Have you noticed that when the weather warms up, the dance shows and competitions come out? You can attend any urban event in Toledo, from church to hair shows, and I can guarantee there will be dancers. Toledo has long been a hotbed for budding talent like Disney Channel’s Alyson Stoner. If you know someone who enjoys a friendly battle resolved with synchronized dance, this is the event to attend. “Who Told You That You Could Dance? Midwest Dance Competition” at 8 p.m. April 22 at the Maumee Indoor Theatre.

Show creator, New York native and now Toledo resident Monique Ward of Pozativ ProMotions  has her hands full. Last-minute adjustments have been made due to a late overwhelming response to news of the competition. There will be 12 dance crews instead of the five she originally expected. Participating teams are Kim Jones Academy (Youngstown) Fynul Destination (Flint), Touch A Dream Studio (six teams from Sylvania) Winterfield Academy, Renegadez (two teams), True MartianZ, Legally Talented, House of Adonis and Flatline.
Ward was inspired by the great talent in Toledo and the Midwest when she noticed that after “friending” one dancer on Facebook she began getting friend requests from many more.
“Dance has a whole world in Toledo that I did not even pay attention to,” Ward said.
She realized she knew enough dancers to create an environment that would celebrate an often underappreciated art form.
Conscious of providing a full show to attendees, Pozativ ProMotions secured interesting artists to showcase various genres between dance performances. Toledo favorites like singer Jay Rush, who will properly start the event with the National Anthem, and Tracy, Hize, GiftD and JO2 will deliver R&B and Hip-Hop. Toledo School for the Arts’ talented Liz Croak will perform as well.
Commentary during the event promises to be filled with laughs as it will be hosted by my fellow Star contributor lilD and Jahmal Garrett from The Juice FM 107.3. Contestants are fired up on all social networks in an effort to bring out supporters as they com-
pete for first, second and
third-place trophies, cash prizes and bragging rights for the rest of the year. The competition will attract first-time visitors to the Glass City with talent ranging in age from 5 to 30. It is fitting that during the event there will be a special tribute by Mike Polk to the King of Pop (and dance), Michael Jackson.
“Who Told You That You Could Dance?” will host a meet-and-greet for the talent, contestants, sponsors and media featuring 2010’s Ohio Hip-Hop Award-winning b-girl/dancer Billie Badazz. Billie will be there to speak, leaving soon after for Youngstown to open for national rap artist Trina.
“What better way to work with, inspire and encourage?” Ward said.
To find out more about “Who Told You That You Could Dance?” and Pozativ ProMotions events, log on to Facebook.com keywords “Who Told You That You Could Dance?”
As we continue on …

Biff! Bam! Zowie! It’s a mystery worthy of the deductive skills of the Caped Crusader: after 45 years as one of TV’s most popular shows, the 1966-68 “Batman” series has never been offered officially in any home-viewing medium. Why? Well, that’s something of a convoluted conundrum.
At its most basic, it comes down to one word: rights. “Batman” involves a multitude of rights issues that would befuddle The Riddler.
One of the factors that made the series so popular was its guest stars. Not only did it claim a galaxy of stars as “Special Guest Villains,” it included a bevy of walk-ons and cameos, some of which involved characters owned by other license holders than those of Batman. There was Lurch from “The Addams Family,” and Col. Klink from “Hogan’s Heroes” and, of course, the Green Hornet … you see the problem? Every single facet of the show has its rights to be secured: production, actors, music, costuming, etc. Interestingly, the 1966 Batman feature film exists on VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray, but that’s because its original contracts included wording that covers its use in other medium, such as, yes, television. The TV show contracts, sadly, did not. Holy lack of foresight, Batman!
But, why after all these years haven’t these issues been worked out? There is something of an “X” factor that also figures into the equation, one that remains elusive and has blocked progress on bringing the show into our livings rooms. That said, a new, forward-thinking regime is in place at DC Comics, owners of Batman, and I believe that there may never be a better chance for the show than now. Good luck, Caped Crusader! We hope to be receiving your show, its Bat-extras and Bat-commentaries soon!

