Through the Great Start Initiative, and your hard work, Michigan has made significant progress towards developing a statewide early childhood development network. But our work is not complete. There are still areas where we can improve as a state to ensures that all of our children between the ages of zero and four have a safe and healthy environment to learn and grow.

For starters, Governor Granholm has proposed important new investment for early childhood initiatives in her Fiscal Year 2009 budget. This new investment will expand the Great Start network so all 650,000 children under five and their families are connected to a local Great Start Collaborative; develop evidence-based practices that provide quality learning environments for our children; and, will allow more than 7,000 children have high quality pre-school opportunities.

Please take a moment and send an email or write a letter to your elected officials and encourage them to consider the positive impact that this proposed investment in early childhood development will mean for Michigan's young children, their families and the future well-being of our state.