2026 State of the City
Published on March 10, 2026
Good evening, Columbus. Thank you all for joining us tonight.
Before we begin, let’s give another round of applause to the young people who got this evening started: the Harmony Project’s Student Arts Program … DeMeeshia Marshall… the Fort Hayes Air Force Junior R-O-T-C Color Guard…. and Michael Thompson.
I also want to thank the many elected officials from the city, county and region for being here, along with our city employees, community partners, labor and faith leaders and neighborhood . Thank you for taking the time to show up, sit in community and talk about the future of the city we all call home.
Welcome to the 2026 State of the City.
We’re here at the home of the Harmony Project, and we chose this location tonight for a reason.
This space is a physical manifestation of public-private collaboration. It’s a testament to what happens when we invest in connection, not just revitalization.
Tonight, as we talk about the successes we’ve achieved and the challenges we face, you’ll notice we are sitting at round tables, not in rows of chairs.
That’s because we’re going to face the future together, facing one another.
You might have also noticed the extra place setting at your table this evening.
This is a family tradition from my grandmother…she would always leave a place for one more person to join the dinner table, because you never knew who may wish to join you for some comfort and connection.
Tonight, may the extra place settings at each of your tables remind you that we live in a growing and welcoming city where we share responsibility to make sure there’s always room for one more.
The state of our city is strong.
But it’s also a challenging time in America and a consequential moment for Columbus.
Many of us feel anxiety and uncertainty. When our phones light up with yet another notification, it can make us want to pull away instead of pushing forward.
And at the very moment we need connection most, social media has us shaking a fist instead of waving hello. Sadly, negativity gets more clicks than thoughtful conversations that respect differing opinions.
As we strive to live up to the “Opportunity City” name, we must listen to each other, find compromises and pursue solutions that create success for everyone.
So tonight, let’s face the world together.
Here in Columbus, our power rests in our belief in one another. When times are tough, we rely on each other as we push past the obstacles in our common path.
I learned that at my own dinner table. I grew up in Columbus in a family that fostered 47 children.
Not every child who came into our home needed the same thing to succeed. But all of them needed our family’s love, safety and consistency represented by that extra place setting.
That experience taught me something fundamental about equity: fairness doesn’t require sameness. Equity is giving people what they need to thrive.
That family lesson and a memorable school experience created an important intellectual and emotional foundation for me.
As a child, I had dreams of playing in the NFL—but the greatest teacher I ever had pointed me down a different path. Ruth Hale changed the course of my life.
Ruth and her husband Frank Hale, Jr. were active civil rights leaders and legendary in Columbus for their impact. So, it makes sense that inside her fourth-grade classroom at Brentnell Elementary, Mrs. Hale demanded greatness, even from 10-year-olds.
She regularly assigned book reports, and the one I wrote about Bobby Kennedy opened my eyes.
His story of lifting up overlooked and underserved people showed me that public service really can change lives.
Those lessons on equity – taught both at home and in the classroom – have remained with me through every chapter of my public service career; from challenges at the board of education…to City Council’s struggles navigating the financial crisis…to leading this city through moments of grief, unrest and recovery.
Based on what the people of Columbus have taught me, I believe we are living in the city’s most consequential decade of the next century.
This is the decade that will determine whether growth divides us, or if we pull up another chair. The choices we make now—about safety, housing, opportunity, and how we treat one another—will shape Columbus for generations to come.
We are a community blessed with resources. This year, we have the biggest operating budget in the city’s history. However, rising costs mean our dollars won’t stretch as far as they used to.
But that doesn’t mean we won’t succeed. As your mayor, I’m confident we will rise to the occasion.
My confidence is rooted in our people.
We opened this evening with a video highlighting some of the recent obstacles we overcame together. It’s a small sample of countless times the people of Columbus have met big challenges by lifting up their neighbors and refusing to give up on one another.
That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because your city shows up for you, and you show up for your city.
When Winter Storm Fern tested our ability to deliver essential services, city crews worked around-the-clock to meet the moment. They cleared streets, repaired frozen water mains, responded to emergencies and continued to collect residents’ trash.
And we didn’t do it alone. The city received assistance from Franklin County Engineer Adam Fowler, who sent more than 20 trucks and workers to clear our residential streets and haul snow out of downtown.
Let’s give it up for his office, and for our Columbus Snow Warriors and Water Warriors, who kept us safe and moving during that once-in-decades storm.
Safety is the most fundamental responsibility of city government.
In 2025, Columbus achieved something significant: we recorded the lowest number of homicides in nearly two decades, the fewest since 2007. And to put that in perspective, today, we have about 25 percent more people living here than we did in 2007.
