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Dayton mayor launches 'Peace Campaign,' spotlights neighborhood investment and job growth
Summary
Mayor Jeffrey Mims used the 2025 State of the City address to outline a multi-part peace campaign, cite recent neighborhood investments funded by a voter-approved tax renewal and Recovery Plan dollars, and highlight new aerospace and downtown development projects that he said are creating jobs.
Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims on Tuesday used the city’s State of the City address to launch a yearlong “Peace Campaign,” describe neighborhood revitalization funded by a recent tax renewal and federal recovery dollars, and praise incoming and expanding employers that he said are bringing jobs to the region.
Mims said the Peace Campaign will coordinate violence-prevention work across city agencies and community organizations and that the city plans to bring in Cure Violence Global to help implement intervention strategies. “We will unclench our fist, open our arms, and work together to unite the entire city with the common goal of making Dayton the most peaceful city in the world,” Mayor Jeffrey Mims said.
The speech emphasized three linked priorities: reducing violence, investing in neighborhoods, and attracting job-creating businesses. Mims credited voters for renewing a local tax measure last year and said those revenues, along with Dayton Recovery Plan funds, helped the city accelerate residential street repaving, demolish blighted properties and fund neighborhood repairs and programs.
Mims highlighted neighborhood work completed in 2024, saying the city has demolished “over 150 blighted structures” and that “over 2,400 repairs have been completed” using recovery funds; he also noted new green spaces and a police station under construction in West Dayton. He attributed the 71% approval rate for the tax renewal — which he referred to as Issue 6 — to broad public support for those neighborhood services.
On economic development, Mims cited growth at the Dayton International Airport and downtown. He named Sierra Nevada Corporation’s expansion at the airport and a Denaud Development Corporation investment in a downtown research-and-development facility. He also described a proposed innovation hub called “On Main,” which he said the city estimates will create jobs and generate state and local revenue; Mims gave projected job and revenue figures during his remarks.
On workforce and education, Mims said the city is coordinating with local colleges and training partners — including Sinclair — to prepare residents for higher-paying manufacturing and aviation jobs. He pointed to recent and planned private investments, including Joby Aviation and other firms, as reasons the region is “hot” for employers seeking skilled workers.
The mayor described the planned Cure Violence Global effort as a health-department–led initiative that will contract community-based organizations to do street-level violence-interruption work. “They will not be directed by police,” Mims said; he added that police and fire will provide hotspot data to inform the program but that community organizations will run day-to-day operations.
The address closed with a recitation by Dayton’s newly named poet laureate, Sierra Leone, who read Langston Hughes’ poem “Give Us Our Peace.”
No ordinance votes or other formal policy measures were recorded in the publicly available transcript of the meeting; a motion to approve minutes from the Feb. 5 meeting was made and seconded at the start of the session, but the transcript did not record a vote outcome for that motion.
