Radio address emphasizes importance of investing in early childhood education
LANSING - In her weekly radio address, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today said that the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC) will be awarding 11 Great Start grants totaling $780,000 to Michigan communities across the state to assure that every child in Michigan arrives at kindergarten healthy, safe, and ready to succeed. The governor is urging the Legislature to support a budget that invests an additional $31.5 million in Great Start early childhood slots
"From the day I took office, I have stressed that investment in early childhood education and care is critical for the economic viability of our state," said Granholm. "Across the county, many business leaders and economists and scientists are coming to a very important conclusion, which is, to create the workforce of the 21st century, we must begin in the earliest years of life."
Governor Granholm established the ECIC in 2005 to support a network of local public-private partnerships to help identify the needs of young children and their families. The ECIC brings together business, parents, government, foundations, and others to make sure those children get the services they need.
"The workforce of the future demands that we invest in our earliest learners now," said Granholm. "Supporting investment in early childhood is not just the right thing to do - it's the smart thing to do."
The governor's weekly radio address is released each Friday morning and may be heard on broadcast stations across the state. The address is available on the governor's Web site at (
www.michigan.gov/gov
) for download, together with a clip of the quote above. The radio address is also available as a podcast on the Web site, as well as on iTunes and via RSS feed for general distribution to personal MP3 players and home computers. Links to the audio files and text of today's address follow.
Governor Jennifer M. Granholm
Radio Address - Early Childhood Investment Corporation
April 4, 2008
This is Governor Jennifer Granholm.
Across the country, many business leaders and economists and scientists are coming to a very important conclusion, which is, to create the workforce of the 21st century, we must begin in the earliest years of life.
From the day I took office, I have stressed that investment in early childhood education and care is critical for the economic viability of our state.
In 2005, I created the Early Childhood Investment Corporation, also known as ECIC, to assure that every child in Michigan arrives at kindergarten healthy, safe and ready to succeed. ECIC is working to identify ways to invest smarter in the crucial first five years of a child's life, and it's working to end the achievement gap that prevents us from realizing the potential of far too many children. ECIC supports a network of local public-private partnerships; those are known as Great Start collaboratives.
These local partnerships do two important things. First, they identify the needs of young children and their families at that local level, whether it is access to health care or information about where to get quality child care. Second, they bring together business, parents, government, foundations, and others - they bring them all together to make sure those children get the services they need.
I am so pleased to announce that the ECIC will provide 11 Great Start grants totaling $780,000 to Michigan communities, from Keweenaw County to Lenawee County, to create new Great Start collaboratives and parent coalitions.
Through these new local partnerships, 122,000 more young children will be part of Michigan's Great Start community. That means that more than half of the 650,000 children under five in Michigan will now live in a community where people are working together to make sure that every child gets a Great Start in life. And that's a great achievement, but we certainly have to do more.
And this is why I am urging the Legislature to support a budget that invests an additional $31.5 million in Great Start early childhood slots. This investment will ensure that ALL Michigan's young children and families are going to be served by a Great Start collaborative and Great Start parent coalition. And it will also allow more than 7,000 additional children to attend a high quality pre-school program.
The workforce of the future demands that we invest in our earliest learners now. Supporting investment in early childhood is not just the right thing to do - it's the smart thing to do.
Thank you for listening.
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