“Child care is the backbone of our economy, empowering parents and families to go to work or school knowing their children are safe, and we continue to focus on helping more families access affordable child care,” said Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea, director of MiLEAP. “By shining a light on the needs within our local communities, we are better able to work with our partners to address those needs. MiLEAP is committed to working with partners across the state to build on our efforts to support kids, families and the state’s overall economic well-being." 

“Each community in Michigan has unique needs, which means that we must take a local approach to accelerate community-level efforts around child care business attraction and retention,” said Emily Laidlaw, deputy director of Early Education at MiLEAP. “As we continue to support early educators so they can focus on caring for Michigan children, the input and guidance from the Regional Child Care Coalitions will help us prioritize what matters most to our local communities.” 

“The Regional Child Care Coalitions gathered extensive information in communities across the state related to family needs and preferences for child care, root causes for child care gaps, and they created regional child care action plans,” said Alicia Guevara Warren, CEO of the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC), which serves as MiLEAP’s lead state partner on the work with the Regional Child Care Coalitions. “These local cross-sector partnerships and plan will help as we work together with policymakers and other stakeholders to continue to improve the early childhood system for Michigan families.” 

“The Regional Child Care Coalitions provide an opportunity for regional partners including workforce development, economic development, community action organizations and early education to all come together. The coalitions are cohesively discussing strategies, resources, and actions that can be taken to create solutions to support the child care industry in a way that hasn't always been done historically,” said Carrie Rosingana, CEO of Capital Area Michigan Works! (above). “Having access to quality child care is critical to supporting families that work across all industry sectors and the coalitions provide an opportunity to address this need collectively.” 

The 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. Initially a pilot program, continued work will be supported through federal grant funds that help states as they improve the overall quality of child care within existing state and local systems.

The report released today provides a view of the state of Michigan’s child care infrastructure and recommended actions from coalition members to guide future initiatives, including:  

• Build child care capacity when investing in economic development initiatives to ensure employees filling new jobs have the child care options they need, as well as continuing to increase investment in child care. 

• Support families’ child care needs by educating and incentivizing employers, for example by expanding and promoting Tri-Share, an innovative bipartisan program where the state, employer and employee split the cost of child care.  

• Reduce red tape to empower child care entrepreneurs to expand capacity in the state.  

• Recruit and retain talent by improving pay and benefits for early educators, who we rely on to keep children safe, healthy and learning. 

• Give more families access to free or no-cost child care by expanding access to the Child Development and Care scholarship.

Report findings are being used to focus MiLEAP’s efforts with its partners to continue to expand access to child care in the state. Past efforts include: 

• Caring for MI Future, which 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. 

• Winning federal funds to help Michigan continue efforts to make high quality child care affordable and accessible in every community. 

• Cutting red tape by eliminating the requirement that parents cooperate with the Office of Child Support to qualify for low or no cost child care through the Child Development and Care Program. 

• Awarding more than 1,900 T.E.A.C.H. scholarships to early educators, who keep kids safe, happy and learning. 

• Proposing streamlining child care licensing rules and reducing barriers for early educators, so they can focus on caring for Michigan children.  

• Connecting over 42,000 families with low or no- cost child care through the state’s child care scholarship program, the Child Development and Care program—up 18,500 children from January 2021.  

For families seeking child care options, visit the Great Start to Quality website. It’s also not too late for families to enroll 4-year-olds in FREE high-quality PreK this school year. Visit MIPreKforAll.org to find programs near you that meet your family’s unique needs. 

To read the full Regional Coalition Report, visit the ECIC website.