MANSFIELD — In times of adversity and stress, advice to “stay positive” can seem flippant at best and insensitive at worst. However, it turns out positive thinking can be a powerful psychological force. It’s why Mansfield City Schools Superintendent Stan Jefferson believes strongly in leading with hope. “When individuals have hope, they have high levels […]
Shots Fired: Understanding Gun Violence in Mansfield
This series focuses on gun violence and possible ideas to address this issue in Mansfield.
Posted inSolutions
Fighting Together: A community strategy to end gun violence
MANSFIELD — Gun violence is not just a problem in Mansfield, it’s one of America’s most prevalent issues. According to the website www.teamenough.org, 316 people are shot daily across the country in instances of murder, assault, suicides, attempted suicides, and unintentional shootings. Of those shootings, 106 end in death. Like Mansfield, a number communities are […]
Posted inNews
Providing A Blueprint: Muskegon Heights, Mich. takes aim at gun violence
MANSFIELD — Malon Samuel hardly recognizes the city of his childhood. The 2014 Mansfield Senior graduate knows his hometown can do better. Samuel is an advisor for G.E.A.R UP, Mansfield City Schools’ early intervention program designed to provide support and resources to the district’s low-income students. He has witnessed the the devastating effects the growing […]
Posted inSolutions
No easy answers: Mansfield officials seek solutions to gun violence
MANSFIELD — Ryan Grimshaw works the front lines in the battle against gun violence. The 39-year-old Grimshaw, a sergeant now in his 16th year as a Mansfield police officer, sees it face-to-face in his work on patrol and now as the leader of the department’s new Community Action Team. He has looked into the eyes […]
Posted inSolutions
Where does violence begin? Finding the smoking gun
MANSFIELD — When Jim Kulig came to Mansfield in 1968, his first job was as a casework supervisor in the youth dormitory of the Ohio State Reformatory, which housed around 200 young men ages 16 to 19. That’s where he met Sid. At 19 years old, Sid had already been in prison for three years […]
Posted inNews
Mansfield pastor sees community’s gun violence grief up close
MANSFIELD — Many have referred to Pastor Mark Cobb as the “Face of Grief” among Black youth and families in the Mansfield community. He’s been the primary eulogist in what he assumes are the majority of funerals for Black youth between the ages of 15 and 35 in the city. So it’s understandable why such […]
Posted inNews
Sanderfer’s death epitomizes tragic toll of local gun violence
MANSFIELD — Antonio Sanderfer Jr. had kind eyes and the type of soft smile that immediately put people at ease. He was quiet and warm and a friend to most everyone he met. A 2014 Mansfield Senior High School graduate, Sanderfer was found shot to death inside his Newman Street home in August of 2022. […]
Posted inNews
Mansfield confronts alarming spike in gun violence
MANSFIELD — The teenage boy looked at Richland County Juvenile Court Judge Steve McKinley without blinking. He told the judge he was going to keep carrying a gun when he was back on the city’s streets. The teen didn’t care what penalty the judge may impose — including being sent away to the Ohio Department […]
Posted inNews
Gun violence: ‘It’s happening in the same places among the same people’
MANSFIELD — Deanna West-Torrence doesn’t flinch when asked if shots fired in Mansfield today come from guns that community disinvestment in the north end helped to load more than a decade ago. The founder and executive director of the North End Community Improvement Collaborative said she doesn’t know why more is not being done to […]