{"id":19302,"date":"2026-05-07T16:20:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=19302"},"modified":"2026-05-07T16:20:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:20:46","slug":"a-community-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/a-community-dialogue\/","title":{"rendered":"A Community Dialogue"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Fletcher Word<\/em>
\nThe Truth Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

On Thursday, April 30, a Community Dialogue was held at Glenwood Lutheran Church as a number of local elected officials joined community activists in order to promote dialogue and meaningful connectivity between the parties.<\/p>\n

Organized by Amelia Gibbon, executive director of Reinvest Toledo and owner of AG\u2019s Sandbox, LLC, which provides coaching, community engagement and project management services, the dialogue\u2019s goal was \u201cabout creating space for residents to better understand the roles that impact their daily lives and to begin building relationships rooted in trust and access.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 75 people gathered for the dialogue including one state representative, three judges, three city councilmembers, one county commissioners and one school board member along with a representative \u2013 David Zavac from Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intention is to move beyond surface-level interaction and create space for real exchange where community members feel heard and officials have an opportunity to engage in a more grounded, human way.\u201d said Gibbon prior to the event<\/p>\n

The public officials were Councilmembers Erin Kramer, Vanice Williams and Mac Driscoll; Judges Amy stoner of Juvenile Court, Myron Duhart of the Ohio 6th<\/sup> District Court of Appeals, Ian English of Lucas County Common Pleas Court; state Rep. Erika White; Commissioner Lisa Sobecki and Toledo Board of Education member Sheena Barnes.<\/p>\n

The community members were divided into 10 tables and the public officials rotated among the tables, joining each one for a 15-minute session in which they were asked three questions: 1. How does your job impact the day-to-day lives of our community; 2. How can community be stakeholders in your work? How can the voices of community be a stakeholder in your work; 3. Each table collectively arrived at one question that reflects their interest.<\/p>\n

Captains at each table took notes on the conversations which will be analyzed later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to meet with those who are influencing policy,\u201d said Gibbon in her opening remarks.<\/p>\n

The community members had the opportunity to hear Judge English speak about the success of the Lucas County Adult Treatment Court and how it has reduced recidivism; Councilwoman Williams discuss the way that the Englewood neighborhood is becoming safer; or discuss with Judge Stoner the impact of Supreme Court decisions on reviving racism.<\/p>\n

The next step in this Community Dialogue process will be a follow-up meeting on May 12. \u201cWe don\u2019t want this to be a one-off conversation,\u201d said Gibbon. The tables\u2019 notes will be examined so that the group can determine how to \u201ccollectively continue to impact strategy,\u201d said Gibbon.<\/p>\n

The May 12 conference will be at Poco Loco at 6 pm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Fletcher Word The Truth Editor On Thursday, April 30, a Community Dialogue was held at Glenwood Lutheran Church as a number of local elected officials joined community activists in order to promote dialogue and meaningful connectivity between the parties. Organized by Amelia Gibbon, executive director of Reinvest Toledo and owner of AG\u2019s Sandbox, LLC, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[250],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[346],"class_list":["post-19302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19303,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19302\/revisions\/19303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19302"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=19302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}