That happened because this city is committed to a comprehensive approach to public safety.
We committed to a strategy that focuses on prevention, intervention and enforcement.
The results of this commitment are behind me, but these are not abstract statistics. They’re lives saved, families that remain intact and communities spared additional trauma.
There are many people to thank for this progress. But tonight, I want to recognize the women and men of the Columbus Division of Police and their leadership.
Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant has demonstrated what can happen when you combine a fresh perspective with an eagerness to collaborate with community and a willingness to stand by your people—as well as hold them accountable to high standards.
I am also excited to begin the next chapter of leadership in public safety as we conduct a national search for our next Fire Chief. I look forward to introducing a new chief to the community this year.
Many officers will also tell you that growing community collaboration is one of the many factors helping to drive violence down and case closures up.
That’s why tonight, I want to share with you the stories of several residents who have embraced our collective priorities and are doing the work—day in and day out—to make our city a safer, more prosperous place to live.
And even though violent crime has been on a decline, the rise in domestic and intimate partner violence still demands honesty, coordination and action.
That’s why last year, our Office of Violence Prevention increased its work convening our violence prevention ecosystem. The team brought new programming into schools, neighborhoods, youth detention centers and with those who need a second chance.
We launched the Safer Together 614 campaign and brought practical tools for de-escalation, healthy relationships and bystander intervention directly to the community.
Our Columbus Violence Reduction program offered individuals at the greatest risk of perpetuating gun violence with relationship-based interventions that sought to keep them active, safe and out of prison.
We’ve also learned the importance of responding to non-fatal shootings with the same gravity as homicides. This helps us not just solve but prevent future crimes.
Last year, we ivested in a pilot program in the Linden area, where our officers applied the same level of investigative expertise and urgency to non-fatal shootings as we bring to homicide cases.
Our 2025 citywide rate for solving non-fatal shootings is about 51 percent. In our pilot project, that rate is now nearly 92 percent.
That program works, and that’s why in 2026, we will expand it to an additional police zone in our city.
Violence prevention is not passive. It is intentional. And when we invest with purpose, lives are saved and more young people stay at the table and build a future.
In 2021, Devin Speaks arrived at Grant Hospital with life-threatening injuries after being stabbed in the eye.
Representatives from VOICE—a trauma-informed case management program for victims of violent crime—were able to connect with Devin at his bedside. They helped him get the support he needed to heal physically and emotionally.
Today, Devin works at a treatment facility, determined to give others the same second chance he received.
Devin, his sister Chastity and one of his strongest supporters, Thaddeus are here with us tonight. Let’s give it up for Devin for all of his hard work.
The VOICE program is just one example of how we’re growing trust between the community and those who work to keep it safe.
Back in December, that trust was tested when federal immigration enforcement activity intensified in Columbus without notice or communication.
Many of our neighbors were frightened. They were afraid to leave their homes, send their children to school or even call 9-1-1 in a crisis, for fear it could lead to immigration enforcement activity.
I want you to know that my executive order from 2017 remains in effect. It says we will not use city resources to do the federal government’s job.
Every city employee—including Columbus police officers, firefighters and 9-1-1 call-takers—are here to protect people and keep our city safe – not to act as federal immigration agents.
Your city government is committed to standing with all our residents to maintain the public trust we’ve worked so hard to build.
In 2026, we’ll invest more than 850-million-dollars in public safety. Residents expect us to use every penny to keep our community safe, and that is where our focus remains.
That’s why we’ve continued to expand our Alternative Crisis Response programming and resources each year since 2021. We want to make sure the right professionals respond at the right moment.
In 2026, the city will invest 8.8-million-dollars to continue to expand those programs.
This includes 1-million-dollars in new funding that will, for the first time in our history, equip the city with a team of five non-uniformed experts who will respond to calls for help related to mental and behavioral health crises.
This team of clinicians and social workers will leverage their professional expertise to engage these individuals and transition them into the appropriate level of care.
Recently, we received an email from the family of a young Columbus man who suffers from bipolar disorder. As his family was supporting him through a recent bout of mania, our CPD Right Response Unit was sent to his aid. Our Crisis Intervention Team was able to step in, de-escalate the situation and get him to the care that was right for him and his family.
Their thanks shows us what success looks like.
Neighbors, Columbus and the Central Ohio region are growing. People keep choosing this city as the place to build their lives. Reliable estimates show our regional population will grow to about 3 million people by 2050 as we continue to attract jobs, talent and investment.
Our job is to make sure our growth is dynamic and inclusive.
