COLUMBUS, Ohio — The state's biggest cities are seeing their violent crime numbers headed in the right direction.

What You Need To Know

• Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children is restructuring its mission, as it tries to bring Columbus’ annual homicides back to double digits


• The anti-violence group has a new initiative called Mall Walks, where they’ll go out to places not commonly affected by violence and engage with people


• Joshua Martinez and a few other middle school students at Champion Middle School helped Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children make shirts for the Mall Walks

Both Columbus and Cleveland saw a sharp decrease in homicides last year—compared to 2023—while Cincinnati’s numbers stayed about even, but even with the progress, there’s more work to be done.

That’s why one group is restructuring its mission as they try to bring Columbus’ annual homicides back down to the double digits.

Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children has launched a new initiative called Mall Walks, where they’ll go out to places not commonly affected by violence and engage with people.

Founder of Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children, Malissa Thomas-St. Clair, said that’s crucial if they want to bring Columbus’ violence down.

“We're trying to silently push our mission to people who wouldn't typically have to worry about violence because we need their support too,” she said. “This is an everybody issue, even if you don't have a neighborhood where typically people are shooting or robbing, you still have an opportunity to support.”

Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children will all be dressed in uniform for their first Mall Walk, wearing shirts they designed.

Joshua Martinez and a few other middle school students at Champion Middle School helped Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children make the shirts.

“Let it be known the kids doing these things isn’t okay,” Martinez said.

Thomas-St. Clair said it’s important to get the youth involved.

“Middle school is that year where they're trying to identify who they are,” she said. “This is the age where they're going to go left or right, right? They're going to either involve themselves in decision making, which could result in crime or violence or doing drugs, or they're going to be involved in something like this, keeping them off the streets, keeping them engaged with like-minded youth and mentors back, and really steer them right back.”

It’s also giving kids like Martinez a chance to make a difference, even in the form of a t-shirt.

“If I can turn my life around,” Martinez said, “then what kids are doing, they can turn those around, they can stop smoking and they can stop doing this stuff that is like impacting their life negatively.”