We are the “Warbler capital of the world” right now as thousands of many species of warblers make their way through our region. The epicenter of the local experience is Magee Marsh Wildlife Area and nearby marshes, including Howard Marsh Metropark and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge.
As expert birders will tell you, the claim to be the best place to see warblers right now is not an exaggeration. It’s not just that they come through in huge numbers, it’s that their favorite place to stop, rest and refuel before their non-stop flight over Lake Erie is a small area with excellent access for birders. The Magee Marsh Bird Trail is the place to be if you want to see warblers.
The featured photo is of a hooded warbler, one of dozens of colorful warblers and other songbird species that will be coming through in the coming weeks. This particular warbler is, in my opinion, one of the best in terms of unusual and striking plumage and a very descriptive name.
The very best weeks to enjoy the spring songbird migration are upon us, and it’s a very special show with the colorful warblers as the stars. One of the favorites among the many species to marvel over is the hooded warbler. Its rich yellow plumage is capped by the unique black markings that give this beautiful bird its name.
One look and you’ll agree that the hooded warbler is one of the most descriptive names of any bird. It’s not only the colorfully unique appearance of this bird that creates the excitement. Even though it is relatively common through much of its range, that’s not the case at Magee where migrating hooded warblers are considered uncommon to rare. It happens to be a species that birders intent on seeing it will be more likely find it in the Oak Openings Region.
The truth is, we’re blessed with birding riches. Any natural area, backyard or neighborhood woodlot has the promise of hosting great birds right now. The best most accessible concentration will be at Magee, but the Metroparks Toledo, Toledo City parks, like Ottawa Park and Riverside, the Maumee River Valley, are all great possibilities.
But there are dozens of warbler species that will be here, some of them passing through and others that will stay and nest. Some are common here in migration, others are more elusive.
TOLEDO – Flags bearing the outline of an eagle’s head on a red background waved across Broadway St. was paired with chants to free Kilmar Abrego Garcia during the March & Rally for Immigration Reform, put on by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC).
Prompted by President Donald Trump’s aggressive approach to immigration, FLOC’s march on May Day, May 3, ended at Golden Rule Park in South Toledo, where a semicircle formed around a trailer hitched to a Ford F-150. Then the rally began.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz speaks during the March & Rally For Immigration Reform. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz prepares to speak during rally. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)
Garcia, an El Salvadoran living in the United States since 2012, has become a symbolic case for immigration in the United States.
More specifically, Garcia’s deportation without due process to Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT, a massive prison in El Salvador, has sparked national outrage. According to the 5th (federal level) and 14th (state level) Amendments, every person living in the United States, including undocumented immigrants, has a right to procedural due process.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered Trump to “facilitate” Garcia’s return, but without visible progress towards the court’s order, the future of immigration appears tenuous.
Short term resolutions
“This is not a new problem for us,” said Baldemar Velasquez, president of the FLOC, before the rally. It’s more prevalent now, because of Trump, but we’ve lived with this immigration threat our whole history.”
Ancillary speakers, like Lucas county commissioner Pete Gerken, spoke before Velasquez about short-term goals, and referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers as modern-day Gestapo agents.
“The hottest place in hell is for those, who in a great time of crisis, maintain their neutrality,” Gerken proclaimed, and launched into some practicalities.
“There will be no federal arrests on our grounds or in our buildings!” Gerken assured attendees, and promised he would pass a resolution saying as much. Next, Gerken offered to ascertain the specific charges associated with those “picked up” by ICE and moved to the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio (CCNO) in Stryker, Ohio, so all the detainees might have due process.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz spoke to the need for solidarity with migrants who had not been given due process by reciting Martin Niemöller’s poem about the Holocaust “First they came for…”
During the vote to allow ICE detainess at Styker, Lucas County Sheriff Mike Navarre said he will vote no on the contract that will allow ICE to access beds at the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio (CCNO) in Stryker, Ohio. (TFP Photo/Lori King)
Duringthe vote to allow ICE detainees at Stryker, Lucas County Sheriff Mike Navarre said of ICE’s actions, “We’re destroying families by deporting parents of children who are here legally. The federal government created this problem, and they have not offered a solution yet, and that’s what I’m waiting for.”