If we want to be a safe and prosperous city, we have to build enough housing both for newcomers and the families who have built Columbus for generations.
That means we must build 200,000 new housing units across the region over the next 10 years to keep our supply of housing in line with demand. Managing this balance well is our best shot at making our community affordable for everyone who wants to live here.
Tonight, I’m proud to say that the Regional Housing Coalition is off and running. It is designed to do what Columbus 2020 did for regional economic development two decades ago.
It will convene the private sector and regional jurisdictions so each can do its part to build the housing we need throughout Central Ohio.
For our part, I have pledged that Columbus will deliver half of our regional housing need—100,000 new homes.
The Regional Housing Coalition will support our partners across Central Ohio so they can deliver the other half.
These goals aren’t about bricks and sticks, developers and builders; it’s about creating options for every young person, family, empty-nester and senior to have an affordable place to call home in the neighborhood of their choice.
And tonight, I have good news to share. Last year’s housing permit data is in, and we’re projecting that construction of about 9,100 new homes was authorized in 2025. That’s a 50 percent increase over 2024 and the largest number of housing permits we’ve issued in 25 years.
We’re doing well as a region too. We estimate that the Columbus metro area started construction on more than 15,800 new homes for families last year; a 17 percent increase. This stands in strong contrast with our peer cities, where housing starts are flat or falling.
One of the drivers of our progress in Columbus is our Affordable Housing Bonds. In 2019 and 2022, voters approved bonds that totaled 250-million- dollars. So far, we’ve allocated or committed more than 200-million-dollars of that total, resulting in the creation or preservation of more than 7,000 affordable homes.
And we’re leveraging our dollars to make them work harder. Our 200-million-dollars also have unlocked nearly 1.5-billion-dollars in public and private funding to build affordable rental housing.
That includes income-qualified rental units and homeownership opportunities, as well as housing for individuals who have complex needs and require additional services and support.
We’ve also invested 7-million-dollars in emergency and critical home repairs for low-income homeowners, to help them remain stably housed.
These repair programs have helped people like Gloria, who moved into Argyle Park in 1977. A few years ago, her 30-year-old furnace began acting up and she thought she’d need to take out a loan to replace it. It was too much on her fixed income.
Instead, our Home Safe and Sound program replaced her furnace, upgraded her exterior electrical work and patched up her front porch – all at no cost to her, because she deserved a chance to age in place in the neighborhood that she helped build.
I’m incredibly grateful to say that in November, Columbus voters endorsed our progress once again by approving a third Affordable Housing Bond package—this time for 500-million-dollars. Because of this, Columbus will make one of the largest municipal bond investments in affordable housing in the country.
We spent months connecting with hundreds of people who have deep knowledge in this space. We listened to nonprofit housing developers, property managers and those who serve people experiencing homelessness. It guided us to identify the best ways to allocate these funds.
Here’s what we plan to do.
First, we’ll invest 150-million-dollars to build new affordable homes for low- and middle-income families. Residents of these new developments will spend no more than 30 percent of their income on a safe and stable place to call home.
Next, we’ll invest 125-million-dollars in housing stability, transforming our shelter system to better respond to individuals’ and families’ needs. We’ll build transitional and permanent supportive housing to help folks out of shelters and into a safe and stable home.
We’ll invest another 175-million-dollars to build housing that provides greater access to opportunity. That means acquiring land to build more affordable homes along the new LinkUS corridors and in desirable neighborhoods with access to jobs and amenities.
And there is 50-million-dollars for new, innovative programs that enable us to collaborate with the nonprofit and private sectors so we can expand the value of this incredible investment.
We’ll start making those investments in 2027, but we also are focused on the here and now.
The Zone In program is now in its second phase of modernizing our zoning code for the first time in 70 years. It will allow us to unlock our housing market with greater efficiency while maintaining high standards for development.
It will help us build up, not out. It will create walkable, vibrant neighborhoods where people want to live, work and build their families and their lives.
Zoning modernization is important because the faster we responsibly move housing from concept to completion, the more affordable our city becomes. It translates to lower rents, lower purchase prices and more people able to live in the neighborhood of their choice.
When we spoke with stakeholders about how to invest our bond dollars, one recurring theme was that demand is outpacing supply. The other theme we heard is that housing stability is just as important as housing creation.
Stories of residents who are being pushed to the brink of homelessness make our mission crystal clear.
But this is not the first time our community has faced a mandate for change. In 2009, during the Great Recession, this city chose to invest rather than retreat.
