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COVID, Gun Violence, School Re-openings, the Census and
Business Grants
By Tricia Hall
Sojourner’s Truth Reporter
Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz organized a virtual community
meeting that was attended by two dozen local leaders,
elected officials, and clergy on August 11, 2020.
The primary meeting objective was to deliver program and
project updates, while inviting questions from attendees.
“This meeting normally gives updates on COVID, the
re-opening of schools and the Census. However, I want to
touch on a really concerning topic,” said Kapszukiewicz
during his opening remarks. “In the last 24-48 hours we have
had an unusual spike in gun violence. We are aware of it. It
wasn’t a purge. We’re looking into short term measures to
get ahead of this, because there are two gathering areas of
concern at Swayne Field and International Park,”
One of the incidents that the Mayor was referencing was the
August 9 incident at Swayne Field Shopping Center at Monroe
Street and N. Detroit Avenue that resulted in gun-related
injuries. During the virtual meeting recent statistics were
shared.
“There has been some violence in the last couple of days, at
Swayne field we found over 100 shell casings. Swayne Field
and what happened at International Park aren’t new problems.
The attendees communicate on social media and they all show
up at the same spot. Soon after, fighting and disorder
happens, and the violence escalates,” said Toledo Police
Department Captain Kevin Brown.
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City of Toledo reported 20 homicides by August 2019, and 30
homicides reported year-to-date.
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City of Toledo reported 300 gunshot calls by August 2019,
726 gunshot calls year-to-date.
“People in our community know who the shooters are, we need
community input. We are already operating on low numbers, so
we have to get buy-in from the community,” said Brown.
The Toledo Lucas County Health Department reported on the
July 30 pop-up testing location at University of Toledo’s
Scott Park campus and plans to organize another pop-up
testing locating in mid-September.
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4,140 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Lucas County, Ohio,
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July 30th pop-up testing location completed 1,300
tests, 161 positive results,
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Contact 419-213-4161 to submit questions, find testing
locations, report employer or business complaints, and find
out about self-isolation.
“If you feel that you’re at risk, certainly get a test. But
realize the test is a point-in-time test, people should
quarantine or isolate themselves for the appropriate amount
of time,” said Shannon Lands, Toledo-Lucas County Health
Department, director of Health Promotion.
Washington Local School’s Superintendent Kadee Anstadt and
Toledo Public School’s Deputy Superintendent James Gant were
on hand on answer questions from the attendees and report
plans for the upcoming school year. Both districts plan to
start remotely to begin the school year, re-evaluate those
plans by October 1. They discussed year-round virtual school
options.
Toledo Public Schools will begin classes on September 8 and
Washington Local Schools will begin classes on August 31.
“There is a virtual academy with 4,000 students enrolled
that is taught by our teachers, but the school is a separate
school from TPS,” explained Gant.
“Our virtual option currently has 1,500 students signed up
for the year-round option. The curriculum is already there
and we will have teachers assigned to those classes,” said
Anstadt.
The participants also discussed the current efforts to
increase the self-response rate of the United States Census.
The U.S. Census is a complete count of every individual
residing in the United States. Currently the Census is
asking individuals who complete a self-response.
According to current reports, 68 percent of Toledo
individuals completed the self-response by August 2010
compared to 56.8 percent in August 2020. The tentative new
deadline for self-responses is September 30.
“Deborah Barnett is still working to get the word out. We’re
working on a Census caravan that has worked in other others
to increase self-responses and raise awareness in low
response tract areas. We’re currently focusing on the low
response tracts in Toledo, which are Toledo Districts 1, 3
and 4,” explained Chad Olson, Lucas County Department of
Planning and Development Policy Analyst.
The City of Toledo provided an update on the Emergency
Microenterprise Recovery Grant to assist for-profit
microenterprises to maintain or restart operations and
retain jobs by awarded up to $5,000 for eligible operating
expenses incurred between March 2020 to June 2020.
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303 applications received, but only 240 were eligible
businesses,
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140 businesses were awarded $600,000
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75 additional businesses in the que to finish required
paperwork,
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75 percent of grantees listed woman as head of household.
“Some businesses have recovered very well. We’re also
providing or directing technical assistance,” said Sandy
Spang, City of Toledo Department of Economic Development
Commissioner of Business Services.
The meeting also provided updates about three additional
topics: LMHA is working to improve communication with TPD,
Ohiomeansjobs is working with Amazon’s local factory job
announcements, and the City of Toledo plans to announce a
disparities study.
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