Long-term sustainability
Speaking to the crowd of about 450 people, Velasquez sought to bypass reactive approaches and pointed out the root of America’s immigration problems.
“The issue we need to address here is the issue of labor rights,” he said. “Nobody’s asking why these people are here in the first place.
“They’re fleeing this and fleeing that, but what’s that connected to? That’s connected to our foreign policy and our trade agreements. Workers have to be put in a position where they can negotiate their treatment, their wages and where they’re working to avoid exploitation.”
FLOC handed out flyers with four main points calling for:
Amnesty for immigrant workers
Sustainable trade agreements, so people could “support their families without needing to leave their country”
Expanded worker rights for immigrant workers on H-2A and H-2B visas
An expanded immigration judicial system to meet the needs of processing immigrants
FLOC and agreements
Across states, across employers and borders, the FLOC has helped agricultural workers by providing protections to associate members.
Marie Curly, 75, Point Place, holds a sign that lists organizations and administrations that need protection. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)
“When we organize a group of workers that don’t have collective bargaining agreements, we allow them to be associate members. They can come from any type of work: agriculture, construction, roofing, restaurants.
“We have a referral system; if they need an attorney for this and that, in particular if somebody got cheated for not getting paid by a restaurant or something like that, we’ll intervene for them, and act as an advocate for them.”
Velasquez explained a large sticking point for farmworkers is that “we’re excluded from the National Labor Relations Act.” As per the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, agricultural workers do not have the same protections as others do, so the FLOC fills in where it can as an organizing committee instead of a full-fledged union.
“We want labor rights for agriculture. We want mechanisms to be able to have freedom of association, the right to form unions,” Velasquez said.
Chained to supply
The FLOC’s first major campaign started in 1978 when Velasquez organized a boycott and strike of Campbell’s Soup Co., and then implemented their plans in 1979.
“We compelled the company to implement a mechanism for collective bargaining within their supply chain,” Velasquez said when asked about how they were able to get better rights for workers in spite of the government not recognizing their right to organize.
“They [Campbell’s Soup Co] designed this production system. They can design it with labor rights, voluntarily and unilaterally.
Why wait for a law to make you do it?”
Eventually the campaign was a victory, but the strike and boycott took eight years, ending in 1986 with a historic three-way labor deal between the FLOC, representing workers, and then growers and farms that supply to Campbell’s, and, finally, Campbell’s Soup Co.
“You got to include the whole supply chain,” Velasquez said.
Derek Wilmott, of Toledo Persists and Toledo Trouble Makers, works as security during the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) March & Rally. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)
Negotiations alone took about two years to formalize, but by the end of the finalized agreement, farm workers bypassed the need for the government to step in.
“They could take their family to the best doctor, best hospital, best clinic, wherever they wanted, instead of standing in line for handouts from the government,” Velasquez said. “They’re making beggars of our people by creating all these social service programs.
“Hey, if we had a fair day’s pay, we’ll pay for our own food, pay for our own stuff.”
Other major campaigns by the FLOC include Mt. Olive Pickle Boycott (1999-2004) and their current campaign against Reynolds American Tobacco, which Velasquez said was waylaid by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
The FLOC has also been successful in making formal agreements with local law enforcement beginning in 2017, when the Black & Brown Unity Coalition (BBUC), the civil rights arm of the FLOC, signed a code of conduct between its members and the Toledo Police Department (TPD).
More recently, in February, the FLOC made a deal with the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office, and signed a code of conduct. These steps are seen as peaceful steps toward police reform across Northwest Ohio.
Punching up
“This is a critical moment for our nation,” said Marcy Kaptur, the longest serving female member of the United States House of Representatives for Ohio’s 9th District, following Velasquez’s words and matching the red flags with a red coat.
“Most of us here, if it were 1789, we would not be citizens of our country,” Kaptur said, likely referencing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the law Trump has been using to deport immigrants without due process.
“It took until 1920 for women to be afforded the right to vote…and it took a war in 1865 under President Lincoln to free the slaves. There’s a lot of history here for protecting and fighting for those who work, and work under very terrible, terrible conditions.”
Baldemar Velasquez, president of FLOC, and Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur speak with participants in the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) March & Rally For Immigration Reform. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)
Kaptur started off by saying she opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) when it was drafted under George H.W. Bush, and then passed under Bill Clinton. “When we voted on NAFTA, we tried to get a ‘no’ vote, and we knew the people who did this have made so much money because they play off penny-wage labor.
