TOLEDO, Ohio — After Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz announced the Save Our Community initiative's expansion with violence interrupters preparing to work in the Lagrange corridor, residents are hopeful their influence will lead to change.
One Lagrange resident, Robin, said she is scared to be in her neighborhood and tries not to leave the house unless she's with her husband.
Robin, who asked to not use her last name, said it's time for the area to get the attention it needs to stop crime.
She remembers the shooting death of 18-year-old Phillip Cunningham in April.
"He was just a child and it's scary to know that," she said. "I've got my grandbabies, that's scary as hell to me."
At one time, this neighborhood meant everything to her.
She said she lives in the house her grandparents owned. Now, she's ready to leave.
"There are people that have been here since I was a child," she said. "Older women can't get out of the neighborhood. They're here and they're scared too for their lives. They're single, elderly women and I worry for them."
But the city is hoping to change that fear and worry in Lagrange by moving violence interrupters into the corridor.
Tina Phillips Gott, the leader of the area's block watch is hopeful the initiative will be effective.
"What they're doing as far as keeping the community safe, removing drugs, guns, I like that," she said.
She emphasized an issue of too many firearms in the area and said there are "too many little kids running around here with SR-15s," a type of semi-automatic rifle.
Gott also said she doesn't know how many people will actually cooperate.
Isaac Miles, Toledo's longest-running violence interrupter, will be leading the Lagrange Street team and acknowledged the difficulty of establishing a trustworthy relationship with the community.
"It takes a minute," he said. "In the inner city, people have trust issues, so it takes a lot of time to break those barriers and let them know they can count on us to be there for them."
Gott understands nothing will change overnight, but hopes others can see the city's intervention as a positive and work together as a community to solve the problem.
"If we see something, we need to say something, okay?" she said. "Any crime that is committed and goes unreported is not helping your community."
Violence interrupters came to a Lagrange block watch earlier tonight.
Miles said violence interrupters' work consists of outreach and helping people find careers and resources.
The work they do is much more than just stopping people from pulling the trigger. It's a holistic approach that involves developing the community and demonstrating there is more to life than the streets.
"I saw violence as young as probably six years old," Miles said. "It was just a regular part of life and it became normal and I'm trying to change that so it's not so normal for everyone else in the community."