Jim Beard will discuss his new book “Gotham City 14 Miles: 14 Essays on Why the 1960s Batman TV series Matters” at 6:30 p.m. April 26 at the Sylvania Branch Library. Registration is required to the free event; call (419) 882-2089.

The critically acclaimed percussive hit “Stomp” returns to Northwest Ohio with show veteran, native Buckeye and former University of Akron football player Elec Simon in tow April 26 and 27 at Stranahan Theater. Recently the Rayland, Ohio-born Simon witnessed the universal power of “Stomp.”
“I just came back from my first tour of South America. The people loved it because they love music and they love percussion,” said Simon, 29, calling from a tour stop in Atlanta. “In Argentina you have tango and in Peru you have cajon. They love percussion and they appreciate the show so much, it’s not even funny. They’ve never seen anything like that before. They didn’t know that you could make music out of everyday objects. They’re not used to seeing people take trash cans and brooms and their bodies and make beautiful music out of it. We received a standing ovation after every single number. And while we were doing it, they’d stare with awe in their face the whole time.”
Created in the early ’90s in the United Kingdom and an off-Broadway hit later in the decade, “Stomp” has grown into an international sensation during the past 14 years with performances in more than 350 cities in 36 countries.

Elec Simon

“Stomp” turns everyday objects into what has been described as an amazing musical experience. Whether it’s stiff-bristle brooms becoming a sweeping orchestra, Zippo lighters flipping open and closed to create a fiery fugue or wooden poles thumping and clacking in a rhythmic explosion, nothing is off limits in this show. Known in the past for trash cans, plastic bags, plungers, boots and hubcaps, Simon said “Stomp” has reinvented itself yet again.
“You’ll see paint cans, where we’re throwing cans all over the place and catching them,” said Simon, who also acts as a motivational speaker talking to at-risk kids and in state prisons. “If you blink you might miss something. We have a number called ‘Donut’ where we’re playing with big tractor tire inner tubes wrapped around us like Kodo drumming. We put güiros in the show where they are hanging from the set and we’re way up high playing the pipes. We also have walkers we play at the end of the show.”
This marks Simon’s second time around in “Stomp.” He left the touring production last May to direct “The Wiz” in Canton. Being away from “Stomp” proved positive for the performer considering just how demanding the role can be. However, just when he thought he was out, they pulled him back into the fold.
“The show is a musical sport,” Simon said. “We’re walking with 55-gallon barrels on our leg every single night. We have to please thousands of people every night driving our bodies into the ground. We’re fighting each other with sticks and heavy lids and drumming nonstop. So every now and then you do need a break. I left and I came back You know, the show must go on. Once you’re in ‘Stomp,’ it’s like a family. You’re in forever.”

Disease is less glamorous than previous Toledo Museum of Art themes, but the exhibit “What’s Wrong with Me? Art and Disease” is as powerful as any to date. Art history students at the University of Toledo serve as curators for the exhibit, which opens April 22 in the Hitchcock Gallery at TMA.
“Artists through time have covered the human condition, and disease is part of that,” said Teri Sharp, public relations manager at TMA. “There are a number of pieces in our collection that deal with disease and illness.”
The class is part of a continuing collaboration between UT and the museum. Students work with personnel to gain hands-on training in the design of art exhibitions. Each semester the class features a new theme.

Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867-1945) Krieg (War): “The Parents.” Woodcut. ILLUSTRATION COURTESY TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART

