Lansing Sun

Licensed child care programs interested in obtaining a Child Care Stabilization Grant have just over a week left to apply.

"Child care is essential to helping families, communities, and small businesses succeed, and child care professionals and programs go above and beyond every day to care for our kids, helping them learn and grow in a safe environment," Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a May 12 press release from her office. "Countless Michiganders rely on child care to go to work knowing that their kids are safe. High-quality, affordable child care uplifts working families and our kids. That’s why I was proud to work across the aisle to make game-changing investments in our child care providers and professionals in the bipartisan budget I signed last September.”

The Child Care Stabilization Grant will provide a total of $365 million in funds to give child care providers $1,000 bonuses, along with thousands more toward the operating budgets of state child care businesses, the release said.

"The Child Care Stabilization Grants are a significant investment in Michigan’s childcare infrastructure,” Jessica Savoie, director of Early Childhood Services at the Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District, said in the release. “These grants are sustaining thousands of small childcare business owners across the state, investing in the childcare workforce, and keeping costs lower for families. These grants have kept the doors open in many rural areas where access and availability to licensed quality care is often scarce. The funding investment is crucial to our economy and the future of Michigan’s youngest learners.”

The grants were made possible through bipartisan efforts to expand low-cost daycare to 105,000 kids and aid providers in renovating their buildings, the governor said.  

“The first round stabilization investments have been a game changer for the childcare sector,” Chana Edmond-Verley, CEO of Vibrant Futures, said in the release. “Providers are expressing appreciation and thanks for the unprecedented investment in their work through the Child Care Stabilization Grant. Family home providers, and center directors are certainly telling us these investments have been one of the keys to: staying in business, reopening doors, retaining talent, recapturing losses, and more importantly continuing to exercise the deep calling to do what they love — care for children. We’ve seen providers eager to take advantage of the promise round 2 holds for serving, nurturing, and supporting children — clearly the heart of all those who work in childcare.”

More than 3,000 programs have applied for grants, and funds are still available, the release said. Those interested in applying can do so through the Michigan Department of Education Child Development and Care website.

“Child care professionals are essential,” Dawne Bell, CEO of the Early Childhood Investment Corporation, said in the release. “In recognition of the extraordinary role that child care has played these past three years and will play in Michigan’s economic recovery, help is on the way. The Child Care Stabilization Grants are a critical boost for a crucial industry in our state. We want every eligible program to apply and receive these resources.”

The deadline to apply is 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 26; the release said.