Students and families across Northeast Ohio might not have access to after-school programs at dozens of locations across Northeast Ohio this fall if a federal funding freeze continues.

The Trump administration has frozen about $6 billion for several federal education programs, including the 21st Century Community Learning Center program, which funds after-school program providers across the country. Because of that, Dave Smith, executive director of Horizon Education Centers said Tuesday he sent layoff notices to 97 tutors, teachers and others who work at 17 after-school program sites across Cleveland, Elyria and Lorain.

“Right now we’re telling our parents and our staff that this program is gone, because, I mean, parents need to find programs for their kids for the fall,” Smith said.

The Boys and Girls Club of Northeast Ohio said in a press release Tuesday the 21st Century Community Learning Center freeze affects about one-third of their 34 after-school programs throughout the region.

“While this summer’s programming is not affected, this sudden pause in funding has forced us to begin reevaluating how to most efficiently and effectively operate in the coming school year, including determining which club locations we can sustain,” Boys and Girls Club of Northeast Ohio CEO Allen Smith said. “We are working closely with our team and partners to assess our options and make the most strategic use of available philanthropic and government resources.”

The nonprofit in the press release said it’s hopeful the funding will be restored. More than 20 states have filed suit to try to stop the federal funding freeze.

Horizon Education Centers’ before-school and after-school programs primarily serve students of low-income families who can’t afford childcare, according to Smith. He said the federal freeze, if continued, could potentially wipe out “almost all” of the 21 after-school programs offered by nonprofits in the city of Cleveland. The number of after-school programs offered in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio was already reduced significantly last year after state funding cuts and the end of pandemic era programs provided by Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

“The reason after-school is important is because it does three things; It helps kids academically, it keeps kids out of trouble and it allows parents to work,” Smith said.

Adam Shank, executive director of the Ohio Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs, an advocacy organization for those clubs, said the funding freeze could impact summer programs throughout the state and country. He predicted a significant economic fallout for parents and caregivers working 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. jobs if many afterschool programs disappear.

“We have some data from Boys and Girls Clubs that I would assume extrapolates out to all or similar after-school providers, that shows that like 79% of our caregivers are fully dependent on clubs and after school programs for essentially childcare, a safe place for their kids to go in between school and when their parents are done with working hours,” Shank said.

Move to Ohio? Ohi-no.

Proud New Yorkers ripped an anti-Zohran Mamdani billboard Monday for urging them to move to Ohio — finding the prospect as unappetizing as a bowl of Cincinnati chili.

“Why would we move to Ohio? We live in New York,” said confused construction worker Leroy Lewis, 44, when asked about the massive Times Square ad.

Another passerby overhead by The Post near 48th Street and Seventh Avenue was anything but “Midwest nice,” saying: “What the actual f–k?”

The befuddling billboard debuted Monday in support of Vivek Ramaswamy’s Republican gubernatorial candidacy in the Buckeye State.

But locals and tourists alike found the billboard’s initial poor design and message so wrongheaded it rivaled the Mistake By The Lake, the not-so-affectionate nickname for Cleveland.

The sign was split into two halves, with the first depicting the “radical socialist” Mamdani and asking “Ready to flee NYC?”

The sunnier second half showed Ramaswamy’s grinning face matched with the message “Move to Ohio!”

But the invitation to Big Apple denizens worried about the left-wing mayoral contender’s lead in the November election was lost on many because of its initial design.

For much of the day, the billboard wrapped around a Times Square building, making it impossible to see Mamdani and Ramaswamy together. It was later changed so both pols appeared side-by-side.

Still, onlookers didn’t seem likely to book it to the Midwest flyover state.

“What’s in Ohio? Why would you even go there?” said Mary Kennedy, 18, who was visiting New York from Houston, Texas.

“I don’t have any thoughts on Ohio. We kind of just pass through there. It’s just not a place you go.”

Ricardo H., who works in finance, scoffed at both moving to Ohio and Ramaswamy’s billboard.

”No, absolutely not, it looks like a smear campaign,” he said.

But a lone Ohio denizen in the Times Square hubbub stuck up for his much-derided home state.

Sammy Anderson, 23, a college football player who was born and raised in Dayton, said he’d encourage people to move to a largely rural state where “everything’s so close.”

