TOLEDO, Ohio — The Dorr Street Coalition hosted a town hall meeting Monday night, discussing what changes locals want to see in their area.
City representatives broke down just how much things have changed on Dorr Street since the 1970s.
Over 300 businesses and structures have been lost since then, with about 70 of them being black-owned businesses.
The Dorr Street Coalition aims to revitalize the area, bring back businesses and grow the existing ones even stronger.
"It takes every possible resource in order to make this type of change happen," Commissioner of Small Businesses Sandy Spang said.
The Vibrancy Initiative is the start of this process, which will not only create the changes people want to see, but also increase job opportunities, remove the blight in the area and improve the current structures that already hold a place in the city that has been run down throughout the years.
The initiative includes several grants, like the Façade Improvement Grant (FIG), the Whitebox Grant Program and the Community Reinvestment Area (CRA). These grants allow people to refresh the appearance of their facilities, bring their existing buildings up to code and help with tax abatements on new construction or rehabilitation of old structures in low to moderate-income areas.
There are maps to see if an area qualifies for these grants and information about each grant on the city of Toledo website. The city also has a list of resources available to help residents develop and build up their businesses.
Dorr Street Coalition President Suzette Cowell said during Monday's meeting, the public presented a number of ideas to improve the area, including the addition of an ice cream shop, a meat market, a fitness center for the youth and an urban garden.
"People are energized. They want to see something different," she said. "We made a promise to them, we kept that promise, so they know that we're about taking care of our business. If you're talking about changing lives and changing the community, you need everyone's input."
Residential buildings are also a part of the revitalization idea. Utilities Administration Commissioner Cindy Geronimo provided resources for residents to find out if homes in their area have lead pipes and how they can be replaced at no cost to them.
You can find those resources online here.
"I want you to know that this is tough work," Director of Housing and Redevelopment Rosalyn Clemens said. "It's not just talking about what we want or what it used to be. You need to be willing to work to make it happen."