Michigan is trying to solve a problem that's been plaguing the state for years: a child care shortage.
The Detroit Free Press reports 16 organizations in the state have been awarded $2.4 million in grants from the Early Childhood Investment Corp.'s Child Care Innovation Fund to come up with strategies to address the child care gap.
The grantspart of $12.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding the ECIC received in Augustwill go to groups in the Upper Peninsula, Northwest, Northeast, and East Michigan.
"There's this power in child care that I think we've long-term overlooked, that it really is uniquely positioned to spark catalytic transformation," says Chana Edmond-Verley, CEO of Vibrant Futures, which has received a grant from the Right Place to plan child care planning efforts in Kent, Barry, Ionia, Montcalm, and Mecosta counties.
"How are folks going to get to work?" she says.
"For some counties, we don't have any child care, and we're going to think wildly outside the box."
In January, the state temporarily raised the income qualification for subsidized child care from 185 percent of the federal poverty level to 200 percent, which helped families that couldn't previously
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