“We’re being led by very selfish, highly wealthy people who have no idea about what your family has done in this country and what you have done to survive.”
In the middle of speaking about the conditions of migrant workers in North Carolina, where many associate FLOC members are located, a member of the crowd disrupted Kaptur’s speech, asking why she had voted for theLaken Riley Act, passed in January, which lessens protections for immigrants and also allows states to sue the federal government for not being tough enough on the border.
An uproar from the crowd silenced the disruption, and Kaptur responded, “I can talk about those…” before the dissatisfaction of the crowd drowned out the questioner, and she said, “Must be on the other side.”
Continuing to speak to the bleak conditions she saw in the tobacco fields of North Carolina she resolved, “I am for the reformation of the National Labor Relations Act, to include agricultural labor, continentally,” which would mean Canada and Mexico would be allowed to organize their labor.
The action on Saturday afternoon marked one footnote in the decades-long resolution of the Farmer Labor Organizing Committee’s efforts for equity among agricultural workers.
“I was so proud of Marcy Kaptur, because she went with me to Monterrey [Mexico] and talked to the authorities in Nuevo León for a fair and honest investigation,” Velasquez said, detailing how one of FLOC’s organizers, Santiago Rafael Cruz, had been bound and beaten to death in 2007 inside a FLOC office in Mexico.
Baldemar Velasquez, the president of Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), speaks during the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) March & Rally For Immigration Reform at the Golden Rule Park in south Toledo, Ohio on Saturday May 3, 2025. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)
Velasquez was appreciative of the congresswoman, and said without her support, the FLOC would not have had a successful investigation of the murder through the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to give FLOC protective orders.
“We’ve been consistently targeted internally and externally, all over the place,” Velasquez said. “We continue to fight the naysayers and people who don’t get the understanding of the broader framework of how agriculture works and what’s the relationship with everybody.
“Immigrants are in a very vulnerable position, but that’s why we’re asking to reverse the dismantling of the immigration judicial system by expanding and hiring more adjudicators to uphold due process of refugees, societies, parolees and victims of crime.”
The number of FLOC members has dwindled in Ohio over the years, but has grown in North Carolina, where the collective bargaining membership has grown to about 90,000 members.
Velasquez said his next step is to hold similar rallies in other migrant communities where FLOC is more active.
“This is a really hard struggle,” Kaptur added. “And you have to ask yourself, ‘Are you up for it?’”
A crowd marches at the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) March & Rally For Immigration Reform in south Toledo, Ohio on Saturday May 3. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)
People listen to Baldemar Velasquez, the president of Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), speak during the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) March & Rally For Immigration Reform. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)
Deb Miles Kelly at work on her education platform, Life Ingredients, in her Whitehouse home. (TFP Photo/George Tanber)
Toledoan launches innovative education curriculum
WHITEHOUSE – In her 74th year, more than two decades after she left Toledo, Deb Miles Kelly is firmly bucking author Tom Wolfe’s adage You Can’t Go Home Again.
But, then, Kelly always has forged an independent, unconventional path.
In 2003, after ending a 30-year marriage that produced four children, she sold all of her possessions and departed the Toledo area. On foot.
In the heat of late summer, she walked to St. Louis, a distance of 469 miles. Along the way, Kelly’s quest and magnetic personality made her many friends. People opened their doors – and hearts – to the middle-aged wanderer.
Now, 22 years later, the most important lesson learned from the experience still resonates.
“Americans are the most kind and generous people,” she says. “I was never alone.”
We’re chatting in Kelly’s immaculate and beautifully designed 660-square-foot home. It sits on one acre across from Oak Openings Metropark. The home and adjacent five acres belong to her daughter and son-in-law, Jill and Jade Lipinski, who operate a landscaping and excavating business on the property.
Kelly, born and schooled in Toledo, lives only three miles from the considerably larger Monclova Township home where she raised her family. It’s been a full-circle journey spanning 21 years.
When Kelly left on her trek, which she dubbed Miles Across America, she intended to reach the Sierra Nevada town of Truckee, Calif., where her two sons lived. But the weather turned cold by the time she reached St. Louis, so Kelly traveled by air the rest of the way.
