LANSING, Mich. – Alicia Guevara, CEO of the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC), issued the following statement following passage of the state budget:
“The Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC) thanks Michigan’s lawmakers for ultimately passing a state budget that provides families, child care providers, and communities with much-needed clarity. However, the late passage of this budget has already caused unnecessary harm. While the budget increases funding for PreK for 4-year-olds, the critical support for local Great Start Collaboratives and Family Coalitions has been eliminated, which will negatively impact the capacity of every community across the state to support families with young children. Additionally, in reality, the lack of true investments in child care combined with rising costs will result in continued challenges for the already fragile child care system.
“We cannot allow this to become the norm. Michigan’s children, families and economy need timely and reliable investments in early childhood beginning prenatally to build a strong foundation that allows young children to thrive in the long-term. While we appreciate that past progress has been made, more work remains to fully meet the scale of the state’s child care crisis. ECIC urges our lawmakers to not only continue to strengthen investments in early childhood going forward, but also commit to a future budget process that ensures stability and predictability for those who depend on it most.”