Child Care Discussion Heats Up in Michigan with an Eye Toward Raising Standards & Providing Higher Quality Day Care

(NOTE: Complementary DVD's of the event are available by emailing a request to Yasmin Green at ygreen@ecic4kids.org.)

The Early Childhood Investment Corporation sponsored a panel discussion featuring local and national childcare experts on March 22 at the Lansing Center focusing on development strategies for advancing quality child care. The program, titled "Moving Toward Quality Child Care," was the first in a series of events to bring awareness and cite best practices in providing a great start for Michigan's youngest citizens.

Three panels of Michigan Child Care Providers, Great Start Collaboratives, heads of early childhood programs, County Officials and Early Childhood professionals from North Carolina shared their collective knowledge of the impact quality childcare has on a child's development and how these programs could be expanded and made more accessible in Michigan. The panelists all agreed that work is well underway in Michigan to lay the foundation for early education and development, but continued investment in early childhood programs like the ECIC is crucial to improve the quality of care.

The first panel discussed the challenges childcare professionals face everyday, including the need for quality care and the barriers to quality. They stressed the need for resources to provide quality childcare and make it available, affordable and accessible to every child and their family. According to the panel of Early Childhood Providers, including Rosene Johnson of Spartan Child Development Center, Rhonda Myers of PeeWee Patch Child Development Center, Jennifer Wright of Family Home Care, Elnora Ramsey of Ramsey's Rainbow Rascals and Wendy Miller of Granny's Cozy Crib, quality daycare will ensue if staff members receive proper professional development and support resources, and when the community demands quality programs for all children. The panelists cited daily challenges in providing quality childcare, such as high turnover rates, funding and overall awareness about the needs of early childhood.

From a local perspective, the second panel discussion featured representatives from ECIC's Great Start Collaboratives including Darlene Zimny, Great Start Collaborative Coordinator for Oakland County; Sue Allen of the Oakland County Child Care Council and Connie Sidor of the Oakland/Livingston Human Service Agency. This group, too, reinforced the need for continued support, comprehensive services and investment in early childhood initiatives. They said corporate and parental engagement and community investment are essential in improving the quality of early childcare and building a future workforce in Michigan.

To present a national perspective, the event's final panel featured child care professionals from North Carolina that included Peggy Ball, former Director of Child Development in The Department of Human Resources, Dean Clifford, former Executive Director of the Forsyth Early Childhood Partnership and Karen Ponder, former President of the North Carolina Partnership for Children (Smart Start). They provided their experience with the issues of quality childcare and Quality Rating Systems. These experts discussed best practices and lessons learned in North Carolina's early childcare programs that moved from a rating of worst in the country to best in the country. Building public awareness about the need to invest in early childcare programs, they said, will help build the foundation for a successful early childhood initiative.

Details on the next discussion in the series will be posted to the ECIC Web site in the upcoming months