In Truckee, 12 miles northwest of Lake Tahoe, her life flourished in unforeseen ways.
Her sons, Bill and Kevin, started a house painting business. Their mother signed on as the marketing director. Her daughter, Erin, moved from Ohio to join the business as the color consultant.
Then, at Kelly’s invitation, her ex-husband and still best friend, Bill Kelly, in failing health from the chronic alcoholism that ended their marriage, arrived in 2005. He quit drinking the day he stepped off the plane. An astute businessman from his days running Kelly’s IGA Foodliner in South Toledo, Bill played a pivotal role in organizing the family business. He died five years later, in 2010, but his legacy was secure.
“He told me those were the best years of his life,” Kelly says, still amazed by Bill’s unexpected resurgence and his positive impact on her tight-knit family.
Aside from work, she grew close to her six grandchildren. Kelly attended all their sports and school events. They called her Shanti, which means “peace” in Sanskrit.
Meanwhile, an idea that had been percolating for years began to take shape. As a student of life, as she describes herself, Kelly witnessed the adverse impact of a chaotic, fast-paced world on school children. She tapped information from educators, technologists and marketers and came up with a platform she called Life Ingredients. The initial idea, she said, was to provide teachers – and parents – with a toolkit to instruct students to calm their minds. The hopeful result would be improved critical thinking and learning how to manage their lives.
Life Ingredients kept her busy, so Kelly retired from the family business at 65. She began traveling with her three best friends from Rogers High School and created a podcast called Rams Radio RH, in which she interviewed Rogers’ alums.
By 2023, Kelly, very much possessing an intuitive mindset, felt the tug of the road once again.
“I needed a change,” she says, looking back. “It was the same inspiration I had for Miles Across America.”
Other factors nudged her motivation to move on. Her grandchildren were older, diminishing their Shanti’s role in their lives. And her cozy apartment of 15 years, above her son Kevin’s house, was about to disappear as he was building a new home on the site.
So, on April 1, 2024, Kelly packed her framed art, a cherished soup pot, favorite books and little else into her 12-year-old Honda and headed east. Over the next five months she attended a retreat in Colorado and couch surfed with family and friends in Florida, Vancouver, British Columbia and Tennessee. Along the way, there was an unexplainable pull toward Lucas County.
“I had this feeling I needed to go home,” she says.
She arrived in September and moved into a Maumee apartment. Word spread among her many friends that Deb Kelly, the can-do girl, was back. That led to her recruitment as one of the organizers of a high school reunion. The combination of the lengthy road trip, reunion activities and subsequent holidays proved too much for the normally healthy Kelly.
“I got really sick in January,” she says.
Her undiagnosed illness lingered for weeks until her daughter Jill finally coaxed her into an urgent care visit. There, tests revealed a urinary tract infection. Antibiotics handled the illness but not her stubborn aversion to doctors.
“I believe the body can heal itself,” Kelly explains, reaffirming the unconventional thinking that has defined her life.
She moved into the Whitehouse home in February. That story involved another intuitive episode. Kelly had been looking at tiny house designs on the Internet and thinking such a place would be a perfect fit. A few months after she returned, Jill called and said, “Mom, we bought the property next to us. You can live in the house.”
Aside from a home and area she loves, Kelly has enjoyed growing closer to Jill, her husband and two grandchildren, Paxton, 19, and 14-year-old Piper. She admits to a contentious relationship with her eldest daughter in years past, but that situation has softened considerably.
“I overheard Jill tell her siblings one day, ‘I get Mom now for the rest of my life,'” Kelly says, clearly moved by those words. “I’m so proud of that girl.”
She explains that in addition to working with her husband, Jill will be opening a coffee shop called Wild Roots at Oak Openings this summer. The other Kelly children are crushing it, as well. The house painting shop started by her sons has turned into Kelly Brothers Painting, a multi-million-dollar business with more than 75 contract employees operating in three towns. Meanwhile, all four siblings are involved in a number of real estate ventures in multiple states. Kelly sits in on their monthly meetings, offering the occasional advice.
