Englewood residents lead brownfield transformation
Strong neighborhoods are the foundation of thriving communities. They're where children play safely, where small businesses take root, where neighbors know each other's names. In both urban cores and rural towns across northwest Ohio, vibrant neighborhoods drive economic development, create a sense of belonging and determine whether families choose to stay or leave.
But when neighborhoods decline — when abandoned buildings become eyesores, when residents aren't connected — entire communities suffer. The exodus that often follows drains tax bases, closes schools and breaks the social fabric that holds us together.
This is why neighborhood revitalization matters, and why resident-led transformation — not top-down solutions — creates lasting change.
For decades, the abandoned Doehler-Jarvis plant has loomed over the Englewood community — a contaminated reminder of industrial decline in a neighborhood that's lost half its population since 2010. But momentum is building. Through Reinvest Toledo's Englewood-Doehler-Jarvis Revitalization Initiative, residents are claiming their seat at the table and leading the transformation themselves.
"Englewood has been losing for so long," says Crystal Taylor, project coordinator for the Doehler Jarvis Visionaries cohort. "It is nice to see community collaboration and people gaining power and their advocacy voice. It feels like there's a change coming."
That change is intentional. Reinvest Toledo, a coalition of neighborhood groups and institutional partners, created the Visionaries program to transform residents into informed, skilled advocates for their own communities.
Executive Director Amelia Gibbon partnered with Englewood resident Tina Hall to recruit neighbors with deep roots in the community. Hall identified a dozen potential leaders who could envision a different future for the blighted site.
"I am encouraged," Hall says, "that we as a group will be able to do something with Doehler-Jarvis so that it is not an eyesore in our community anymore."
The cohort includes people like Danny Hughes, a two-year Reinvest Toledo member; Monica Edwards, who grew up in Englewood in the late 1960s; and Charles Strong, whose family has worshipped in the neighborhood for more than 30 years.
Together, they're learning skills that will outlast any single project.
"The skill set that these neighbors are gathering is going to be transferable to other projects in the community. These are educated, informed servant leaders." — Amelia Gibbon, Executive Director, Reinvest Toledo
For Sharon Crawford, the work is personal: "I am so happy to work with the group I'm working with to improve and restore my history."
In Englewood, history isn't being abandoned. It's being reclaimed — one empowered resident at a time.
Watch the full story below.