Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Carla Baldwin filed her paperwork to run for re-election in the May primary. Baldwin's current term expires at the end of this year.

She was elected back in 2017 as the first African American female judge in Mahoning County and she tells 21 News the main focus of her career as a judge is caring for the people.

"What I saw were people. I didn't see case numbers, I saw people. I saw people who were hurting, I saw people whose emotions drove the decision making," said Judge Baldwin. "I'm proud of the help that we now offer this community and we look to do more in the future," she said.

Some of that help includes a drug court program that assists those with substance use disorders get rehabilitated.

"We've, I believe, secured over a million dollars in funding for both our veterans treatment court and drug court that I'm proud to preside over, in addition to my regular docket," said Baldwin. "We have revamped how we do bail and bond in our court, working hard not to penalize individuals who are not guilty, by incarcerating them, because they can't afford to make bond. That has been life changing for many individuals who have not been able to maintain home, employment and custody of their children," she said.

Though Baldwin has accomplished several initiatives in her time as judge, she tells 21 News the work is still not complete. Baldwin's focus now is refining those programs to the city.

"What we'll be doing is looking at every single process that we use to make sure that it's not only working effectively for the system actors, being the judges and the attorneys and those employed by the court, but are they effective for system users," Baldwin said.