“Some of the students have taken the class previously,” Sharp said. “They liked it so well and felt they learned so much they wanted to take it again with a different theme.”
The exhibit opens April 22, but it will continue to progress throughout the semester.
“It is going to be an installation in progress,” Sharp said. “When it opens on April 22, most of the prints will be up, but not all of the signage and labels are there. Students have through the end of the semester to finish their work, so if you come back you will see more notes about the objects as it progresses.”
According to a press release, the three themes featured in the art are “disease is part of life; isolation and social stigma have accompanied various diseases at different times in human history; and disease can inspire hope, faith and compassion for one another.”
“What the students learned in looking at various prints for the show, they found the Good Samaritan theme,” Sharp said. “When others are ill it does bring out the best in us, the compassion of humanity, and that is illustrated in the works.”
Along with finding the Good Samaritan theme, students found an 1861 print called “The Good Samaritan” by French artist Rodolphe Bresdin.
Sharp said she was particularly moved by the piece “Krieg (War): The Parents” by German artist Käthe Kollwitz.
“She’s an artist who lost two sons in World War I,” Sharp said. “The couple is obviously deep in grief. It is so powerful to look at. It’s quite moving.”
The woodcut by Kollwitz is one of 30 pieces the students selected from the museum’s collection. The students also selected one work from outside the collection — the 13-minute video “A Fire in My Belly” by David Wojnarowicz. The film explores the inevitability of death and Wojnarowicz’s battle with AIDS.
“We were approached by the class to make an exception, because typically we only use art from the museum’s collection,” Sharp said. “We asked them to make a curatorial case why they thought the video should be part of the exhibit. They made a compelling case in terms of the video being related to the theme. The video is on loan (from the PPOW Gallery in New York) just for this exhibition.”
The video and many works in the exhibit feature disturbing imagery, so viewer discretion is advised.
“There will be a disclaimer about disturbing imagery,” Sharp said.
The free exhibit runs through August 7. The Toledo Museum of Art is located at 2445 Monroe St.

From her teenage days of listening to Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel and Sting, worldly instruments have been a major influence in Erin Zindle’s music career.
“My love for world music started around then, as a teenager. I started writing songs around then and as I’ve grown over the years, these sounds I’m so emerged in and in love with have kind of found their own way into my songs and my writing in one way or another,” she said.
Zindle is the frontwoman, fiddler, banjo and mandolin player of the Ann Arbor based Ragbirds, who are set to play its 8:30 p.m. gig at Mickey Finn’s April 21.
The Ragbirds are defined by its website as a fusion of folk rock with some danceable beats along with Zindle’s Celtic style fiddle playing.

Ragbirds

“[The audience] can expect to see a diverse range of music but there is also a common thread throughout, which mostly has to do with my vocal and violin parts,” Zindle said. “One may be a tango and the next is an African drum piece and the next is Latin. It keeps people interested and it’s a lot of fun for us.”
While studying her family’s roots and culture, Zindle learned more about Celtic music, another influence. Aside from its typical song list, the Ragbirds bring styles such as Latin dance and African drum pieces. Each member plays a drum and Zindle said it helps establish communication between the band mates during the set.
“The music is polyrhythmic and you have a whole bunch of people listening to each other really well to make the piece make sense,” she said. “It’s a good thing to learn. I found out the players change over the years, but every time we get a new player we teach them the African drum pieces and it’s just a good way to rehearse and tighten up as a band.”
Aside from Zindle, the Ragbirds is comprised of guitarist T.J. Zindle, brother of the frontwoman, Brian Crist on bass, Loren Kranz on drumset and Erin Zindle’s husband Randall Moore as a general percussionist.
The married couple met prior to the formation of the Ragbirds while traveling in similar musical circles. Moore was a guest performer in Zindle’s former band. When that group split, the duo played in a few different bands together as well as street performing in Ann Arbor.
“As we were dating we would perform in the street for tips in downtown Ann Arbor and get enough money for cocktails later in the night,” Moore said. “We definitely bonded over music.”
The band name, coined by Zindle, comes from an unexplainable childhood fascination with birds.
The band is raising funds for its fourth studio album, with help through the Kickstarter program. Kickstarter is the world’s largest fundraising project for artists ranging from literature to fine arts to performing musicians.
Moore said the artist sets a fundraising goal and fans, friends and family are able to make pledges to help fund the project.
“We used Kickstarter as a way to get our fans involved in the recording process and it also helped raise money to help us because we’re an independent band and we’re recording solely on our own is a very expensive process,” he said. “Instead of going into debt over it, we decided to use Kickstarter.”
The Ragbirds’ goal of $10,000 was met recently and as of April 19, more than $13,000 has been raised, according to the band’s website.
Moore said they were able to raise money quickly through an incentive program ranging from autographed albums to merchandise and the largest incentive being a private performance by the Ragbirds.
“We’re really blessed by the amount of supporters,” Moore said.