Over the course of an hour, we quickly bounced from one topic to the next. Her newest friend, a 4-year-old rescue dog named Ivy, became a welcome roommate four days earlier. She’s anxious for warmer weather so she can plant her herb garden. She just completed a 105-page photo book for her granddaughter Kailea’s 21st birthday. She’s promised each of the eight the same: That’s two down and six to go – three of them in 2026.
Whew! I’m exhausted.
Kelly possesses a level of infectious enthusiasm on her many areas of interest that can wear you out if you are unprepared. I asked her if she’s ever able to quiet her active mind. She responds with a single word: meditation.
“I’ve been practicing it most of my life,” she says.
That brought us back to Life Ingredients and her plan to grow the business. Kelly tested an early version of the program in a few Truckee-area schools with excellent results. Since then, she’s collaborated with an illustrator, Kelly Dillon, and produced eight children’s books, more than 150 instruction videos and eight short stories – all fee-based on the Life Ingredients website.
The target audience remains parents and teachers, who also benefit from the meditative aspect of the program. As a tribute to her grandchildren, her pseudonym for materials produced solely for children is Shanti.
Next up is a YouTube channel.
“I intend to do talks, sharing my material,” Kelly says. “That includes everything from stories, to cooking, art projects, planting a garden and meditating in nature.”
Final question: That’s a lot of work. Why?
Of course, Kelly had an answer.
“I have been thinking about what kind of legacy I can leave my grandchildren. I could leave them a few bucks in the bank and some china for their cabinet. But I don’t think it will really rock their world or the world at large. This might.”
Each generation experiences the world in a way unique to them, especially when it comes to mental health. For Gen Z (individuals born 1997-2012), there was no life without social media.
Imagine not knowing a time without constant comparisons, interruptions and social isolation. While it seems that connection is easier than ever — just a click or scroll away — in reality, the pressures of social media cause more disconnection and inauthenticity for Gen Z.
Jackie Van Zile. (Courtesy Photo/ProMedica)
At the same time, there are benefits to having more access to information than any previous generation. The opportunity to find like-minded individuals and stay up-to-date on world events leads to self-discovery and awareness. This puts Gen Z in the precarious predicament of being exposed to endless possibilities while simultaneously feeling disconnected on a personal level.
Liking, sharing and commenting are the new ways to establish connections with people, which can take away from face to face interactions.
“As a culture we are overstimulated. How many times a day are we interrupted?” asked Jackie Van Zile, a licensed professional clinical counselor who has worked with ProMedica for over six years.
Combined with the effects of Covid-19 during a pivotal time of development for most Gen Zs, the pressures of social media have left many with feelings of isolation, depression and anxiety.
“My peers struggle with anxiety a lot,” said Ashley Riccardi, 23, a communications coordinator at Anne Grady Services. “Being so young and going through so many major historical events…I graduated high school during Covid-19.”
Continuous exposure to unrealistic expectations is an added pressure that previous generations may not fully understand.
“Social media is interesting because people are picky about the parts of their lives that they share. Sometimes when I open Instagram I feel bad about myself because I’m not taking a trip to Europe. I’m not going to lavish parties,” said Riccardi.
Ashley Riccardi. (Courtesy Photo)
So, how do we support the Gen Zs we love? Van Zile advised to “validate their emotions, thank them for sharing when they are vulnerable. Little social things can make a big difference. Laugh with people. Be that person who includes others.”
This advice is important to implement when building relationships. Encouragement and validation goes a long way to combat isolation.
Social media has also opened the doors to conversations not previously had. The stigmas around mental healthcare have been chiseled away by the exposure social media brings. Whereas previous generations mainly experienced local issues and maintained connections with neighbors, Gen Z sees things on a worldwide level.
Vulnerability online has led to a generation who seeks out mental health, which is seen as positive self-care. Broad exposure also allows people to communicate with those they otherwise would never have access to. This promotes self discovery by finding niche groups and support systems based on common interests.
“Something really cool about social media is because it connects people so well,; if you’re interested in something niche, you can find a community,” said Riccardi. From knitting to motor racing, there is an online community to welcome like-minded individuals and the platform for self-expression.
Van Zile suggests to try new things that help your brain grow, help you connect and help you develop as a person. “It is worth it in the end.”
Balance is truly key when it comes to managing social media and in-person activities. “I have disabled all notifications from social media to get rid of distractions. I consciously try to limit time on my phone,” Riccardi said.
