Issues

TUSA is working on issues of justice and fairness on four issues: jobs, safety, youth, and education.

Jobs

 Toledo’s unemployment rate is at 7.1% which is higher than the national average. Due to the efforts of TUSA in 2007 the First Source Agreement was passed which requires companies who receive tax abatements from the city of Toledo to exclusively interview local residents for new positions for a specific period of time before opening their search to residents outside Toledo.

• This Agreement has generated hundreds of jobs for Toledo residents.

Housing 

As a direct result of our numbers and power, TUSA won a struggle to get stricter code enforcement for houses with serious structural code violations.

• The City Council adopted civil penalties for major housing code violations which carry higher fines. The money generated from these fines is to be put back into the budget for additional code inspectors
   
• City Council committed to double the number of city code inspectors

Education

Since TUSA’s inception in the early 90’s our congregations have been working to improve education

• TUSA pushed for and won the implementation of  a phonics based reading program, Direct Instruction, in 3 low-performing elementary schools
• TUSA discovered that TPS was sending back $3 million of $4 million the federal govt. provided for an after-school mentoring program because it did not have enough students enrolled. Due to TUSA’s efforts the number of enrolled students doubled from 16% to 34% the largest increase in the country. 

CRIME

In 2004 TUSA pressured the City of Toledo Police Chief Navarre to reinstate hotspot cards which allow people to anonymously report crimes to the Police Department

• Over the next 2 years the police cleaned up 150 nuisance abatements and disrupted drug & prostitution rings by conducting stings with more than 35 arrests and search warrants

Jobs Team

Co-Chairs: Tiffany Banks (Warren AME), Sr. Nancy Westmeyer (St. Martin de Porres)
jobs@Toledoans.us

Safety Team

Co-Chairs: Kathy Clinker (Emmaus Cluster), Art Walker (Friendship Baptist)

Progress: 100 addresses cleaned up. Meets monthly with Police Chief Navarre and a representative for Code Enforcement. safety@Toledoans.us

Youth Team

Chair: Elder Michael Key (People's Baptist)
youth@Toledoans.us

Education Team

Chair: Pastor John Algee (St. Martin de Porres)
education@Toledoans.us