The Infant & Toddler Child Care Start Up (ITCS), a working group within the Leelanau Early
Childhood Development Commission (LECDC), announced today that owing to their continuing efforts, more child care facilities are opening in Leelanau County.
Kriya Miller, and her husband Matt, have opened a new home-based facility in Solon Township called Little Valley Daycare. Kriya enrolled in the ITCS last summer and is now fully licensed by the State of Michigan to provide quality child care in her home. The ITCS team coached her through the licensing process, helped her purchase needed equipment, and helped fund the physical improvements required to prepare her home to meet State and local child care regulations. The ITCS also mentored her in early child care best practices, as well as business planning. “I honestly don’t know if we would have gotten started without ITCS”, Kriya said, “just because of the initial hurdles. I needed that extra financial support and that extra nudge.”
A new child care provider is slated to open in Northport, also through the efforts of the ITCS.
The Village of Northport is partnering to offer a building that was built as a child care facility, but closed in 2019. With community support, the building has been renovated; the new provider plans to open this summer.