By Fletcher Word
The Truth Editor
During a press conference last Thursday at the Catholic Club, HOPE Toledo and Huntington Bank announced a contribution from the bank to the education group in order to continue the work of offering high-quality early childhood education through HOPE Toledo Pre-K programs.
“We are thrilled to receive this investment in our work to ensure every child and young person has access to an equitable education,” said Rev. John Jones, CEO and president of HOPE Toledo. “The confidence and support of a leading institution entity like Huntington is invaluable as we continue to expend our programs and services to those in need in out community.”
HOPE Toledo was formed almost five years ago in an effort to fund Scott High School graduates’ goals of attending college or other post-secondary education or training. Three years ago, HOPE Toledo became involved with pre-k education working with 20 existing day care centers to boost their education offerings. The HOPE Toledo Pre-K program reaches 800 four year olds currently.
A good deal of the funding for the program has come from city funds received though the American Rescue Plan Act, part of the COVID relief plan, that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden in March 2021. Toledo was able to grant HOPE Toledo $2.5 million for the pre-k program but those funds had to be doled out by the end of 2024, said Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz during the press conference.
“Hope Toledo is at a really critical juncture,” said Kapszukiewicz, who is also on the HOPE Toledo board, while also pointing out how very necessary the pre-k program has been.
“Three years ago when we began this process, Toledo was the only big city in Ohio, the only city of any size, that did not [offer] access to universal pre-k to four year olds. As a result Toledo is behind other cities in our rankings and stats on education.”
While the mayor and Jones recognized the progress the city has made, they both also recognized that “we are not there yet.”
Now that the government funds are drying up, other sources are necessary to continue the programs and expand it so that an additional 1,200 four-year-olds can be included to assist Toledo in achieving universal pre-k access status.
The Huntington loan is the first step to engaging the community and leveraging that gift into multiple gifts that will replace the expiring government funding.
“We are talking long-term sustainable funds,” said Jones of the task ahead. “This interim step … hopefully will spur additional resources from our corporate community – I know they understand why this is so critical. The success of our community hinges on the educational achievement of our children and our families.”
“Huntington is honored to support HOPE Toledo because their work aligns with our focus on fostering economic equality in under-resourced communities,” said Eric Heintschel, Huntington’s market president in Toledo. “When we talked to John [Jones] about what they are doing, starting at the pre-k foundation, it was important to us to participate in a meaningful way.”
But as both the mayor and Jones emphasized, the Huntington funds are only the first step in getting back to the funding level the organization had before the ARP funds ran out. The funding is needed, said Jones, for “overall operations – program dollars.” HOPE Toledo’s administrative costs are only about 7.5 percent of overall costs, he noted.
Funding primarily goes to supporting children and their families in accessing the program – tuition and scholarships; supporting teachers to ensure they have the wages and benefits to commensurate with their talents and credentials and supporting the high-quality material necessary to maintain the program.
HOPE Toledo, through HOPE Toledo Pre-K and HOPE Toledo Promise is striving to establish a cradle-to career education approach that will enable the region to have a stronger, more educated workforce.