TOLEDO, Ohio — As Toledo police continue to work on two cases involving the death of three Toledo teenagers, young people across the city are being encouraged to come together voice their concerns and ideas through the Youth Be Heard sessions, a series of forums dedicated to starting conversations on youth violence with youth.
At the Thursday session at the LaGrange Branch Library -- two weeks after the body of DeAsia Green, 15, was found shot dead in a north Toledo alley, and the same week as some of the 10 people charged in the deaths of Ke'Marion Wilder, 16, and Kyshawn Pittman, 15, appeared in court -- the youth present at the forum sought to prevent further violence with a guiding word in mind: safety.
The event moderator asked a series of questions as the attendees moved to different sides of the room based on their answers. The questions revolved around feelings of safety and the violent crimes that have led to dozens of tragedies on a yearly basis in Toledo.
Young attendees Da'nylah Coffey and Mal'iyah Fizer explained the rationale behind their answers:
"There's a lot of shootings, Coffey said. "It's too many people dying and in jail."
Fizer echoed her points: "A lot" of violence and shootings.
Christopher Matthews, a violence interrupter with the City of Toledo's Save Our Community group, along with two of his colleagues, all joined the kids in the activities.
They noted how in the statements exercise, all of the children were standing on the "disagree" side of the room when asked if Toledo felt like a safe city to them.
"None of them felt safe. That was shocking," Matthews said.
Matthews said events like Youth Be Heard are crucial to creating safe spaces for adolescents and children to voice their opinions.
WTOL 11 asked Coffey and Fizer if they would change the city of Toledo, leave it as is or just keep to themselves and let someone else deal with the city's issues.
Coffey was quick to answer: "Change the city and probably leave the city if I can't."
Since the goal is to improve the city of Toledo with the hopes of keeping families living here for generations, the Youth Be Heard program faces an uphill battle. From 2020-2022, the Glass City has recorded homicide numbers significantly higher than in years past. All three years recorded 60 or more homicides, a number that hasn't been seen since the 60 homicides in 1980.
For Fizer, the Youth Be Heard session she attended was valuable and is indicative of a need for more similar programs.
"I want them to do more programs like this," she said.
Four more listening sessions are planned for January. Moderators ask that those interested in attending these free sessions register beforehand.