Economic growth and safety will be a priority for the city of Dayton in 2025, according to Mayor Jeffrey J. Mims Jr.
Mims is going into his fourth year as Dayton’s mayor. At Wednesday’s State of the City Address, he said the city has good things coming its way.
“Dayton is hot right now. And when you talk to business leaders, you talk to those who are standing on the sidelines, got millions of dollars in their hands and in their pockets, and I want it out of their pockets into ours,” he said.
Some of the city's 2024 growth that Mims highlighted in his address included the arrival of companies like the Sierra Nevada Corporation and Diné Development Corporation, revitalization projects in various Dayton neighborhoods, 28 new businesses and over 300 housing units downtown.
Mims said the city has seen some positive trends in the job growth: the OnMain project alone is set to bring 2,000 more jobs.
There are three jobs for every young person in the city, so he said he also hopes to increase job readiness for Dayton’s youth.
“If we get more and more of our young people to go to school every day on time, learn how to lead, learn how to be involved in that process, and then in turn. When they graduate, they're able to go to school, college, to the military, going to tech school or any one of those combinations. That's what we need,” said Mims.
But the city has also seen a stark increase in the number of violent crimes in 2024 with 44 homicides reported that year — up nearly 50% from 2023.
That’s why Mims also discussed Dayton's Peace Campaign, which was announced last month.
The goal of the campaign is to find the root causes of violence in the city, invest in youth development and create safe spaces for Dayton’s community.
Getting feedback from residents on what they need to feel safe will be instrumental to the campaign, Mims said.
“You want yourself, your friends, your neighbors, your offspring, you want them to feel like they're capable of going anywhere in the city, and feeling like they're safe,” he said.
The city will be working with Cure Violence Global, an organization that helps communities implement violence prevention programs.
