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Sylvester Gould, one of
the committee members, introduced Gerken to attendees at a
fundraiser on Thursday, September 29, at the Toledo Club and
ticked off a number of Gerken’s accomplishments in office
that have proved beneficial to the African-American
community.
During Gerken’s tenure,
Gould noted, funding has been provided to build the Warren
AME Senior Center; the commissioners set a goal of 15
percent minority participation in the construction of the
Huntington Center – and surpassed that goal and funding has
been provided to the Toledo Urban Federal Credit Union for a
new facility, among other achievements important to the
African-American community.
Gerken spoke to the more
than 50 guests on three subjects. First, he emphasized the
importance of passing Issue 20, the ballot levy request by
the Lucas County Children Services. In view of the current
heroin/opiate epidemic, Gerken said, the agency is strained
far beyond its financial ability to handle the additional
number of children who need its services. “If this levy
doesn’t pass,” said Gerken, “we are all in trouble.”
Gerken also spoke of his
pride in the recent grant the Lucas County has received to
help reform the criminal justice system. The grant, in the
amount of $1.75 million from the John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation, was awarded to only 10 communities
around the country – Lucas County is the smallest of the 10.
The purpose of the grant
is to incentivize communities into reducing their jail
populations by determining who should stay in jail and who
should be released into treatment programs.
“We had 16 months to bring
down the population by 19 percent,” said Gerken. “We did it
in 36 days.”
As to his third issue,
Gerken spoke of the major victory of bringing jobs to the
area to the old Jeep plant. “There are 600 jobs coming to
that plant. Six hundred jobs that will change 600 lives.”
Along with Gould, other
members of the organizing committee are: Vince Davis,
Donnetta Carter, Anastasia Howard, Paula Ross, Johnetta
McCollough, Keith Jordan and Elgin Rogers. |
