Toledo Town Hall Meeting on Gun Violence on Saturday, April 17
By Dave Murray, TCC Web Editor
FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021 — Billed as a “Conversation with Commissioner JoJuan Armour,” a former NFL linebacker and now the city’s program manager for the Mayor’s Initiative to Reduce Gun Violence, a Town Hall Meeting on Gun Violence will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 17, at Scott High School.
With more fatal shootings involving young men of color each month in Toledo, this is the first in a series of community meetings “to strategize best practices in gun violence prevention,” with a focus on “communities of color,” according to a news release from the City of Toledo.
People may attend in person or virtually and are asked to register at:
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicaz announced in February the hiring of JoJuan Armour to lead the city’s initiative to reduce gun violence in Toledo. Mr. Armour, 44, grew up in Toledo’s central city neighborhoods, graduating from Central Catholic High School, where he was All-City first team as both a running back and linebacker his junior and senior year, and was Toledo City League player of the year as a senior in 1994.
He was a two-time Mid-American Conference defensive player of the year as a linebacker from Miami University, where he finished his collegiate career ranked 10th all-time at Miami with 396 total tackles, including 24 quarterback sacks, the third highest in Miami history.
Mr. Armour played 10 years as a professional football player, drafted in the 7th round in 1999 by the Oakland Raiders. Besides the Raiders, he players for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cincinnati Bengals before heading to the Canadian Football League, where he played for the BC Lions, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and the Calgary Stampeders.
After retiring from professional football, Mr. Armour was a defensive linesman coach for Whitmer High School and was a program manager for the urban Minority Alcohol and Drug Abuse Outreach Program in Lucas County.
“I really do think that we found someone who can lead our community through a brand new process,” Mayor Kapszukiewicz told The Blade when announcing Mr. Armour’s new post with the city. The city has allocated $400,000 for the violence prevention program Mr. Armour will lead, identifying three primary target areas fore his focus — the Junction neighborhood in Central Toledo, the Lagrange neighborhood in North Toledo, and the Garfield-Starr neighborhood in East Toledo.
Contact Dave Murray at davidmmurray1954@gmail.com
