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Greetings!
Michigan's Children is a statewide,
independent voice
for children and their families. We work with
lawmakers, business leaders and
communities to
make Michigan a place where all children
have the
opportunity to thrive.
| Send an Email to Save the Child Care Enhancement Program! |
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Since 1999, the Michigan Child Care
Enhancement Program, formerly the Child Care
Expulsion Project, has helped thousands of
infants and toddlers at risk of being
expelled from child care centers. But Gov.
Jennifer Granholm's budget proposal for
fiscal year 2011 calls for the elimination of
the program and the Senate Department of
Community Health subcommittee has agreed.
An estimated 7,000 young children under age 5
are expelled from child care centers and
preschools every year in Michigan. Forcing
these children out of care at such a tender
age, rather than addressing their underlying
behavioral and mental health issues, only
serves to prolong problems, costing more in
the long run and putting these children on a
trajectory toward failure.
You can help protect funding for CCEP by
contacting your legislators and the members
of the Senate and House Appropriations
Subcommittees for the Department of Community
Health and telling them to maintain funding
for CCEP!
Click
here to copy an email to legislators
urging the protect CCEP funding!
Read more in our April
13 Action Alert.
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| A True Story: How CCEP Helped One Tot Avoid Expulsion - Again |
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Barb Frost was ready to quit her job. Johnny,
her three-year-old grandson, was about to be
kicked out of yet another child care center -
his third in just over a year. The toddler
was acting up again, biting other children,
using foul language, fighting, and crying
inconsolably.
"He would get so worked up that no one could
calm him down," the DeWitt woman said. "It
was exhausting and they couldn't handle him."
It also was trying for Barb and her husband,
Randy, who took custody of their daughter's
son when he was 17 months old.
"I was getting several calls a week asking me
to pick him up during the day. I would get a
call two hours after getting to work, and
would have to go get him," Barb said. "It was
very stressful, and I thought I was going to
have to quit working, which would have been
difficult for us financially."
Read more about CCEP and how it helped Johnny
and his family in Investing
in Early Childhood: A Case for the Child Care
Enhancement Program Serving At-Risk Infants
and Toddlers
This is the first of a five-part series of
Issues for Michigan's Children: Investing
in Early Childhood reports. Each month
leading to the state's August primary
election, this series will examine an issue
affecting young children ages 0-5 in
Michigan. The Issue for Michigan's
Children: Investing in
Early Childhood series is part of an
effort to elevate the visibility of early
childhood issues in the state budget process
and 2010 elections as we work to prioritize
investments in early childhood when the
foundation is set for a lifetime of learning.
For more about this project, click
here.
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| Hearing Notice |
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The Senate has now passed the Department of
Community Health budget and it is now being
considered in the House. The House
Appropriations Subcommittee on DCH will be
meeting tomorrow at 8am at the Capitol in the
House Appropriations Room 352. It is also
scheduled to meet on Monday, April 19th at
9am and Monday, April 26th at 9am in the
House Appropriations Room 352 at the Capitol.
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| Michigan's Children Presents at CCRY Capitol Hill Briefing, "Recommitting to Our Nation's Youth: Building on the Legacy of Youth Opportunity" |
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On March 14, 2010, the Communities
Collaborating to Reconnect Youth (CCRY)
Network, a Center for Law
and Social Policy (CLASP) - led
initiative, held a Capitol Hill briefing,
"Recommitting to Our Nation's Youth: Building
on the Legacy of Youth Opportunity" to
highlight how the federal Youth Opportunity
Grant Program (YO) helped to get disconnected
youth back on track. Jack Kresnak,
President/CEO of Michigan's Children, was
invited to participate on the panel of
speakers. The briefing was co-sponsored by
the Campaign for Youth, First Focus, the
National Youth Employment Coalition, and U.S.
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D - MI).
Click
here to read our report from the
briefing, "Reconnecting Michigan's Youth:
Sharing the Vision of High School Graduation
for All."
Click
here for more information, including
resource materials and video footage from the
briefing.
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For the latest budget news and updates
sign-up for
any--or all--of our three Action Networks: Early
Childhood,
Healthy Kids, Graduate Michigan by clicking here
to update your profile.
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