Toledo-area business, education, and government leaders announced a joint $20 million investment in pre-kindergarten education efforts through area nonprofit HOPE Toledo on Thursday.

The City of Toledo is doubling down on early childhood education with HOPE Toledo, an organization aimed to improve school readiness outcomes and more, with $20 million to be spread over the next three years to support child education and care.

We are at a critical moment. American Rescue Plan funds that can support the education and care of young children are flowing to Greater Toledo counties, cities, and schools. It is an opportunity to help children recover educationally from the pandemic, an investment that will produce far-reaching results.

We must use our collective creativity and out-of-the-box thinking to deploy the American Rescue Plan funds effectively and inclusively. Most importantly, this investment cannot be piecemeal or a one-off, but instead must provide a collective bridge or down payment toward a sustained investment in our young people and families for the next generation.

HOPE Toledo, a community organization established to help our children obtain high-quality early childhood education, has launched its inaugural preschool program.

The Board of Trustees of Greater Toledo Community Foundation recently awarded over $1 million in grants to a variety of community initiatives and organizations. A $600,000 grant to HOPE Toledo Services was the largest award and came from the foundation’s Initiative Fund.

HOPE Toledo, a not-for-profit organization created by a diverse community of stakeholders, is dedicated to the premise that strengthening education will increase opportunity for all of Toledo’s children and youth, grow prosperity for its residents, and improve the future for our families and neighborhoods.

Watch the 13ABC segment on the HOPE Toledo Preschool Program.

President Biden wants universal pre-K. A large new study examines its likely effects. In the late 1990s, Boston expanded its public pre-K program, but it did not have nearly enough spots for every 4-year-old in the city. So it used a lottery to help determine which children could enroll.