Imperative 3

Providing High Quality Programs and Professionals

Early childhood education is vital to early development. We strive to achieve wage and compensation equality, in order to recruit and retain skilled professionals.

Detroit must hire these educators to help children get the education they deserve.

67% of early childhood professionals cite low wages as their biggest staffing issue.

State of Michigan is investing a historic $1.4 billion to strengthen the childcare system.

Led by the Early Childhood Investment Corporation and Black Family Development, our work is focused on greater access to high-quality professionals during a child’s first eight years of life.

We are creating simple tools families, parents, and caregivers can use in their daily life to prepare their children for school. Plus, we are informing and guiding parents on how to enroll their children in childcare and education programs that will help their kids excel.

Lead Organizations

Find Out More

Body: Our integrated network helps ensure that children and early childhood providers have the same opportunities as others, ensuring sufficiency, health, well-being, safety, and preparedness to thrive. Find out the latest on the Hope Starts Here blog and on the websites for our Lead Organizations: Black Family Development Inc. and Early Childhood Investment Corporation.

The Latest

Hope Starts Here Work Advancing Prek for All in Michigan

Each team at Hope Starts Here is focused on furthering Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s vision for PreK for All, a bold goal to provide every four-year-old in Michigan with access to free Prekindergarten (PreK) by 2027. To support these efforts, we’re building connections with other programs and initiatives within the state’s birth-to-five early learning and care system. Learn more about what we’re doing on the Hope Starts Here blog.

Read More About Our PreK for All Efforts

Dig Deeper

Early childhood education is just that—education. Child care professionals are not babysitters, they are teachers. Expectations and requirements for early childhood educators must be addressed and equality in pay and talent must be paramount.

Black Family Development

Early Childhood Investment Co.

LENA Start BFDI