No matter what generation you are a part of, there is always a way to build relationships across generations. “We are all human,” said Van Zile. “And allowing each other to be human is a very connecting thing.”
Mary Helen DeLisle and Jaden Jefferson record a podcast in the TFP audio studio. (TFP Photo/Erin Holden)
On this episode of Behind the Byline, host Jaden Jefferson sits down with Mary Helen DeLisle in the Toledo Free Press podcast studio to highlight several stories she’s covered during her tenure at the TFP.
DeLisle delves into several of her stories, including gray divorce, a term coined by two BGSU professors who researched a trend of people over 50 choosing to go their own separate ways.
DeLisle also talks about:
her role as a freelancer and how she gets her stories
covering stories on the education beat, including a TEDx for students at Maumee Valley Country Day School and a TPS attendance incentive program.
DeLisle is a BGSU undergraduate studying journalism, and was one of three spring 2025 interns at the TFP, where she is now a freelancer.
Christian Sullivan sits in his apartment, his own space, after communal living at The Beach House and being displaced prior to that. (TFP Photo/Lori King)
TOLEDO – Recent federal funding and staffing cuts have brought strong reactions nationwide, especially among our most vulnerable populations and those who help them survive.
While some U.S. nonprofits face particular challenges, like those within our national parks, vulnerable groups are influenced most directly. Already at-risk individuals, like those experiencing domestic violence and mental illness, often require assistance to establish themselves in a safe environment. Programs addressing homelessness are now fighting to continue doing this vital work in our community.
Julie Embree is the executive director ofThe Toledo Lucas County Homelessness Board, an organization that guides and funds nonprofits addressing homelessness. Embree’s organization works hard to collect data supporting the need to address homelessness in the Toledo area. This is crucial because funding for the area directly comes from that data.
Amid the funding changes, TLCHB struggles to plan when uncertainty surrounds their budget.
“Considering recent events, a lot of housing money is embedded in DEI language, accessibility and inclusion to make sure we are providing fair housing to anyone that needs it,” Embree said. “So, it’s really been questionable as to what kind of cut we were going to take.”
The Homelessness Board must go through their reporting and perform acrobatics to avoid suspect language the government has issued as a warning for lost funding. In fact, the Board’s grant administrator, Alison Kuntz, was so frustrated with the lists she was seeing about what could or would get flagged that she made a chart for her team to reference.
The master list she compiled is made up of recommendations from the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), COOHIO Youth Housing and broader federal regulations. The words listed are those that should be limited or eliminated in order to be in compliance with the recent executive order ending federal DEI initiatives (Executive Order 13985).
Christian Sullivan makes his apartment feel like him. He was communal living at The Beach House. (TFP Photo/Lori King)
“We are not supposed to use words like ‘marginalized,’ ‘underserved,’ ‘accessible’ and ‘equitable.’ Those are pretty generalized terms, in my opinion,” Embree said of the changes required of their organization.
“We need to be providing assistance that’s accessible to disabled, elderly, etcetera. It takes away our ability to convey that all folks are important and to advocate and work towards more than just adequate housing. There have even been race/ethnicity we can’t use. It hinders our ability to say that we are here for all folks.”
Unfortunately, the barriers that organizations like The Homelessness Board are facing are not limited to funding. Medicare and food insecurity are sectors also impacted by cuts. These programs impact homeless individuals at a higher rate. When their needs can’t be address by these programs, the weight of addressing the need falls onto supporting organizations.
Leading Families Home
One of those organizations is Leading Families Home, which manages two shelters, one for women’s individual beds, the other for families of all makeups. Their shelters hold 96 beds and have a long waiting list. They also offer programs that help those transitioning between homelessness, such as rental assistance and mental health treatment.
Jennifer Jacobs is the executive director of Leading Families Home. She and her team are finding themselves making contingency plans for loss of funding. “Our primary focus is on rental assistance and keeping people off the streets before treatment and other programs,” she said.
Leading Families Home’s programs seek to address the issue of homelessness as a whole, to prevent it from recurring and keep treated individuals in secure housing.
“When you’re looking at homelessness, you need to look at it as a whole,” Jacobs said. “What was the issue and how do we prevent it? How can we stop it from continuing? How can we stop it from being generational?”
