Great Start Collaborative (GSC): The GSC is a partnership of community members including parents, school representatives, business community members, healthcare professionals, agencies, programs, childcare providers, and interested individuals. The GSC works with the partners to have a coordinated system of community resources and support for families in Huron County with children from birth through age five.

The GSFC is a group of dedicated parents who assist in building support and awareness of early childhood, strengthen the civic and volunteer engagement, educate policy-makers, and support the work of the GSC.  The GSFC meets regularly, where childcare is provided to encourage participation and attendance. These meetings and events not only serve as opportunities for parents to contribute their perspectives to the work of the GSC and GSFC, but also as networking and social spaces to connect with other Huron County parents.

The Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) is Michigan's FREE preschool program for four-year-old children who qualify.  GSRP gives children a classroom experience to prepare them for Kindergarten.  GSRP helps children get ready for school, increases attendance, and reduces the number of children who repeat a grade by almost one-half.

The GSQRC provides a variety of services to parents, guardians, and childcare providers throughout the State of Michigan.  Services provided include child care training, Great Start to Quality Orientations, child care quality improvement, Lending Library materials, and more.

The GSC and GSFC cannot function without key players in early childhood: parents! We are actively seeking and encouraging parents to participate in both the GSC and GSFC to contribute their voices and time to our work. The initial steps in staying connected are following our Facebook page and sharing our events and resources with those around you! Stay involved by attending our bimonthly GSC meetings or monthly GSFC meetings. If you’d like to initiate the process, please complete this survey so we know how to best connect with you.

Head Start is a national program (federally funded) that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families.

- Provides a defined and accountable set of resources and services for children birth to age five and their families.

- Coordinates existing early childhood programs.

- Expands high-quality child care capacity.

- Seeks additional public and private support for the local early childhood system.

- Promotes community awareness of early childhood issues.

- Advocates for quality early childhood programs and services.

- Evaluates the system on the basis of expected outcomes.

​Early childhood means prenatal to school entry.  Early childhood services encompass an array of supports designed to address children's health, development and learning prior to school entry.  Early childhood services include child care, preschool, parenting education, and regular visits to a pediatrician and family practitioner.  For children with developmental delays or at risk due to a family circumstance, services can include special education, mental health treatment, home-based parenting education, and developmental therapies like physical, occupational and speech therapy.

The Early Childhood Investment Corporation is a unique public nonprofit created in 2005 to serve as a catalyst for change.  Bridging the public and the private sectors, the Investment Corporation is devoted to the well-being and school readiness of children.  The Investment Corporation funds and works closely with the Great Start Collaboratives and Great Start Parent Coalitions and administers Michigan's child care quality resources through the Great Start Child Care Quality Program.

There are many reasons an infant may be crying.  Trying to figure out what is wrong with your baby is the key to stop the crying.  Read Soothing a Crying Baby for tips on getting to the cause of your baby's crying and suggestions on how to resolve whatever may be upsetting your infant.  For additional resources on crying babies, visit the website entitled the Period of Purple Crying.

Attending a high-quality early childhood program prepares children to be successful in Kindergarten and beyond.  Experts agree that children who have quality early learning experiences are better prepared to be successful in school and throughout life.  Huron County's free preschool opportunities, Head Start, Early Head Start and the Great Start Readiness Program, use research-based curriculum to prepare children academically and socially for success in school.

Each year too many Michigan children - as many as one in three, according to a recent survey - enter kindergarten not ready to learn.  Some have previously unidentified health problems.  Some have social or emotional problems.  Some have developmental or learning problems.  For these children, not being ready for school becomes a life-long sentence of poor academic achievement, diminished expectations and limited opportunity.  Thankfully, the negative impact of the majority of these health, developmental and learning difficulties can be minimized or even eliminated with early identification and intervention. 

While state programs exist to address health, social-emotional, developmental and learning concerns of young children and their parents - local availability, access, capacity and quality varies tremendously.  Each state agency approaches financing, policy development, program development and accountability differently.  Past efforts to coordinate state government early childhood programs and build partnerships with the private sector have been difficult to sustain and have achieved limited success. 

The general public is becoming increasingly aware of the unprecedented growth and development that occurs during the first five years of life, and the importance of those years to future school success, but public will to support a tax increase, for example, to increase early childhood investment, remains untested.  Michigan has been fortunate over the past several years to have a cadre of state leaders, including the business and foundation communities, at the table with an unwavering determination to improve the school readiness of our youngest citizens.  With the enormous economic challenges facing our state, they are determined to keep our state's youngest learners at the forefront of Michigan's priorities.   

Children who start behind, stay behind.  Children who are held back in school are  more likely to drop out long-term.  Children who dropout are at significant risk of becoming victims of, or instigators of, criminal behavior.  Chronic physical and mental health issues that are left untreated often result in higher health care and/or special education costs.  The research is clear:  Getting kids off to a great start is just common sense.  It is both the right thing to do and the smart thing to do.   

Click here to view "The Time Is Now" video.