It probably comes as little surprise that the makers of the classic party game series “You Don’t Know Jack” have a somewhat, well, unusual view of dealing with life’s little inconveniences. Things like, say, publicity and interviews. So when Toledo Free Press Star asked producer Steve Heinrich how the series has evolved over time, his response really shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

“Some of them grew horns and passed those genes on to their offspring. Others developed wings and feathers and that’s how today we have the yellow-bellied dicksissel.”

Okay, ask a stupid question, get a smart-aleck answer. Strange, because from Jellyvision, the Chicago-based game developers, it’s almost always the other way around — they usually ask the smart-aleck questions. Then they point out with relish when their players respond with stupid answers.

It was 1995 when “You Don’t Know Jack” first made its way onto PCs nationwide. The self-described “irreverent quiz show party game” offered something wildly different from normal trivia games — it was funny, smart, well-produced, a blast to play with friends and required an impressive variety of knowledge.

“In one question you might have a reference to both Andy Warhol and Willy Wonka, or you might have to discern the difference between pope names and Britney Spears song titles,” Heinrich said.

Many, many sequels, spin-offs and the like soon followed, until, in the early 2000′s, the franchise fell dormant. “Basically, we were PC developers. And in the early 2000′s, the console game market was taking off while the PC game market was diminishing. So YDKJ just kind of petered out for a while,” Heinrich said.

But now, “Jack” is back, with a new game — developed by Jellyvision and published by THQ — released in February on every major console. Heinrich said that this comeback was fueled by interest and demand.

“You know, we never stopped getting e-mails and letters from fans of the game asking us to bring the game back to today’s consoles. One magazine recently listed YDKJ as the 5th best party game of all time (Rock Band was No. 1), and that was after the franchise had been pretty much dormant for 7-8 years. So we decided, hey, why not?”

The first steps toward “Jack”‘s resurrection came in 2007, as Jellyvision posted a new website devoted to a free Flash version of the game. The site was updated weekly for almost two years.

“It really was the springboard we used to get the brand back out there in the public consciousness,” Heinrich said. “It also provided us with a working Flash game that we could customize, for instance, for a particular publisher during our business discussions.

“Okay, basically we made a custom game especially for THQ that REALLY kissed up to them.”

One of the biggest considerations while working on the new game was whether or not to make any changes or adaptations to the basic “Jack” formula, Heinrich said.

“We have a successful formula – how do we update it while keeping the same core components that make the game work? So we found a balance – while most of the classic questions types are the same (the DisOrDat, the Jack Attack), we found a way to add some new features that we think improved the game.”

Releasing to home consoles is another major change for “Jack,” as previous installments have been almost entirely exclusive to PC.

“We didn’t have a lot of experience with console development, but we learned real fast. We had to,” Heinrich said.

“It was a lot to learn and implement in a very short period of time. With everything from achievements and trophies to the various levels of submissions for approvals to Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, we’re much more knowledgeable today than we were a year ago.”

The new game also features additional game packs with all-new questions, available from console stores like XBox Live and the PlayStation Network. Each ten-episode pack costs $4.99.

And in addition to these additions to the “Jack” franchise, Heinrich said that fans of Jellyvision can expect even more new content on the way soon, including plans to bring “Jack” to even more gaming formats.

“But beyond that, we’ve got some new console ideas that we’re tossing around that we think have big potential to be the next great party games, including one for Kinect. Hopefully not too long from now you’ll be hearing about one of them, or playing it” Heinrich said.