Christian Sullivan shares that his past was not one full of acceptance. (TFP Photo/Lori King)
Christian embraces Mijo, a dog that stays at the Beach House. (Courtesy Photo)
Christian Sullivan is one individual who the Beach House, a Leading Family Home shelter, assisted. He is now living in his own apartment, his own space, after communal living at The Beach House and being displaced prior to that.
Sullivan volunteers at The Beach House often and said he made his own family there. “If I’m going through something, I’ll call Jackie, and no matter what time of night it is, she’ll answer.”
He shared that his past was not one full of acceptance, and has been dealing with past incarceration, abuse in incarceration and gender transition.
Thanks to funding from Neighborhood Properties, he is able to receive assistance in his transition to apartment living. He also benefits from therapy programs under Leading Families Home.
Embree shared a staggering statistic: “As of last week, there were 52 males, 58 females and 100 families on waitlists to get into shelter. We have 588 beds in our current shelter system, and there’s an additional 1,200 beds in the community through other support services.”
Shelters could stay open about 30 days without funding. A small town’s population may be pushed out of safe and supportive environments, making at-risk individuals prone to further harm. The future of funding for these essential programs is uncertain.
Tracee Ellis, center, is a regional director and local coordinator in Toledo for American Cultural Exchange Service (ACES). She and Audrey Johnson, left, another local coordinator for ACES, are pictured with exchange students from Sierra Leone, South Africa and the Philippines. (Courtesy Photo)
Host families sought for international students
TOLEDO — Payments recently began flowing again for local high school exchange students who were caught up in the flurry of federal funding freezes earlier this year, but supporters have expressed concern about the long-term survival of these study abroad and cultural exchange programs in light of federal budget cuts.
Mandated by the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, the U.S. Department of State oversees these programs as a means of cultivating mutual understanding between Americans and people of other countries to promote friendly, peaceful relations. This mission is carried out by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), which awards grants and cooperative agreements to non-profit organizations to support academic, cultural, and professional exchange programs.
American Cultural Exchange Service (ACES) and AFS Intercultural Programs are two nonprofit partners that contract with the State Department to facilitate exchange programs in the Toledo area. While some international students pay their own way, others participate in scholarship programs geared toward cultivating relationships with people from different parts of the world.
Exchange students visit the area through AFS Intercultural Programs are pictured in 2023. (Courtesy Photo)
Tracee Ellis, regional director and local coordinator for ACES, said the organization is 100 percent funded by the government because they are facilitating State Department programs.
Disruptions to that funding began when some recipients of those grants, including ACES, were informed Feb. 13of a 15-day temporary pause on all disbursements, effective Feb. 12. This impacted all international exchange programs for secondary and post-secondary students, including American high school students studying abroad.
That pause was supposed to expire Feb. 27, but the funding was not ultimately restored until the end of March, according to Ellis.
The freeze impacted salaries and operations, as well as stipends for the students. Some planned activities had to be cancelled, including a trip to Chicago and a weeklong civic education workshop that about 400 international students were to attend in Washington.
Ellis said the freeze was declared illegal in the courts because it impacted funding that Congress had already allocated through 2026. Ellis said ACES is receiving federal funds again and the students received all back payments for stipends they did not receive during the freeze.
The monthly stipends offset some personal expenses, such as clothes or extracurricular activities. Ellis notes many students come from warm climates and need help purchasing coats and other clothing, even items such as socks.
“I had a student come here with an overnight bag for nine months — not because they’re packing light; because that’s all they had,” Ellis said.
Changed lives and new perspectives
According to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs website, its youth programs empower the next generation and establish long-lasting ties between the United States and other countries. Exchange programs focus primarily on secondary schools and promote mutual understanding, leadership development, educational transformation and democratic ideals.
Linda Sherry, who serves in a volunteer capacity as team chair for Northwest Ohio for AFS-USA, described the international scholarship students as the future leaders of their countries.
“The kids who are chosen to be sponsored students are usually pretty amazing,” she said. “They are the ones who go home with a positive attitude about America, and they go back and they influence politics in their own country.”
