NORTH COLLEGE HILL, Ohio — The City of North College Hill has seen a consistent issue with teen violence over the years, from teen fights to public disturbances.
Now the community is coming together to seek out solutions to the ongoing violence. On Monday night, the city held its first public safety meeting since chair and Councilwoman Kathy Cureton called for a unified response from the community after “similar issues year after year without substantial change” at the beginning of the month.
“We are pulling the right people to the table so that we can get the right results,” said Cureton. “It is necessary.”
WATCH: How the North College Hill community is coming together in hopes of reducing violence in the city
Cureton invited community leaders and residents to the meeting, including Anthony Hudson, a pastor at Greater Faith Ministries Church.
“There is a variety of people who really care,” Hudson said.
Hudson said he's been able to find some solutions to issues in the community over the years through building relationships.
“There’s been situations that have taken place here near the church. Fights … and trash, littering, that used to take place in our yard until we started building relationships with the young people and you know asked them not to do it, and you know they didn’t, they stopped,” Hudson said.
At Monday’s meeting, students, teachers, coaches, business owners and community leaders spoke about what can be done to stop the ongoing violence.
“The primary consensus that we heard was that there was nothing to do for our teens,” Cureton said.
Many businesses and community organizations have offered to help and provide services they can.
“There are a lot of people who are looking to find solutions for our young people. not to throw them away, not to put them in jail necessarily, but to find solutions that would help them be productive and help them stay out of trouble,” Cureton said.
However, there are still some roadblocks in the way.
“We are always looking for volunteers,” North College Hill Mayor Tracie Nichols said.
Nichols said they always need people to step up and help be role models and supervisors for the kids of North College Hill.
But that’s not the only setback they face.
“One of the things I’m finding that brings difficulty is the lack of funding for those things,” Hudson said.
Hudson said he wants to start an after-school program with his church for kids in the community, but that it takes funding. And with the recent failure of North College Hill Schools’ levy and other financial cuts, he said the money is not there.
Greater Faith Ministries Church will host a summer camp from June 8 to July 31 from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. for kids ages 5 to 12 years old. For more information or to sign your kids up, you can email the church at greaterfaithcincy@gmail.com
Both the city and community agree that it will need to be a collaborative effort to create lasting solutions. Cureton said anyone looking to help can contact her at kcureton@northcollegehill.org.
