Caring for MI Future (CFMF) was a $100M statewide effort, funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), focused on helping child care entrepreneurs open 1,000 new or expanded child care programs between May 2022 and September 2024. This initiative, led by the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP) focused on what child care entrepreneurs identified and Governor Whitmer’s administration prioritized as what was needed most to open and expand child care businesses—help finding and renovating space, startup funding, help recruiting staff, and support creating a business plan.
CFMF’s core partner agencies, which collectively made up the CFMF Implementation Team, included: MiLEAP’s Office of Early Childhood Education (Child Development and Care), Our Strong Start (Child Care Licensing), IFF, the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC), Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children (Michigan AEYC), Michigan State University (MSU), First Children’s Finance (FCF), and Wonderschool.
Due to the tireless work of the CFMF Implementation team and many instrumental partners throughout the state, the CFMF Initiative exceeded the project’s goal, by successfully helping child care entrepreneurs open or expand more than 3,600 child care programs in the state, giving families more high-quality and affordable child care options! Some highlights of this initiative’s impact include:
To learn more about the accomplishments of this comprehensive initiative, we invite you to read the Caring for MI Future Initiative Outcomes document and view this congratulatory message from Lt. Governor Gilchrist.
In alignment with the goal of ensuring all children have access to high quality early learning experiences, The Caring for MI Future Urgent and High Needs Map was created at the beginning of the CFMF Initiative to illustrate the known child care needs across the state in September 2022, using available data about staff shortage, the number of children competing for an available slot and child poverty rates for each county in Michigan. This map was updated regularly during this initiative to track progress and support ongoing efforts to ensure that resources were distributed equitably across the state.
An additional Child Care Desert Map and Chart was created by MSU based on the census and LARA databases to show areas with potential “child care desert” issues at the county and zip code level as well as a map showing the current status of Michigan licensed child care providers and their service capacity since July 2022. This map is updated regularly, and was designed to help the State of Michigan identify shortages in licensed child care facilities and to track progress toward equal access, in keeping with the goals of the Child Care Development Block Grant.
As the CFMF Initiative ended, Michigan State University also created a map illustrating the state-wide utilization of the CFMF resources and the amount of funding awarded in pre-licensure, startup and facility improvement grants to demonstrate reach and impact throughout the state.
The Caring for MI Future Implementation Team is working hard to support child care entrepreneurs throughout Michigan to open and expand their child care businesses, and to sustain their businesses long into the future. The following spreadsheets (which are updated monthly) highlight some of the projects and the counties where Caring for MI Future investments have been made:
In alignment with the goal of ensuring all children have access to high quality early learning experiences, The Caring for MI Future Urgent and High Needs Map was created to illustrate the known child care needs across the state in September 2022, using available data about staff shortage, the number of children competing for an available slot and child poverty rates for each county in Michigan.
An additional Child Care Desert Map and Chart have been created by MSU based on the census and LARA databases to show areas with potential “child care desert” issues at the county and zip code level.
Michigan State University has also created a new map showing the current status of Michigan licensed child care providers and their service capacity since July 2022. This map is updated regularly, and was designed to help the State of Michigan identify shortages in licensed child care facilities and to track progress toward equal access, in keeping with the goals of the Child Care Development Block Grant. As of spring 2023, the number of new and expanded facilities, taken together, exceeded the Caring for MI Future goal of 1,000 facilities.
Child care businesses need access to affordable, licensable spaces to care for kids. $50 million in grant funding has been awarded for minor renovations and improvements to facilities (both indoor and outdoor) to meet licensing and quality standards.
Cashflow is an ongoing challenge for child care businesses, especially new sites that must incur costs well before they have revenue. Grant funding has been awarded to child care entrepreneurs throughout the state to assist with these gaps.
Entrepreneurs can’t open and expand their businesses if they can’t hire staff. These funds will continue our statewide effort to recruit, train, and retain talented early educators that live and work in the communities they serve.
Many new businesses benefit from support from the state and their community to assess market demands, identify space, comply with health and safety rules and to create a sustainable business plan. These funds will align resources to make the startup and licensing process clearer and faster for providers.