That discipline positioned us for growth. We established Columbus 2020 when the job market was soft and transformed downtown from a place people left at night, into a place where people love to live.
Doing the work now instead of later is the harder choice. But those decisions fueled our current success. Columbus is more resilient and our people are more prosperous today because we pushed forward yesterday, even when the future was uncertain.
By working together in this way, we created muscle memory. We gathered lessons we can use again. We learned how to stack hands to help those who are working hard and playing by the rules improve their own lives.
That requires us to make the same sacrifices that previous generations made for us.
Earlier tonight, you got to meet Michael Thompson as he led the Pledge of Allegiance. Michael’s been interning at the Rickenbacker Woods Foundation in Driving Park since 2023 and he’ll soon study engineering at Bowling Green State University.
Last year at the dedication of the new playground at Rickenbacker Woods, Michael told me that he wants to use the opportunities he’s been given to help empower the next generation of community leaders. I’m proud of this young man and his determination to help others.
In Columbus, we invest in helping people flourish.
Our Public Health Department tells us that our life expectancy in Columbus has rebounded to more than 76 years of age, back to where it was before the pandemic.
Last year, overdose deaths were below 400, down from a pandemic high of 805. That includes a 15 percent decrease from 2024 to 2025.
Since the city’s flavored tobacco ban took effect three years ago, smoking rates are at an all-time low of 11.2 percent.
Last year, Columbus Public Health partnered with Columbus City Schools, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Columbus Division of Fire to host our first Student Health Fair to provide almost 1,000 immunizations to 364 students.
And our Department of Public Service says that fatal traffic crashes are on the decline, thanks to Vision Zero. In 2021, we lost 74 adults and children to traffic crashes. We estimate that number dropped to 48 in 2025. Our goal is to get this number to zero by 2035, and keep it there.
To help people get ahead in 2025, we sponsored job training as well as re-entry programs that help people returning from incarceration rebuild their lives.
We invested more than 28-million-dollars in youth programs, providing nearly 70,000 opportunities for young people to access job training, learning support, recreation and safe places to belong.
In 2024, we announced our Economic Mobility Accelerator Program, which offers residents a 500- dollar monthly stipend to use at their discretion while they complete job training to advance their careers.
During my first term in office, I told you my top three priorities were “neighborhoods, neighborhoods, neighborhoods.”
That wasn’t a slogan. It was a promise.
In the last 10 years, we and our partners have invested nearly 765-million-dollars in Linden, the Hilltop and Eastland. These are neighborhoods that have experienced disinvestment for far too long.
When we committed to invest in these neighborhoods, we said we would create real pathways to opportunity. The data shows that commitment is making a difference.
We’re supporting new community development corporations like “LEDA” in Linden, Hilltop RISE and “EDGE” in Eastland.
We are expanding small business access to capital and revitalizing commercial corridors so neighborhood entrepreneurs can grow and hire locally.
We are investing in people. At the Hilltop Early Learning Center and the One Linden Schools Initiative, we are closing academic gaps, expanding workforce training and connecting families to health and behavioral services.
We do these things so children can succeed and adults can compete.
We’ve also made investments in the places where people come together.
In 2025, we opened the Fran Ryan Center for seniors.
We redesigned neighborhood parks and built new pickleball courts and adaptive sports facilities.
We completed the final piece of the 14-mile Olentangy Trail to make it easier for people to move through our city in something other than a car.
And we made sure families had places to cool off in the summer and stay warm in the winter.
Rebuilding physical spaces encourages prosperity. For example, the Linden Greenline will transform an unused rail line into a 58-acre connective spine for opportunity.
Bus Rapid Transit along West Broad will link the Hilltop to jobs across our region.
And in Eastland, the new Prosperity Center will bring health care, workforce support and neighborhood services under one roof.
Because when we invest in places where people belong, our streets, corridors and neighborhoods are stronger for it.
Through the Clean and Safe Corridors program introduced last year, we’re connecting with businesses and community stakeholders to identify ways to make our streets and sidewalks visibly cleaner and our neighborhoods safer.
And then we bring a strike-force of city resources to make it happen.
This program is boosted by our partnership with the Center for Employment Opportunities Columbus, a second-chance program specializing in providing work and support for individuals emerging from incarceration.
They multiplied our people-power and allowed us to respond more quickly to community concerns around illegal dumping, litter and overgrown brush.
Tonight, I am announcing our Clean and Safe Corridors program will continue in the same places where we spent time last year.
We also will expand to Long Street in the King–Lincoln neighborhood…
161 in Northland…
and Refugee Road on the Southeast side of town.
Our investments will be tailored to community needs.
