TOLEDO- In November 2018, the CEO of Hope Toledo, John Jones, former mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, and the Social Determinants of Health team at Promedica Hospital sought to improve the accessibility of education for Toledo youth. In meeting rooms full of caring teachers, administrators, and public officials, the problem wasn’t a lack of attention to the cause; it was a lack of organization.
With the audacious goal of helping children from pre-kindergarten age to seniors in high school, Jones knew there needed to be a centralized organization where effort and funding could be allocated to each group.
“I went to my folks at Promedica and said, ‘Hey… Let’s get in the same room and let’s build something that we don’t see in the nation,’ said Jones.
And Hope Toledo was born, a nonprofit that ensures children’s access to education in the early years of their life, and an incentive to students who are looking to pursue post-secondary education.
One of these early incentives came via the Promise Scholarship Program—a full-tuition scholarship offered to the Start High School graduating classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022. Hope Toledo’s various partnerships funded this scholarship. However, with COVID-19 pausing higher education and the 2020 income tax levy failing to pass, Hope Toledo was forced to pivot their funding initiatives for both pre-kindergarten students and post-secondary students.
In the midst of this chaos, Promedica stepped in to support the pre-kindergarten side. However, the Promise Scholarship Fund could only be maintained until 2022.
“Even though the ballot measure didn’t pass, Promedica stepped up and said, ‘You know what? We want to see something fly here…’ They supported the first school year of pre-k classes with 10 providers, and we maintained that momentum to start the second year with 20 providers,” Jones stated.
Despite the financial hardships, Hope Toledo provided scholarships to 210 Start High School students and continues to provide pre-kindergarten education to approximately 1,100 students. In the 2025-2026 school year, Hope Toledo aims to provide education to an additional 500 children. While Hope Toledo has found success in their efforts, how can they stay afloat without more funding? Jones claims that they need help from the Toledo community to continue their work.
“No community — and I can say that, and I very rarely use absolute statements— no community does it at scale without public dollars. Private dollars, while wonderful, are just not enough to last in perpetuity, to fully fund the number of kids who need access to education. And that’s because of the cost,” Jones replied.
With the national average cost of pre-kindergarten in the U.S at $12,000 a year, Hope Toledo finds it difficult to find families who are willing to invest in their program. Although Hope Toledo provides income-based tuition assistance to families, the cost of living is too high for people to make the jump. How do you get families to invest in Hope Toledo, given that education seems unaffordable? According to Jones, you have to get people to understand that an investment in education at an early age is a long-term economic driver for the community.
“What Hope is trying to do over the last, particularly two years, I would say, almost three, is we’ve tried to change the narrative… I would much rather pay $15,000 now to support a community-wide effort to ensure children have access to early childhood education, which puts them on a positive trajectory. We as a community should want to pay $15,000 per kid as opposed to $60,000 to put them in juvenile detention.”
Who they have helped:
Julia Myers, Co-Executive Director of Toledo Day Nursery, said that Hope Toledo’s impact on her work has been invaluable.
“Hope Toledo has facilitated the sharing of resources among providers, enabling us to access materials previously unavailable to some. This has been instrumental in our efforts to prioritize universal prekindergarten and emphasize its importance now more than ever. The state funding has been a hot topic, and the changes it has brought to our programs have posed challenges… Many providers are still struggling to navigate these changes. However, Hope Toledo has provided us with a platform where our voices can be heard.”
Camille Harris, owner and operator of All 4 Kids LLC and All 4 Kids 2, notes that Hope Toledo has provided children with educational opportunities that were not available before their partnership.
“We now have better outreach to the community, and we have a better relationship with Toledo Public Schools. I struggled with that for nine years before Hope Toledo.”
However, Harris emphasizes that the community cannot stop advocating for more funding toward education.
“We need extra dollars from the county and the city to make this cohesive.” Read more about Hope Toledo’s mission here.
