TOLEDO, Ohio — Abena Rowland, first graduate through the HOPE Toledo Promise Program, meets with Jerry Anderson WTOL 11 for an in-depth discussion of her experiences.

TOLEDO, Ohio — Abena Rowland, first graduate through the HOPE Toledo Promise Program, meets with Jerry Anderson WTOL 11 for an in-depth discussion of her experiences.

The Blade: When Ottawa Hills native Pete Kadens announced two years ago he would cover all post-secondary education costs for 2020 Scott High School graduates and one of their parents, it was the boost Abena Rowland needed to get her life back on track.

WTOL 11: The Promise program, which guarantees post-secondary tuition for graduates from Scott High School classes of 2020 and 2021, now has its first graduate.

HOPE Toledo announced today its first official postsecondary graduate through the HOPE Toledo Promise program, Abena Rowland. She graduated from Stautzenberger College with a certificate in addiction counseling and recently started her career as a case manager at Empowered for Excellence.

The Study is Co-Authored by Northwestern University and HOPE Toledo Promise

College Promise, a national, non-partisan, non-profit initiative that builds broad public support for funding the first two or more years of postsecondary education for hard-working students, and ensuring those students have access to quality educational opportunities and supports, published an important policy brief on the first year of the HOPE Toledo Promise program. 

One local organization is working to make sure students who want a higher education can get one.

"HOPE Toledo is doing what we set out to do from the beginning and that is to bring hope," said HOPE Toledo president, John C. Jones.

On this week's Community Focus, Rev. John C. Jones, President of HOPE Toledo, joins Jaden Jefferson to share HOPE Toledo’s mission and current updates.

When Wade Kapszukiewicz ran for mayor in 2017 he added what he called a “moonshot” plank to his campaign platform. That lofty goal that would require communitywide support to meet? Free universal pre-kindergarten for all Toledo 4-year-olds.