mission

The mission is to increase the number of early child care facilities in Leelanau County that will provide quality care, at affordable prices, and at a wage that providers can sustain a profitable business.

origin

Early Childhood Development

In 2016, the Leelanau Peninsula Economic Foundation (LPEF) conducted a survey of Leelanau businesses and found that the need for early childhood programs ranked high. The shortage of childcare is a nationwide problem and Leelanau County has been hit especially hard.

Unfortunately, the professions of early childhood teachers and caregivers no longer provide adequate financial income for sustainability. Over the past decade, many daycares closed leaving few options for families with young children.

The Leelanau Early Childhood Development Commission (LECDC) was tasked, under the leadership of LPEF, with identifying issues related to childcare providers and developing an action plan to create additional partnerships, and source financial support for families so that parents in Leelanau could get back into the workforce while attracting new, young families to the region as well.

The commission reviewed existing early childhood programs and services and then created and recommended a sustainable, high-quality, expanded early childhood program for families in Leelanau County.

action

The LECDC received a grant of $318,000 from the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (a private corporation based in Lansing) to develop a model for assisting Leelanau residents in starting home-based childcare businesses to expand opportunities for quality infant and toddler childcare. The initiative, named Infant & Toddler Childcare Start-up (ITCS), provides financial assistance to childcare providers in all aspects of licensing, education, facility upgrades, and basic business needs. The ITCS also provides professional assistance including banking, accounting, record-keeping, and personal coaching. The ITCS initiative hopes to solve this problem by filling the financial gap between what it costs to be a provider and what Leelanau families can afford to pay.

By early 2022, a step-by-step process for recruiting businesses to participate, along with identifying potential childcare providers, and fundraising strategies were launched.

As a result of Leelanau’s innovative approach and business model, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) is considering a first-ever variance to the state’s current center-based childcare regulations. Michigan law prohibits a family or group home from operating outside a personal residence. The variance allows an individual childcare provider to operate a “micro-center” at an approved site not in their own home. This plan would allow providers to extend hours to better benefit working families.

ITCS has recruited six new early childhood providers in Leelanau with hopes of adding a seventh. Half are in-home providers. While the other half are in approved “micro-centers” throughout the county including Suttons Bay and Glen Lake Schools and the Northport Children’s Center. New providers receive training and ongoing coaching to assist in establishing their businesses.

TED Talk Presentation

TED Talk Presentation by then 7-year old, Molly Wright.

To help quantify the importance of early childhood development, particularly in the first five years of their lives, take a moment to watch this TED Talk presentation by seven-year-old, Molly Wright, one of the youngest ever TED Talk speakers. Molly helps to break down the research-backed ways that parents and caregivers can support a child’s healthy brain development.

 

additional resources