MI Families shares the work of community organizations, healthcare providers, educators, employers, and other Michiganders as they work to create better health, educational access, and economic security for all Michigan families. It is made possible with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
The national average wage for a child care worker is now $13.22 per hour, and nearly 90,000 people have left the industry in the last two years. In Michigan, the shortage has left thousands of parents waiting for open spots in struggling facilities. Parents and childcare advocates showed up at a virtual forum recently to ask local candidates running for Michigan’s State House this November about solutions.
"The real-life impact that a quality early childhood education has on every aspect of all our lives – even if we’re not parents or grandparents becomes apparent when you compare children who’ve been afforded high-quality early experiences and those who have not," says Denise Smith, implementation director for Hope Starts Here Detroit Early Childhood Partnership. "The adults who end up working in every aspect of our society—their early starts shape how they show up in those roles."
In partnership with the Southeast Michigan Early Childhood Funders Collaborative, we're spending the next two months exploring the state of early education and childhood care in our region. We'll be reporting on what parents and providers are experiencing right now, what’s working and what’s not, and who is uncovering solutions.
“Right now, we’re in dire straits," says the executive director of Child Care Network in Ann Arbor. She isn't alone. As the nationwide child care crisis rolls on, here’s what Michigan child care providers are experiencing regionally in Port Huron, Detroit, and Ann Arbor.
From restaurants and festivals to a permanent Detroit location, this book pop-up has come a long way.
The coworking and child care space forged new partnerships after plans for expansion to Midtown were put on hold amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
CODE313 provides Detroit schoolchildren opportunities to learn coding in a city that is considered the least connected in the U.S., according to the organization.
United Children and Family Head Start recently celebrated the grand opening of its Regent Park center. It's the first Birth to 5 Head Start Center for the organization, which has six Head Start facilities and three child care partnerships in total.
Research shows that attention to facility quality and thoughtful classroom design can pave the way to a better educational outcome, augment programming quality, and change the landscape of early childhood education in Detroit.
In the absence of universal policy for early childhood education, some Michigan's smallest communities are taking it upon themselves to foster kindergarten-ready children.
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