Email Jeff at PopGoesJeff@gmail.com

A lot of people divide Steve Miller’s career into two distinct eras.
There was the bluesy psychedelic rock/pop period from 1967 through 1972 that produced five albums that gained him considerable credibility as a songwriter and guitarist, but little in the way of commercial success.
Then beginning with the 1973 album, “The Joker,” came the pop era that saw Miller become one of the most popular artists in rock music. With subsequent albums such as “Fly Like An Eagle,” “Book Of Dreams” and “Abracadabra,” Miller reeled off radio hit after radio hit, sold some 13 million records and went from playing theaters to stadiums.
Miller, who will play the Huntington Center on April 23 with Gregg Allman, certainly considers “The Joker” album a turning point in his career. But he says the kind of pop songs that made him a king of radio — “Fly Like An Eagle,” “Jet Airliner,” “Jungle Love” and “Rockin’ Me” — were nothing new for him.

The transition from blues-influenced rocker to master pop craftsman was something Miller had been working on since before he moved to San Francisco in the mid-1960s and became part of a Bay Area scene that was introducing the world to the likes of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.

“I had been working on pop tunes and stuff from the early ‘60s (on),” Miller said in a recent phone interview. “I always liked pop-blues, R&B and Motown, anything that really sounded good. And there were lots of really great sounding hits … So I was always writing four-part harmony tunes and working on stuff like that.”
“The Joker” arrived at a time when Miller had nearly given up on becoming a major star. He had been on the road or in the studio pretty much nonstop for seven years, and the grind had taken its toll. He was selling about 200,000 albums a year — an impressive total — but he wasn’t on the radio or making enough money to enjoy anything resembling a good living.
“I was just on the road all the time, but not really making enough money to buy a house or do anything,” Miller said. “The tax rate back then was 88 percent. It was insane. So I was keeping 12 cents on the dollar.”

Before starting what he thought might be his final tour, Miller was told by someone at his record company that he thought “The Joker” was a hit. Miller brushed it aside. His major concern was that Capitol Records would have his albums in the stores in cities along his tour route — something that often didn’t happen on his previous tours.

Steve Miller has been recording and touring since 1967.

When he returned from the tour, Miller still didn’t know “The Joker” had become a hit single.
“There was a check for $385,000 in my mailbox when I got back,” Miller said, remembering his shock over his sudden financial windfall.
He hasn’t had to worry about finances since, as albums like  “Fly Like An Eagle,” “Book Of Dreams” and “Abracadabra,” gave him hit singles and a fan base that continues to fill amphitheaters every time Miller tours.
Miller understands the lasting appeal of songs such as “Jet Airliner” and “Fly Like An Eagle.”
“What it is, is it’s a great song that everybody could sing,” he said. “It’s got great harmony in it, it’s got a really good (basic) track and it’s fun. That’s what I was trying to do. I wasn’t trying to make something for radio. I was trying to make something that was going to make radio something good.”
Miller isn’t just reflecting on the stadium-filling days of his career these days. On April 19, he releases the CD “Let Your Hair Down,” which like his 2010 CD, “Bingo,” celebrates his roots in blues and R&B.
Those were the styles of music that Miller first pursued after he arrived in Chicago in 1964, just as that city’s blues scene was in its final glory days. Miller has plenty of memories of the Chicago clubs, his gigs and especially seeing and getting to know blues greats such as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and James Cotton, who played nightly in clubs that often held only 125 people or so.
“They were just working every night,” Miller said. “I saw Muddy a hundred times, you know, I mean, ‘Wow!’”
Miller and keyboardist Barry Goldberg formed a band and became a fixture in the clubs. Then the Miller-Goldberg Band was signed by Epic Records and went to New York for a few months. When he came back to Chicago around Christmas of 1965, the blues scene was dead, as all of the main stars had gotten the chance to go on tour.
Miller acutely understood why the musicians left Chicago, and he quickly followed suit, relocating to San Francisco.
“As soon as everybody got famous, they stopped working in clubs,” said Miller, noting fights and shootings were common during shows. “Who wants to work in a club? That was from nine at night until four in the morning for $200 a week if you were Muddy Waters and $125 a week if you were me. So everybody was really glad to get the hell out of there.”
Needless to say, Miller has been playing his music in much more hospitable environments ever since his Chicago days, with theaters, arenas and outdoor amphitheaters again the common venues on this year’s tour.
Miller’s exceptional band is back for this run, with singer Sonny Charles, formerly of the group the Checkmates, in the lineup.
“He’s a great, great singer,” Miller said. “It’s kind of like having Otis Redding join the band. He’s that good.”
Charles was part of the recording session three years ago that produced the material for both the “Let Your Hair Down” and “Bingo” CDs, as was harmonica player Norton Buffalo, Miller’s right hand man in his band for 33 years until he died of cancer in October of 2009.
“We went into Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, (filmmaker George) Lucas’ place where he records all the ‘Star Wars’ soundtracks,” Miller said. “We got Andy Johns to be our engineer. He’s done all the Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones albums. And we cut 41 of these tracks.”
The 41 tracks are covers of blues and R&B songs that Miller selected specifically for the recording session. “Let Your Hair Down” features tracks by T-Bone Walker, Jimmy Reed, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Jimmy McCracklin and others.
Miller went into the session not even worrying about whether the recordings would ever be released, and he sat on the tracks until he found the right record deal for the two CDs — with Roadrunner/Loud & Proud Records.
“My thinking was I just wanted to get these 41 great songs recorded. I wasn’t worried about whether they came out or what,” Miller said. “I had the band all dialed in. We had all the right amps and equipment. We were there to have a great time and we did. And when it came out, it was so much better than we thought it would be.
“We’re kicking it,” he said. “Andy’s recording, it’s every guitar player’s dream to have Andy Johns record the band and it’s the biggest bass, drums and guitar sound you ever heard in your life.”

