Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt once sagely said, “It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”

If one believes in the wisdom of Mrs. Roosevelt’s words — and everyone should — then Youngstown and, to a lesser extent, Warren have their work cut out for them as the long hot summer of 2025 approaches.

Violence in neighborhoods and on the streets have long run rampant in Youngstown, where the murder rate continues to rank more than four times the national average of six per 100,000 population per year. In Warren, an emergency city council meeting last week focused on finding solutions to reported upticks in gun and youth crime in several frightened neighborhoods.

Restoring and maintaining peace and calm in the Mahoning Valley’s largest urban centers must become a paramount priority, particularly during the upcoming months of late spring and summer when schools are out and angered temperaments rise with the temperature,

But thanks to a strong alliance among law enforcement institutions on local, state and federal levels, Youngstown appears off to a great start.

Just last week, representatives of the Youngstown Police Department, Ohio State Highway Patrol, FBI and its task force, Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Marshals Service, Ohio Adult Parole Authority and the Ohio Investigative Unit unveiled plans for Project Impact.

That partnership initiative enters its fifth year this spring with a proven track record of success. For example, since that seasonal crackdown began in 2021, the number of murders in the city has decreased by a whopping 35%. Mayor Jamael Tito Brown credits Project Impact and its beefed up anti-crime resources and strategies for that significant improvement.

And why shouldn’t he? The teamwork and strength in numbers these committed state, local and federal crime fighters wield and their robust arsenal of resources have each year lessened the bloodshed and toll of violence wrought by gangbangers and other criminal elements in the city. Through robust saturation patrols, targeting of high-crime neighborhoods, surveillance from the sky and crackdowns on drug- and gun-related activity, Project Impact has definitely exacted a positive impact.

We wish all participants in the initiative even more success throughout the coming months in Youngstown. And even though violent crime rates are lower in Warren, city leaders scratching their heads to lessen gun violence there should seriously consider implementing a downsized model of the multi-agency teamwork approach at work in the larger city to the south.

In both cities, however, arrests alone cannot thoroughly cleanse urban streets of all serious criminal activity.

Others must play critical cooperative roles as well. We therefore look for ongoing and enhanced cooperation among police agencies, task forces on violent crime, the judicial system, social-service agencies and others. Youngstown’s Community Initiative to Reduce Violence under the potent leadership of Guy Burney has established a commendable track record of intensive interactions with vulnerable young people to steer them toward the straight and narrow.

Parents, family members, neighbors and eyewitnesses to violent crimes have roles to play as well. Too often, their silence stymies investigations into who bears ultimate responsibility for the assault, the rape or the murder that stains their neighborhood. Stunningly, just earlier this month, Youngstown police investigating the shooting death of a 3-year-old boy on Pointview Avenue repeatedly reported that police were severely hampered by the total lack of cooperation among people who likely were inside the home at the time of the tragedy.

Of course, in thug culture, the old saying goes, “Snitches get stitches.” But the painful truth is when witnesses swear allegiance to that misguided code, they actually become accessories to that crime and every additional crime the culprit may commit. They essentially aid and abet, giving the hoodlum a get-out-of-jail-free card.

For the strategy of teamwork upon which Project Impact is predicated, part of the team must include the public. Otherwise, the worthy initiative’s mission will fall short of its promising potential.

We’re nonetheless confident that Project Impact again will meet and exceed its potential this summer in reducing random gunfire and malicious mayhem on the meanest streets of Youngstown. Similar zero-tolerance ventures in Warren can go far toward keeping neighborhoods there safer and more secure.

By marshaling all available anti-crime resources and by attracting maximum public support for them, we’re confident that this summer’s offensive can staunch the violence, increase public safety and cleanse the soiled image urban killing fields create.