“Through these grant funds, MiLEAP will work with families, early educators and our community partners to build on successful efforts to expand access to high quality and affordable early care and education, which is critical to Michigan children, families and our economy as a whole,” said Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea, director of MiLEAP. “These grant dollars will continue efforts to support home-based providers, address regional needs and improve quality in early education statewide. MiLEAP is committed to innovating and leveraging state and federal resources to support programs that make a positive impact on child care in our state.” 

 “We are pleased to receive these funds from the Biden-Harris Administration and partner with ECIC to continue efforts to improve access to child care and support early educators as they provide high quality care and education to Michigan children,” said Emily Laidlaw, deputy director of Early Education at MiLEAP. “As MiLEAP and its partners work together to build a child care system that meets the needs of every family in our state, this federal funding will help us support things like home-based child care as well as community-driven strategies that meet the unique needs at the local level.” 

The Child Care Development Block Grant funds will support programs that focus on fostering collaboration and providing guidance and other resources through regional and statewide collaborative groups:  

Family Child Care Networks (FCCNs) support home-based child care programs across the state through networks of providers and families who work together to improve quality, access to services, and sustainability. These networks were initially launched as a pilot program and there are currently nine FCCN hubs and 22 networks, which ECIC will expand statewide.  

Regional Child Care Coalitions bring together economic development and early childhood leaders to assess child care needs and make local action plans to address child care supply building at the local level. This was also initially a pilot program where 16 Regional Child Care Planning Coalitions were created and their first year of work was focused on building regional strategies and completing strategic plans. As the program moves forward, ECIC will support the coalitions as they implement their strategic plans.  

Great Start to Quality leads the day-to-day implementation of the statewide quality improvement system supporting early education providers and Out-of-School Time programs, and also oversees the Great Start to Quality Resource Centers. ECIC will also facilitate a workgroup to foster coordination across programs to increase program quality and support for PreK for All. 

Great Start Collaborative/Great Start Family Coalition Training and Technical Assistance provide training and technical assistance to local Great Start Collaboratives and Great Start Family Coalitions to meet the goals of their strategic plans. 

The Family Child Care Networks and Regional Child Care Coalitions were part of the Caring for MI Future statewide collaboration that has helped child care entrepreneurs open or expand more than 3,600 child care programs in the state, giving families more high-quality and affordable child care options. For more information about MiLEAP’s efforts to expand access to child care in Michigan, visit the Caring for MI Future webpage. 

About MiLEAP:
Established by Governor Whitmer in 2023, MiLEAP’s mission is to improve outcomes from preschool to postsecondary so anyone can ‘make it in Michigan’ with a solid education and a path to a good-paying job. To learn more about MiLEAP, go to Michigan.gov/MiLEAP.