CLEVELAND — "Without substantive and sustainable institutional changes, we will never become a great city."
Those were the words of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson during his annual State of the City address, which was held virtually Thursday night.
"We will never create communities where all people can thrive and share in quality of life and prosperity," he continued. "The question is do we have the will and courage to become a great city?"
Now, less than 24 hours later, Mayor Jackson is hosting a virtual press conference to answer any questions related to his State of the City speech.
During the Q&A session, Mayor Jackson discussed a campaign against the Cleveland Metropolitan School District levy.
“It is a by a group outside of Cleveland," he said. "How they get their money and where that money comes from I’m not aware of. I believe it’s probably the same type of operation that you would probably see happen with that House Bill 6 around that dark money. I would think that there are people who would be able to contribute to things like this and not have their hands shown. It’s wrong. Recognize the fact that education is the key -- not only to the success of individuals -- but to families and communities. It is key to the success of the economic vitality of this city. It’s key.”
We streamed his Q&A session Friday morning, which you can watch in full below:
Poverty was also a focal point of Mayor Jackson's speech after reports surfaced last month that Cleveland is now considered the poorest large city in the country, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
You can watch Mayor Jackson's entire State of the City address in the player below:
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