Four years ago, a group of individuals were looking for a way to attract and retain Toledo’s young professionals while connecting them to senior community leaders. They wanted to combat the “brain drain” of Northwest Ohio.

Through brainstorming and planning, plus support from the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce, they formed EPIC — Engaging People, Inspiring Change — in 2007.

“People live in a community because it’s work, live and play, and we’re trying to be able to get them adapted to all three aspects of their life,” said EPIC Toledo director Paulette Cousino. “That’s what makes young professionals stay in a region and that’s why we were formed — because people weren’t staying in this region.”

In conjunction with celebrating their recent four-year anniversary, EPIC leaders and corporate partners evaluated where they are now and what goals they are still working toward.

“If you look at our corporate member list, it reads like the who’s who of Toledo and it’s really great to have that kind of support behind our organization. We wouldn’t be able to do it without them,” said Brian Niedzwiecki, 2011 EPIC chairman.

EPIC adapted its direction to focus more closely on the three core values, or main pillars, of the organization that its corporate and individual members have come to expect: leadership and professional development, community impact and networking.

“Over the course of the years, there have been a number of events we have done to help accomplish those goals of getting people connected to each other, to the area, to business leaders; to help foster the next generation of leaders in this area,” Niedzwiecki said.

EPIC’s corporate members provide the base for bringing in individual members but membership also spreads by word of mouth, Amanda Geletka said. EPIC has grown to include 1,200 members.

“We’re pulling them in from all different kinds of industries and walks of life,” Geletka said.

As the membership and marketing chair, it’s her job to help plan the quarterly mixers — an easy task with important consequences, she said. At the mixers, they have about an hour to sum up for potential members what EPIC does while giving them that “feel-good feeling.”

“It’s just the energy that’s in the room when you walk in. It’s the stories that you hear and the different relationships you make in just under an hour” that make people want to join, she said.

While the membership has grown much faster than Vice Chair Stephanie Cousino expected, a strong bond has formed from the passion everyone has for seeing Toledo become more successful, she said.

High interest in EPIC began at its first event at the Erie Street Market in 2007. Niedzwiecki said he passed a billboard advertising “a new group called EPIC” every day while driving to work and decided he would check it out.

“I was floored by the hundreds of people that turned out for it. The energy that was in the room just blew me away,” he said.
Niedzwiecki said everyone comes to EPIC for something slightly different and there are many different ways to stay active without an overwhelming pressure to be involved.

EPIC Communications Coordinator Samantha Scott was “tossed into” EPIC in the beginning because she works for the Chamber of Commerce, but recently said that it was the best thing that could have happened to her on a professional level.

“I’ve learned how to conduct myself, how to lead meetings and how to be a better businesswoman,” Scott said.