One young man who visited Northwest Ohio from Tunisia recently notified Sherry he was accepted into Harvard. Another sponsored student returned home to graduate in the top of his class and become a doctor in India, where he is now training to become a cardiac surgeon and opening a hospital for the underserved in his hometown. Sherry also hosted a student from Germany who went on to graduate law school and become legal counsel for a member of the Bundestag, the legislative body in Germany.
Hosting international students
Since 2001, Sherry’s family has hosted students from Argentina, Germany, China, Thailand and Italy. She remembers them all by name and has even visited some in their home countries.
“I feel like I have contacts all over the world, and that’s a benefit of hosting students,” said Sherry. “Also, my own kids have become global citizens. They’ve ended up traveling because they understand the world on a more personal basis.”
Ellis hosted her first student, a young man from Mali, in 2014. He went on to attend a university in Paris, where he now works for Ernst and Young.
Ellis and Sherry both emphasize the constant need for host families. If they don’t get placed with a host family by the deadline, some exchange students have to be deferred for a year.
“This is the time of year when we’re looking for host families, and the main qualification for a host family is just the ability to love another kid — to bring them into their home and open up their hearts and open up their homes,” said Sherry.
Sometimes people who have preconceived notions about international students go out on a limb to host a student and it changes their entire perspective, according to Ellis.
”When that happens, that’s worth everything. That’s part of the whole mission right there — that they have opened their minds to other people and they consider other things. That’s a beautiful thing that happens, and that’s what’s so impactful about this program.”
This year, Ellis is hosting Cynthia Nkwah, 16, an exchange student from Hildegard Althaus Bilingual College in the South Region of Cameroon, who came to Toledo in September. She was one of nine students from her country chosen from an initial applicant pool of 50 for the Department of State’s Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program.
Cynthia Nkwah, of Cameroon, and Hafsa Amour, of Tanzania, are international exchange students attending Start High School this year. (TFP Photo/Laurie Bertke)
The initiative provides merit-based scholarships for high school students from nearly 40 countries with significant Muslim populations.
Nkwah said she never traveled before this year. While attending the 11th grade at Start High School, she has experienced many firsts, including her first movie.
Ellis said the stove, microwave, refrigerator and freezer were all new for her exchange student.
“They buy everything fresh. They grow it. They get it from the ocean. They’re not going to fast food restaurants and sit-down restaurants,” said Ellis. “She doesn’t have running water. They collect their water through springs and rainwater, and they boil it so they can use it.”
Nkwah recalled her confusion on her first day of classes at Start High School when she realized the students needed to move from class to class. She explained that at home, the teachers move between classrooms rather than the students. After someone explained a late pass to Nkwah, a friend helped her navigate around the school. She said it was also a shock to hear how casually students spoke to their teachers.
Nkwah is enthusiastic about her time in the U.S. and is looking forward to visiting Cedar Point with her choir class before she returns home in June. She will also attend a closing ceremony in Washington with other international students before she leaves the U.S.
After high school, Nkwah said she would like to attend medical school and would be interested in returning to the U.S. to attend a university.
Concerns about future funding
This year, ACES has 35 students from 32 countries studying in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. Ellis estimated about 3,500 international high school students come to the U.S. annually under State Department programs, with help from about 17 placement organizations.
Ellis worries about what the future holds for these programs. “We are placing students to come to this area for the next school year. So we’ve been funded through 2026. Beyond that, we don’t know,” she said. “The Administration, or President Trump, is threatening to pull more funding from the State Department.”
The Trump administration’s 2026 budget request,released May 2, calls for $690 million in cuts to educational and cultural exchanges.
AFS-USA, which was not directly impacted by the funding pause in February, said in a statement that it is monitoring the situation closely and continuing its programs as planned.
“We’re actively placing students for the upcoming school year, and there have been no changes communicated from the U.S. Department of State that impact our operations or program expectations per the announced reorganization,” the organization stated.
Ellis said she plans to continue advocating in Washington for exchange programs that change lives for both the international students and Americans who host and go to school with them.
“This is a national diplomatic initiative, and it’s one of the most important ones that the U.S. State Department has,” said Ellis.
The learning benefits extend far beyond the experience of the international students, she added. “This is a global learning experience for American students to understand what their role is as global citizens and how we’re interconnected.”
Exchange students visit the area through AFS Intercultural Programs are pictured in 2016. (Courtesy Photo)
