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MEETING MINUTES |
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Taken by Shara Holmes, Michigan 4C & Steve Manchester, Michigan AEYC THE MICHIGAN CHILD CARE TASK FORCE NEXT MEETS IN SEPTEMBER. The meeting will be Wednesday, September 4, 2002 from 9:30 a.m. until noon. It will be held in the State of Michigan Library, Lake Ontario Room (3rd floor), 717 West Allegan, Lansing. PLEASE NOTE: The October meeting will be October 9 (which is the second Wednesday), There is no meeting space at the Michigan Library on the first Wednesday. NOTE: The Child Care Task Force WILL NOT MEET in JULY & August. Co-chairs Kristen McDonald-Stone and Lisa Brewer called the meeting to order shortly after 9:30. Each person gave a self introduction and the group adopted the agenda. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - Judy Levine presented a written report (see attachment). Her report included comments about potential budget cuts in early childhood programs, various grants, and future technical assistant and training programs. LEGISLATIVE UPDATES: * Steve Manchester reported that House Resolution 468 passed in the House Committee on Family and Children's Services earlier this morning. It calls for the Michigan Department of Education to implement a "Michigan After-school Initiative." This initiative will convene a task force of interested parties to survey the current state of after-school programs in Michigan and make recommendations about a state wide system. Guest Speaker: HEATH MERIWETHER, Publisher of the Detroit Free Press and Co-chairperson of the Michigan Ready to Succeed Dialogue. Heath shared how his interest in early childhood education and care (ECEC) developed. As a middle school teacher and then journalist, he noticed that some children seemed destined for failure at an early age. Some years ago, the Free Press started its "Children First" series, an effort for the newspaper to "stop keeping score and get into the game" on behalf of children. His personal life experiences from his parents and as a parent himself helped. He discussed the Michigan Ready to Succeed Partnership, which he co-chairs with Marvin McKinney from the Kellogg Foundation. He discussed the accomplishments of RTS, which included: "Be their Hero . . ." media campaign; helping encourage $90 million in state funding for ASAP-PIE over a two year period; 40+ community dialogues over the last three years on ECEC matters; bringing nationally recognized researchers and authors on ECEC into Michigan to educate legislators and other leaders. Heath feels that recent energy around ECEC has revitalized the Free Press and its Children First work. His newspaper will begin interviewing gubernatorial candidates in a few days and ECEC will be an important part of those interviews. Mr. Meriwether feels that the Michigan Child Care Task Force has been instrumental in making the entire state take notice of the importance of ECEC. The task force and RTS must face the following challenges: Michigan has to "connect the dots" in order to develop a complex system that can serve all young children; more awareness raising is necessary; businesses must become aware that ECEC investment is crucial to business; funding for ECEC must increase; we must improve our ability to influence legislators and other public leaders about the importance of ECEC. Heath concluded by obtaining questions from the task force that the Free Press should ask candidates in this election year. FURTHER UPDATES ON TASK FORCE BUSINESS: * Kristen McDonald-Stone handed out a letter that Representative Joseph Rivet had written to Michigan's Auditor General. The letter requested a performance audit of the Division of Child Day Care Licensing. The letter stated that the Division may no longer be performing its duties adequately nor meeting the intent of the law as it does its daily work. This strongly worded letter listed specific provisions of PA 116 of 1973 (the child care regulation act) that the Division seemed unable to meet. For a copy of the letter contact Kristen at kristen@mhsa.ws or 517-374-6472; or Lisa Brewer at Brewer@mi4c.org or 517-351-0443. You may want to call Representative Rivet and thank him (517-373-0158). ANNOUNCEMENTS: * Thanks go to Senator Carl Levin for becoming a cosponsor of the Kerry-Bingamon child care bill (in Congress) involving child care funding; Senator Debby Stabenow did not become a cosponsor. The meeting adjourned at 12:01 p.m. Have a nice summer!
NOTE: The October meeting is OCTOBER 9, which is THE SECOND WEDNESDAY (due to the unavailability of meeting space at the Michigan Library on the first Wednesday). Thanking
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