She said her connections rapidly grew from about 50 people to about 2,000 people she can reach out to.

“I’ve been a lifer in Toledo and you think you know everyone, but you don’t,” she said.

Community Impact Co-chair Jeff Schaaf joined in 2008 because of a friend and also discovered many things about Toledo he didn’t know, despite also being a “lifer.”

“There’s not an easy way to get involved [in Toledo],” Schaaf said. “EPIC makes it easy.”

It’s that accessibility to senior leaders and younger employees that makes EPIC unique, Niedzwiecki said.

“It takes away some of the fear of the boardroom when you have that opportunity to interact,” he said. “It’s that kind of personal connection that you don’t get in bigger cities.”

For more information visit their website, epictoledo.com

Child care providers in Ohio would get less money back from the state for taking care of children from low-income families under Gov. John Kasich’s budget plan, leaving them to trim costs at a time they say they’re already stretching to make ends meet.

Still, as the state faces an estimated $8 billion budget shortfall, they say they could have fared worse.

No child currently enrolled in the state-supported child care program would lose the benefit. But the Republican governor’s two-year spending proposal would scale back the income threshold for new working families trying to get into the system.

Providers say that could make it harder for struggling families to qualify for the program.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” said Tasha Johnson, the interim executive director of the Dayton Christian Center in Dayton.

Kasich wants to change the income requirement to 125 percent of the federal poverty level from 150 percent. That proposal would mean a family of four could earn no more than $27,938 a year to be eligible for subsidized child care in the 2012 and 2013 budget years. Currently, the family could make about $33,525 or less and qualify.

Kasich’s plan would continue to allow families to remain on the program until their income reaches 200 percent of the poverty level, or about $44,700.

“We decided early on that child care was critical,” Kasich told reporters after touring a child care facility in Columbus last week. “Nobody as a result of what we’ve done in the budget is being dropped from the rolls.”

That’s a relief to parents such as Kenya Woods, who receives state-subsidized child care for her two children.

Woods and her husband were laid off in 2008. Unable to make their mortgage payments or find steady work — and with their second baby on the way — they sought help from the state to lower their child care payments.

Woods was paying $150 a week for child care for just her son but now pays about the same price for both children each month.

“There’s a lot of instability around us,” said Woods, 41, of Richmond Heights near Cleveland. “But the one thing that has been stable is their daycare. That’s really been our saving grace.”

Woods now is a dance instructor for Cleveland public schools, and her husband, a truck driver, is searching for work. She said the state help has allowed her the time to work, finish resumes and look into going back to school while knowing her children are safe and receiving good care.

“This has been completely instrumental,” Woods said. “We can still work. That’s No. 1.”

While the kids in the state-supported program could stay on, providers would see a 7 percent total cut in the rate the state reimburses them. Not all facilities would feel the same reduction because it depends on the market rates for child care in their areas.

New rates have yet to be determined, putting providers like Johnson in a holding pattern. A 7 percent cut for her center would mean about $39,000 fewer state dollars, she said.

Johnson oversees a facility in a blighted neighborhood on Dayton’s west side. Almost all the 55 kids at the center are enrolled in child care services supported by state funding. Parents have a co-payment based on their incomes and the size of the family. It’s typically less than $100 a month, she said.

“It’s really an area of service needed,” she said. “Those are working families that without the subsidized child care, they would not have child care and they would lose their jobs.”

About $134 million in state money went to early child care this year, with the bulk going to subsidized care. Some of the money also goes to quality incentives for the providers, such as continuing education for staff. Kasich’s budget calls for $123.5 million next year, and the same amount the following year.

About 104,000 children statewide are covered by the program at any given time, said Ben Johnson, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. That number is expected to drop to 103,000 next year because of the new income requirement but would return to the same level by 2013, he said.

Subsidized child care had been helped in the last budget by about $100 million in federal stimulus dollars, Kasich said. He contends he had to ask providers to give more to make up for the lack of that federal money and make sure those children in the system wouldn’t be booted from it.

