{"id":134232,"date":"2025-08-10T11:37:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T11:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/134232\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T11:37:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T11:37:14","slug":"from-quantum-computing-to-spreading-kindness-northeast-ohio-scores-millions-in-state-budget-earmarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/134232\/","title":{"rendered":"From quantum computing to spreading kindness: Northeast Ohio scores millions in state budget earmarks"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLUMBUS, Ohio\u2014 While a lot of attention has been given toward the new state budget\u2019s offering of $600 million toward a new Cleveland Browns stadium<\/a> in suburban Brook Park, a lot of other Northeast Ohio organizations are also set to get budget money over the next two years. <\/p>\n

The state\u2019s new, $60.1 billion budget<\/a> includes a long list of appropriations for the Greater Cleveland area, including money for everything from quantum computing to a school kindness initiative.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more on the new round of state funding that\u2019s tagged for Northeast Ohio.<\/p>\n

Say Yes Cleveland <\/b><\/p>\n

For several years, Say Yes Cleveland, a nonprofit that offers college scholarships to Cleveland students, has deployed dozens of family support specialists to public and charter schools to help students find things like housing, food, mental health, legal support, and other basic needs. <\/p>\n

But Say Yes\u2019 family-support program has repeatedly been on shaky ground financially, as funding from local, state, and federal sources has been cut or expired. In May, the organization offered voluntary buyouts to its 89 family-support specialists<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The new state budget gives $750,000 to Say Yes Cleveland over the next two years to help keep the family-support specialist program going. That\u2019s a fraction of the $4.5 million included in the last state budget<\/a>, passed in 2023, for the program. <\/p>\n

But Catherine Tkachyk, the group\u2019s interim executive director, said in a statement that the new state money is \u201cessential\u201d to sustaining the program, adding that the initiative \u201chas proven to be a lifeline for many students and families.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Plain Dealer\/cleveland.com has reached out to Say Yes Cleveland for more details on what the current status of her group\u2019s family-support specialist program is and what the $750,000 will specifically be used for. <\/p>\n

State Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney of Westlake, the top Democrat on the Ohio House Finance Committee, helped secure the funding for Say Yes Cleveland. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the system fails them, Say Yes steps in \u2014 and our children deserve leaders who will fight to keep that promise alive,\u201d Sweeney said in a statement. <\/p>\n

Quantum computing<\/b> <\/p>\n

A $7 million earmark will be used to help establish a new quantum computing institute being created by Cleveland Clinic and Miami University of Ohio. <\/p>\n

Quantum computers use principles of quantum mechanics to perform calculations exponentially faster than standard digital computers can. <\/p>\n

The Ohio Institute for Quantum Computing Research, Talent, and Commercialization will allow Miami University students to intern at Cleveland Clinic and nearby institutions while earning newly created bachelor\u2019s, master\u2019s, and doctoral degrees in quantum computing. <\/p>\n

Cleveland Clinic \u2013 which has an IBM Quantum System One, the world\u2019s first computer dedicated to healthcare research \u2013 will benefit by attracting top quantum computing talent to stay in Cleveland and work for the medical center after they graduate, according to a news release<\/a>. <\/p>\n

State Rep. Tom Young, a Dayton-area Republican who spearheaded the funding effort, said in an interview that quantum computing can help Cleveland Clinic accelerate its predictions of how diseases spread and speed up drug development, among many other things.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the opportunity to lead in this and make a huge difference, for not only our companies and our workers (but) even all the way down to households,\u201d Young said. \u201cWhat this technology can do is, in many people\u2019s minds at this moment, unfathomable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neighborhood revitalization <\/b><\/p>\n

Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, a nonprofit community development group, is getting $500,000 in state funding for its ongoing initiative to improve homes and businesses in \u201cmiddle neighborhoods,\u201d which are neither wealthy nor poor but need investment to stave off a slow decline. <\/p>\n

In Cleveland, examples of \u201cmiddle neighborhoods\u201d include Old Brooklyn, Kamm\u2019s Corners, and Bellaire-Puritas, said Edward Stockhausen, senior vice president of advocacy and external relations for Cleveland Neighborhood Progress. It also includes suburbs like Fairview Park, Berea, and parts of Shaker Heights, he said. <\/p>\n

Cleveland Neighborhood Progress works to improve these neighborhoods in two ways, Stockhausen said. For businesses, the nonprofit offers matching grants of up to $50,000 for things like sprucing up storefronts, repairing electrical and HVAC systems, and putting up new drywall. <\/p>\n

In residential areas, the group purchases homes and rehabilitates them \u2013 often adding a new floor or additions in the process — before selling them to people for them to live in, at a price of up to $100,000 less than what the group paid to refurbish the home. The money from home sales is used to offer more grants and buy more houses. <\/p>\n

So far, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress has bought 20 homes and sold one, with the help of $3 million from the state two years ago, Stockhausen said. The additional $500,000, he said, will help the organization get closer to its goal of renovating and selling 200 homes. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe state investing another $500,000 shows that they believe this program can show not just a real impact on the city of Cleveland, but that we\u2019re going to learn a lot from our work that can apply to communities both elsewhere in Cuyahoga County and throughout the state of Ohio,\u201d Stockhausen said. <\/p>\n

After-school programs<\/b><\/p>\n

Open Doors Academy, a Cleveland-based nonprofit that provides after-school and summer programs for K-12 students, will get $3 million under the new budget. <\/p>\n

The state money, which accounts for one-third of Open Doors Academy\u2019s operating budget, is \u201ccrucial\u201d for the organization to continue offering its programming, which is largely offered in low-income areas, said Joe Hollings, Open Doors\u2019 director of engagement. <\/p>\n

\u201cWithout providing what we do, at no cost to the families, families would not have a safe, engaging place for their kids to go after school,\u201d Hollings said. <\/p>\n

Spreading kindness <\/b><\/p>\n

In 2020, the Mayfield-based Values-In-Action Foundation created the Kindland campaign<\/a>, with the goal of documenting 1 million acts of kindness by the end of 2021. <\/p>\n

Five years later, the Kindland initiative has spread to 700 Ohio schools, with varying levels of involvement that range from holding kindness rallies and assemblies to embedding kindness messaging and programming into the school\u2019s curriculum. <\/p>\n

Now, the Kindland initiative is getting $4 million in the budget to help it expand beyond Northeast Ohio to another 700 schools around the state over the next two years, according to Stuart Muszynski, the co-founder, president and CEO of the Values-in-Action Foundation. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s $1 million more than what the state provided Kindland in the last budget. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very grateful that the legislature, as well as the governor and other individuals in the administration, feel strongly that kindness is a core value that ought to be taught in schools and embedded in our communities,\u201d Muszynski said. <\/p>\n

Other earmarks <\/b><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a list of other state budget earmarks headed to Northeast Ohio over the next two years. Some are new, while others maintain the same level of state funding provided in the past. <\/p>\n