In the King–Lincoln neighborhood, we’ll focus heavily on small-business grant support. And on 161 and Refugee Road, we will pair core services with storefront stabilization and safety improvements.
This program shows how we have been intentional about equitable opportunity here in our city.
That started shortly after I took office, when I appointed the most diverse cabinet in the city’s history to help drive my agenda forward. And then, we made a deliberate decision to elevate diversity, equity and inclusion into the Mayor’s Office.
When I became your mayor, about 8.4 percent of city contract funding went to minority- and woman-owned businesses. Thanks to the work of our Office of Diversity and Inclusion, in 2024, that number was 19.1 percent.
In 2026 we’re not pulling back; we are leaning in and expanding.
We’ll focus on equitable business growth and preparing more local businesses to bid for—and win—city contracts.
We also will concentrate on strategic innovation, pushing every city department to advance sustainability and equitable opportunity.
And our Office of Diversity and Inclusion now will embrace the work of Sustainable Columbus and enhance its goals of environmental justice.
Another one of my first decisions as mayor was to create the Columbus Women’s Commission along with my brilliant wife, Shannon.
The Commission has worked for a decade to advance pay equity, prevent evictions and help women get ahead in the workplace.
That work took on new ambition when Shannon and I announced last year that we want make Columbus the nation’s capital for girl’s and women’s sports. Just last week, we launched the brand “IgniteHER Columbus.”
IgniteHER Columbus is rooted in the belief that sports teaches courage, resilience and leadership. More than 90 percent of women in C-suite roles played sports as a youth; and companies led by women drive innovation through different perspectives and often out-perform their competitors.
IgniteHER Columbus seeks to create a pipeline of female athletes who take their lessons from the field to careers as entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders.
Two weeks ago, reporting from ESPN revealed that Columbus is vying to be the home of a new National Women’s Soccer League team.
This is a competition we can win. Our commitment to our Columbus Crew, Columbus Fury and Blue Jackets proves that Columbus fandoms are massive. And we’ve set the stage for greatness by successfully hosting championships in women’s soccer, golf, basketball, hockey, gymnastics, softball and more.
I support our bid because I want professional women’s sports to shine just as brightly as professional men’s teams in our city.
And I want every young girl in Columbus to see greatness in the women who will take to the pitch at Scotts Miracle-Gro Field. It will encourage them to lead on the field, in the classroom, in the boardroom and in our community well beyond their playing days.
What makes Columbus different is our robust culture of collaboration. We believe in partnership, regionalism and meeting challenges together.
We are not an “either/or” city—we are a “both/and” city. We reject false choices because growth and equity are not in competition. They strengthen one another.
In Columbus, we know investing in core services while striving for an equitable future can be done simultaneously.
We can invest in our police and pursue reform.
We can grow our economy while conserving the environment.
This city can support sports, human services and safety all at the same time.
Earlier tonight, we asked our in-person and virtual guests about the places where we need to invest, in order to foster prosperity for the coming century. I believe we can pursue all of these priorities if we adopt a mindset focused on growth, rather than scarcity.
Together we can create the city we all envision, because Columbus is a city worth working for.
I cannot promise everything will be easy. Many forces shaping our experiences are outside the control of local government.
But I take strength from one of my favorite poems, “On the Pulse of Morning” by Dr. Maya Angelou.
She reminds us that persistence and faith are not optional—they are required.
She writes, “But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully: Come, you may stand upon my back, and face your distant destiny. But seek no haven in my shadow.”
Here in Columbus, our power is in our belief in one other.
When times are tough, we don’t hide or give in to fear. We do the work to shape a tomorrow that is brighter for every single one of us.
In 2026, we will continue to drive down violent crime and expand violence prevention and intervention. We will implement housing investments at scale, strengthen neighborhoods and reform zoning. And we will invest to protect safety and stability.
Our programs are interwoven: Clean and Safe Corridors, LinkUS, Zone In, Vision Zero, affordable housing bonds and infrastructure growth are pieces of a larger vision.
It’s a vision that fosters equity and prosperity for every resident, in every neighborhood.
This is the Columbus we are building.
This decade will not define itself. We will define it with the discipline and compassion that will become our legacy.
Years from now, when people ask how Columbus became America’s Opportunity City, the answer will be simple:
We made deliberate choices.
We invested in our neighborhoods.
And we refused to leave anyone behind.
The future of Columbus is not something that happens to us. It is something we build together.
And it starts now.
Thank you for believing in this city.
Thank you for believing in one another.
And thank you for doing the work—together.
God bless Columbus, and God bless the United States of America.