accomplishments.
"We want to make sure every child and every family has a high-quality park, pool and rec center in their neighborhood all within 15 minutes," Bibb said. "We will have a new response model, where it is a non-police response to those who have a mental health crisis in our city soon."
But GCC leaders like Rev. James Crews, with Antioch Baptist Church, told News 5 that much more city funding and resources are needed to address growing crime issues, blighted housing stock and crumbling infrastructure in these neighborhoods.
“He’s done a lot, but there’s more needed to be able to walk down your street and be safe," Crews said. “It’s a must to have money, and there is money, if you want to make these neighborhoods better and if you want things to happen for people in the neighborhoods, money is crucial."
Vikki Jackson with Greater Cleveland Congregations told News 5 she's pleased the city is involved with the National Gun Safety Consortium, along with other mayors across the county, to slow down gun violence. However, she's hoping Cleveland police will do more to reduce the number of gun-related deaths and injuries by addressing the issue of unsecured guns.
“We have children dying everyday, adults dying everyday, because guns are getting into the wrong hands, when they get in the wrong hands they are being misused," Jackson said. “We should have been involved a long time ago, the death rate is high and it continues to go up.”
Paris Jones, Youth Leader with Greater Cleveland Congregations, told News 5 she's hoping Bibb will meet with her group within the next 90 days to co-create solutions to address the lack of career-track opportunities for youth in these core neighborhoods.
“A lot of youth in the Fairfax neighborhood that went to college and got their degree in their career path, they want to stay in the Fairfax neighborhood, but there’s not much opportunity for us here," Jones said. We’re not looking for a job, we’re looking for a career and we want to start in the Fairfax neighborhood.”
Khalilah Worley Billy with Greater Cleveland Congregations told News 5 that the Neighborhood Now event was also about solving the dropping voter turnout in these five neighborhoods. She believes voters will head to the polls when they start seeing results in their neighborhoods and city leaders living up to their campaign promises.
"These politicians make promises, and there's no one holding them accountable for the things like safety, gun violence, things around housing, abandon homes, vacant lots," Worley Billy said. “If there are plans around the development of the infrastructure in the Central neighborhood it is crucial that key leaders inside of this neighbor is a part of these meetings.”
News 5 is committed to following through on this developing story.
