Akron Mayor Shammas Malik announced more steps to tackle gun violence and increase trust in policing during his 2025 State of the City address Tuesday at Lock 3 in Akron.
Although shooting and homicides in the city are trending down, public safety is still a top priority, Malik said. This fall, the city will launch a hospital-linked violence interruption program to meet victims of gun violence in the hospital to interrupt cycles of violence, he said. Summa Health and Cleveland Clinic Akron General have already signed onto the project, he said.
"The comprehensive approach led by our police department's efforts, adding in our community based street team, our hospital partners and support for victims, is our way of tackling the underlying root causes of issues and seeking to reduce gun violence deaths," Malik said. "Again, not just in the short term but for years to come."
The Akron Police Department has developed a comprehensive community engagement plan, Malik said.
"This plan includes more foot and bike patrols and interacting more with our youth in order to build positive relationships with the communities we all serve," he said.
The department already has a community relations unit and a community engagement team, Malik said in an interview with Ideastream Public Media, but this plan explores how every unit in the department can engage with the community.
Malik's administration is currently working with city council to pass legislation for a comprehensive review of the police department's use of force policy, he said, which he's been calling for since last year.
He's proposing the city put out a request for proposals to find and hire a consultant for the review, with a $350,000 price tag. Council previously rejected Malik's $640,000 plan to hire a national firm for the review.
New programs
Malik is also planning to introduce legislation for a three year right to counsel program later this month, he said, which will provide legal representation to people facing eviction.
"Our amazing neighborhoods need more neighbors in them," he said.
Malik announced the city will create a climate action plan starting this year, fully funded by Bloomberg American Sustainable Cities, he said.
"This process will take 12 to 15 months, and it would typically cost around $200,000," he said. "And thanks to Bloomberg Philanthropies it will cost us nothing."
You can watch the mayor's entire speech above. Live web stream of the mayor's state of the city speech was provided by Ideastream Public Media in partnership with the Akron Roundtable, PBS Western Reserve and The University of Akron.
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Malik said he plans to target another of his long-term goals, universal pre-k, through phase one of a pilot program launching this fall that will test strategies to improve quality of childcare, increase access and support providers.
"We're going to work with providers to align services, to go beyond the minimum state standards, to include wraparound supports for families, to create sustainability for small businesses and stability for a workforce that is too often undervalued," Malik said.
Economic development
In his 2024 State of the City address, Malik announced plans to launch a Downtown community development corporation. In January that group was created, and now, it's hired its first executive director: Christopher Hardesty. Hardesty most recently served as Director of Economic Development in Canton, Malik said.
The new CDC is helping the city bring new businesses, jobs and residents to Downtown Akron, he said. One of its main goals is to add 1,200 new residential units by 2030, primarily through renovating existing structures, he said.
"Within weeks, the city intends to finalize the sale of the CitiCenter building next to City Hall," Malik said. "That, combined with the Philadelphia Rubber Works project on the south end of Downtown near Bartges, will create more than 200 units towards our 1,200 unit goal."
The PNC building has also been sold recently, and the new owner has plans to attract new tenants, he said.
Federal funding in flux
Malik noted that his office is continuing to monitor $10 million in federal funding for the city's Innerbelt project, he said. That funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Reconnecting Communities Pilot Project is now under review by the Trump administration.
"We continue to advocate each and every single day to keep the $10 million that we were awarded last December," he said, "but whichever way that goes, we have to have the plan for what the development looks like for that $10 million and far beyond it."
Regardless, the city will have a master plan with actionable recommendations on how to develop the Innerbelt by the fall, Malik said.
Malik is also working to limit the city's debt spending, he said. However, federal funding makes up 10% of the city's budget, so more cuts from the Trump administration could have a big impact, he said.
"The bottom line is that in the months and year ahead our community will be faced with difficult decision about what we can afford and what we can prioritize," he said. "We may have to make significant cuts. We may have to consider new ways to find revenue."
At least for this budget year, Akron's Community Development Block Grant and home funds that come through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development look stable at this point, Malik said.
