Throughout the history of the Junction neighborhood, the Community has experienced the historic vagaries of disenfranchisement and systemic poverty. In previous years, several committed agencies and entities like the University of Toledo Social Foundations of Education students and the Padua Center’s Kwanzaa Park Neighbors worked with neighbors to provide assistance with improving street lighting with “Light the Night”. The community-based officers of the Toledo Police Department began providing neighborhood groups with information regarding visibility and crime within the community. ESOP (Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People) of Cleveland was one agency that established a program called Central City Citizens to provide education regarding predatory lending within the Junction area.
Despite the lack of economic supports, the residents in the Junction area have continued to host monthly community meetings for residents at a local community center. The City of Toledo coordinated with local residents to address issues of blight and crime by cutting the grass for the elders of the community and forming peer to peer coaching groups. The residents also started knocking on doors and meeting at the local community center with the message that superman was not coming and that if real work was to be done for community progress and reinvestment, community residents needed to make it happen. This community effort uses the philosophical framework built on Social Justice, Economic Justice, Environmental Justice, and Peace Education. Recently, the Junction Coalition incorporated and is now seeking 501(c)3 status.