“I mean, it’s just a different experience, a different way of living,” he said.

The proud son of Ohio then had this to say about New York City: “I’m so overstimulated.”

• The family of Isaiah Trammell, an autistic man who died after being held in the Montgomery County Jail, is suing the county and its medical care provider.
• Trammell died from head injuries after jail staff mocked him and strapped him into a restraint chair for longer than the state guidelines on restraints allow.
• Trammell’s death is one of at least 220 deaths in Ohio jails between 2020 and 2023.

The family of an autistic 19-year-old man who died after his time in the Montgomery County Jail is suing the county and the company that provides medical care in the jail.

Isaiah Trammell, a resident of Lebanon, was arrested after a neighbor called the police, worried about a potential domestic situation since Trammell was yelling on the phone with his uncle. Officers found a warrant from a previous time the police were called for a wellness check, his mother Brandy Abner previously told The Enquirer.

Police then booked Trammell into the Montgomery County Jail, where he began to bang his head as a form of stimming, the self-soothing behaviors people with autism turn to in times of distress. The lawsuit alleges jail staff failed “to provide objectively reasonable medical care” to Trammell, who spent less than 10 hours in the jail before he was taken to the hospital for his head injuries. Trammell was unconscious when he left the jail and spent three days in a coma before he died.

Dying Behind Bars: At least 220 people died in Ohio jails over 4 years

Surveillance video shows Trammell asked for his medication, his clothes, a phone call and a blanket while in the jail. Deputies told Trammell he was “ridiculous,” “embarrassing” and “acting like an ass.” Officers strapped Trammell into a restraint chair two separate times and threatened more time in the chair if he didn’t calm down.

“Defendants intentionally chose to ignore Isaiah’s serious medical and psychiatric needs and sought neither constitutionally appropriate medical care nor a safe environment for him,” attorneys for the Trammell family said in court documents. “Instead, they openly treated him with contempt, goading and mocking him until he foreseeably engaged in escalating acts of self-harm until he eventually lost consciousness and died from his head injuries.”

Trammell’s death drew international attention and his family and local activists have called for better treatment for those with autism in jail.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the lawsuit. Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck previously told The Enquirer that Trammell shouldn’t have been in jail, given his mental health issues.

What happened to Isaiah Trammell?

Trammell told the jail’s medical staff that he was autistic and felt suicidal, according to an investigative report. Though medical staff said he should be provided with a mat and a blanket, he was put on suicide watch in a concrete cell and given only a suicide-resistant smock to wear.

The use of restraints is supposed to be a last resort when someone’s safety is in danger, per Ohio jail policies, but deputies kept Trammell in a restraint chair for an hour after he said he had no intention of harming himself.

“You remember how that restraint chair felt? Remember what the sergeant said? You’re gonna go in for 10 hours next time you go in there. You want to do that?” one officer told Trammell after his first two-hour stretch in the chair.

After Trammell’s death, investigators with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office determined the jail staff did nothing wrong and provided Trammell with appropriate care. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has since said jails should be investigated by an outside agency instead of the same sheriff’s office who runs the jail.

Others have died in custody of the Montgomery County Jail

Trammell was one of 18 deaths the Montgomery County Jail reported to the state between 2020 and 2023. A USA TODAY Network Ohio investigation found that most of the 16,000 people in Ohio jails each day suffer from mental illness.

“Even before Isaiah’s death, Defendant Montgomery County was on notice that people incarcerated at the Montgomery County Jail had been subject to the unconstitutional denial of medical services at the hands of its own employees and NaphCare employees,” the Trammell family’s attorneys wrote in court documents.

Two years after Trammell’s death, 25-year-old Christian Black died after time in a restraint chair while in custody of the Montgomery County Jail.

Black died of “positional asphyxia.” Attorneys for his family said the surveillance video shows that jail staff tasered Black and put him in a headlock while he was in the restraint chair.

The Trammell family’s attorneys said in court documents that the purpose of their lawsuit, filed in March, is to seek change for others incarcerated in the Montgomery County Jail, especially those with autism. The family seeks a trial and is suing for compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees. The court has not yet set a trial date.

Regional politics reporter Erin Glynn can be reached at eglynn@enquirer.com, @ee_glynn on X or @eringlynn on Bluesky.