DAYTON, Ohio — After a year of boosting economic development, investing millions of dollars into new infrastructure and workforce growth, the city of Dayton is ready to carve a new path for the future.

In a packed auditorium, Daytonians learned first hand about what leaders checked off the to-do list in 2024 and what’s to come in the year ahead.

New housing developments, home and infrastructure improvements, road re-pavement and removal of blighted structures all took a front seat in 2024.

“We are now having international people look at us. Our homes are getting built. Our roads are now, like he said, the potholes are going to be fixed, but I see the work that’s going on,” said Dayton resident Terri Sims.

What’s also to come is a major investment in community safety and opening new doors for children and young adults.

Mayor Jeffrey Mims is putting education and helping students get to the next level at the top of the list.

Mims also announced the implementation of the Peace Campaign.

The new initiative will incorporate methods and strategies successfully used in other cities to promote hope and unity and cut down on violence, especially youth violence.

Specialists will work with the health department in different areas of the city.

“We will provide data from the police department and the support they need to make things happen from that perspective. Much of the work will be done by trained professions who will be down in the trenches and give us the work and we are going to continue to support that from the outside energy if you will,” Mims said.

“We are losing our children and we cannot afford that. We are getting old, we are moving on, that’s our heritage. So I’m very proud of him for concentrating specifically on the children,” said a Dayton resident who goes by the name “Mama."