Everything Leelanau Families Need to Know in One Place

The mission of the LECDC is to provide families with access to a high quality, comprehensive, accountable system of care and early childhood experiences for all children, birth through age five.

Great news! We are happy to announce that our Infant & Toddler Childcare Start-up Initiative (ITCS) has been working diligently on a grant from the Early Childhood Investment Corporation. Through the grant, ITCS addressed the severe lack of child care slots in Leelanau County by creating a new working model for establishing rural, home-based and licensed, quality childcare facilities. As a result of these efforts, three new childcare facilities have opened and three are on target to open in Leelanau County.

Here in Leelanau, LECDC is seeking businesses and individuals who can help address the challenge of affordable childcare by creating a balance between what parents can afford and what gives providers a living wage. The need is great right now, and your help will allow parents to return to the workforce.

Two Leelanau entrepreneurs share how the Infant & Toddler Start-Up grant helped them open their own childcare business. To learn more, check out the video!

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Here’s Why We Do What We Do!

Meet the Leaders Working to Fix Leelanau’s Child Care Crisis

While the pandemic posed many challenges for Parenting Communities (PC), the staff creatively reached out to families via Zoom, phone calls and distanced-visits. Fortunately, PC’s hallmark face-to-face programming for families with young children is back on track. The Leelanau Ticker spoke with four leaders in the local early childhood movement who are working to fix the child care crisis in Leelanau County.

Photo courtesy of Leelanau Children’s Center

Because children are important. And a child’s brain develops and learns more rapidly from birth to age five than at any other time in their lives. Researchers know that 90% of brain growth occurs before kindergarten, impacting how children will learn, feel, and behave for the rest of their lives.

Decades of research proves that the early years are critical to a child’s social, emotional and academic success. Children who start kindergarten with the capacity and skills they need to fully engage in life are more likely to succeed.

In 2019, Leelanau County residents voted to fund universal early childhood development services with a millage request of .253 mills. This millage costs the average homeowner less than $5 a month in additional taxes.

What Do Children Learn in a High-Quality Preschool Program?

In high-quality preschools, teachers focus on all areas of learning. They pay attention to what children are interested in, and they plan themes or projects that help children expand their knowledge and skills in different areas. Children get a deeper understanding of a subject when they can make connections across several content areas.

The National Association For The Education Of Young Children explains why high-quality makes a difference.

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Why Focus on the Prenatal-to-3 Age Period?

The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at The University of Texas at Austin translates the current research why investing in families during the earliest years can improve quality of life in the short- and long-term. This 2021 research brief expands these key facts:

Experiences of financial hardship during early childhood can disrupt healthy brain development.
A child’s developing brain depends on secure attachments and serve-and-return interactions.
Child health and wellbeing are unmistakably tied to parental health.
Children are more likely to experience abuse and neglect during their first three years of life than at any other age.
Only 24 percent of infants & toddlers are placed in child care considered to be high quality by established standards.

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The Case for Science-Based Innovation in Early Childhood

Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., Director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, describes the Center’s mission and its vision for using science to innovate in the early childhood field. They are working to fundamentally change the lives of children facing adversity. Hear Dr. Shonkoff explain:

A Theory of Change

Can we improve child outcomes by building the capabilities of adults? Through this engaging video, the Center on the Developing Child proposes a theory of change.

Photo courtesy of Leelanau Children’s Center

Research at a Glance

The Alliance for Early Success outlines cross-cutting policies at the intersection of health, family support, and learning. Research at a Glance: The Research for a Birth through Eight State Policy Framework - Revised has a strong basis in research and evidence-based practice. It focuses attention on what is critical within and across different aspects of early childhood development (pages 2-15 outline workable strategies; the remaining pages provide the research references).