The reduction comes at a time when some facilities across the state already are facing economic challenges, said Linda Day-Mackessy, who chairs the Ohio Association of Child Care Providers.

“We were bracing for much larger cuts,” Day-Mackessy said. “We are relieved that the cut is not larger, but any cut will be difficult.”

Some of the group’s nonprofit members are better positioned to absorb the rate reduction because they can apply for grant money, Day-Mackessy said. But other providers, such as Pietra Foster, will have to squeeze more out of their facilities’ budgets.

“It’s past belt-tightening,” said Foster, the executive director of the Richmond Heights Academy near Cleveland.

Foster said she has already trimmed the number of field trips, put off getting new buses, delayed major improvements to the building and foregone salary increases for her staff and herself.

“We’re really down to the bare bones at this point,” she said.

Of the 150 children who attend the academy, about 140 are supported by state money.

“I understand that we have a huge hole to fill, but it seems like the government would be more willing to raise a little bit here and a little bit there,” Foster said. “I guess at the end of the day, keeping the amount of children we have in the system, at least for the time — I highly respect that. It could be worse.”

In front of an audience that filled slightly over half of Doermann Theatre, UT President Lloyd Jacobs delivered his fifth annual State of the University address, in which he gave a review and his brief vision UT’s next five years.

“Universities as we currently know them will be dramatically changed in the next five years,” Jacobs said to open his address. “This will result from external pressures both fiscal and related to the fundamental value proposition for higher education.”

Jacobs said although he is unable to predict the future with certainty, he described the changes to be made over the next five years as a “revolution.”

“The revolution is well underway here at the University of Toledo and we’re guiding it, it’s not being done to us,” he said.

Jacobs said changes in the university will result in great challenges, but leaders will allow UT to “not only survive, but thrive.”

The changes that will characterize the future, Jacobs said, will come from increasing productivity by adopting the best methods from Corporate America, huge strides in technology and a greater emphasis in integrating higher education enterprise with the working community.

Jacobs said specific techniques from the corporate arena include merit-based pay, performance appraisal and lean manufacturing techniques. He made clear that he was not talking about the corporatization of higher education, but instead adopting those certain techniques to help run the university more efficiently.

“Still, the corporate model of societal organization is increasingly embraced throughout the world and aspects of corporatization must be embraced if higher education as we know it is to survive,” he said.

When asked how the passing of Senate Bill 5 would affect his future plans, Jacobs said it “remains to be seen. I don’t know the answer to this point.”

In his address, Jacobs said one issue to be looked at is lifetime employment for faculty, which is becoming more viewed as “unsustainable for today’s world.”

He added the careful re-evaluation of the sustainability of UT is in order.

“The University of Toledo is undertaking this reexamination. Faculty, higher education needs your help,” he said. “I, the institution, and the nation are asking you to guide these revolutionary forces. Workload, tenure, curriculum, areas which traditionally receive significant faculty input, are the very areas which this revolution will affect.”

Following his address, Jacobs said in an interview he is unable to answer whether the concept of tenure will be eliminated.

He called on everyone involved in the decision-making process of the university to step out of their comfort zones,

“Our own comfort zone problem, we need to overcome. We need to adjust and live in a very different world,” he said.

One topic Jacobs stressed in his address was keeping the “American Dream” of opportunity and social mobility alive through the education system. He cited experts who challenge the effectiveness and quality of a college degree.

Following his address, Jacobs explicitly said in an interview he opposes the beliefs that say college is not the best route.

“I do not agree. I think it’s the best investment, the only investment that makes sense, the only way out of the economic circumstance in which we find ourselves,” Jacobs said. “It’s the only way to position ourselves for a fulfilled, long, happy life. I do not agree with that assessment, however, we need to get that message out to young people, we need to say the American Dream is still alive and education is still the single best vehicle for the obtainment of the American Dream.”

Throughout his speech, Jacobs highlighted the university’s academic and economic accomplishments over the past five years. In light of this, he said he expects the next five years will be more intense.

“This university has been a pioneer in a number of ways,” Jacobs said. “From the time of the merger and many decades before that, we will be creating our future in five years. We’re interested in being the architect in five years.”