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KENT COUNTY VOTERS TO CONSIDER EARLY CHILDHOOD MILLAGE RENEWAL




Millage fills funding gap for early childhood education

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
July 15, 2024
A family participates in Bright Beginnings, a program funded through the Ready
by Five Early Childhood millage

All Districts — Funding from the Ready by Five Early Childhood millage helped
the Great Start to Quality Kent Resource Center, which is operated through Kent
ISD, launch a pilot program to provide real time, up-to-date information to
families on openings at licensed child care providers.

If voters Tuesday, Aug. 6, approve a no-tax increase renewal of .25 mill for
Ready by Five, the Great Start to Quality Kent Resource Center plans to seek a
second grant to continue its child care navigation work. Early childhood
organizations have to apply for grants or respond to requests for proposals to
receive funding from the Ready by Five millage. 

Kent Resource Center Director Jaimie Mueller said funding for the child-care
navigation project has been its biggest hurdle.

“We’re super thankful for the Ready by Five funding — that it’s allowed us to
start on this work that we have known has needed to happen for several years and
we just haven’t been able to do anything about it,” Mueller said.

The .25 mill, six-year renewal would generate about $8.8 million in its first
year and be used to expand access to early childhood programming. According to
Ready by Five, the cost to an owner of a home valued at $300,000 would be about
$37.50 per year, or $3.13 per month.


FILLING IN GAPS

Puppeteer Kevin Kammeraard, who is part of the KDL engagement team, participates
at the Laugh and Learn program hosted by Kent ISD early education programs and
funded through the Ready by Five Early Childhood millage

The Great Start to Quality Kent Resource Center is one of 18 community-based
organizations the Ready by Five millage has provided funding to since approved
in 2018. Those organizations support 32 different early childhood programs
providing prenatal support, developmental screenings, home visits, play and
learn groups, elimination of hazardous substances, intensive therapy for
children dealing with behavioral health issues and books to support reading at
home.

Along with the Kent Resource Center, Kent ISD has received Ready by Five funding
for Bright Beginnings, which serves families with children from prenatal to the
time they begin kindergarten and for Help Me Grow Kent, which connects parents
of young children (up to age 5) with local child development resources. Help Me
Grow Kent is overseen by the Great Start Collaborative.

“The early childhood millage is really designed to fill in gap areas,” said
Jennifer Headley-Nordman, president of First Steps Kent, which administers the
millage for Kent County. 

The millage does not duplicate funding or replace programs, but rather
strengthens the entire early childhood ecosystem, Headley-Nordman said, so
parents and children really get the most benefit before the children enter
kindergarten. 

“We know that birth to 5 is the time period that there’s really the most
cognitive growth,” Headley-Nordman said.


CONNECTING PROVIDERS AND FAMILIES

Great Start to Quality, a free resource, has two main focuses: helping licensed
child care providers improve the care they give to children and helping families
find the best licensed child care, preschool or afterschool program for their
children, ages 0-12. The statewide program has 10 resource centers. The Kent
Resource Center is the only center covering just one county.

Kent Resource Center’s navigation system project is an example of working to
strengthen programs. Headley-Nordman said the improved system helps meet
parents’ needs in today’s lifestyle because parents can find what they need
right on their phones.

“So many times, resources have relied on a laptop or someone having to have
access to a computer. We know that our parents are on the go, and we really are
heavily reliant on our phones and so to be able to have something that really is
meant for that type of operating system makes a lot of sense,” Headley-Nordman
said.

Ready by Five data has shown that students who participate in programs funded by
the millage have had higher reading and math scores when they get to third grade

The center’s $486,000 Ready by Five grant funded research which led to the
creation of a child care navigation team. Now, families that reach out to the
Kent Resource Center are connected to a navigator who provides support in
connecting the family to a provider that has openings and other resources if
needed, Mueller said. 

A child care navigator then follows up with the family to make sure they have
connected with providers and other services. The center worked with the Early
Childhood Investment Corporation, which oversees the statewide Great Start to
Quality website, on the project. 

“We have had really positive feedback from families that we’ve supported through
navigating child care and other community resources, and we’ve gotten really
great feedback from the providers that are participating and texting us their
openings,” Mueller said.


HELPING FUTURE STUDENTS BE SCHOOL READY

In 2023, more than 14,000 children and expectant parents in every zip code of
Kent County participated in programs funded by the Ready by Five Early Childhood
millage. A small cohort of students who participated in those programs entered
kindergarten last fall, Headley-Nordman said.

Headley-Nordman said children who have participated in some of the programs,
such as Bright Beginnings, have higher reading and math scores when they get to
third grade and take the M-STEP. They have also seen a reduction in preterm and
low birth-weight babies and an increase in the number of families accessing
assessments to determine if their child has a potential delay or disability.

KDL Caledonia branch manager Audrey Barker reads during a Laugh and Learn
program hosted by Kent ISD early education programs and funded through the Ready
by Five Early Childhood millage

“We’re seeing that we are catching more children earlier so they’re able to take
advantage of different types of therapy, so when they get to kindergarten, often
those children may need no special education services or may need less special
education services than they would have if they wouldn’t have accessed the
therapies and services that they did in advance,” Headley-Nordman said.

Basis Policy Research, a Grand Rapids-based research organization that is
reviewing Ready by Five data, recently found positive trends related to
kindergarten readiness for children who participated in Ready by Five programs,
Headley-Nordman said. Two groups showing promising results have been children
learning English and those who are African-American. As more students who have
participated in Ready by Five-funded programs enter and move through the K-12
system, Headley-Norman said they expect the data to be more robust.

“I really want (people) to remember that the program is about ensuring that we
have dedicated and sustained funding to support children between birth and
kindergarten, because we know that research shows that those children that
participate in early childhood programs and services are healthier,”
Headley-Nordman said. 

“They’re more ready for kindergarten, which means they’re going to be more ready
for school in general.”

Read more: 
• KDL seeks one-year, non-renewal ‘gap’ millage
• Training on high-end scenarios offered to bus drivers


- Sponsorship -





Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
Joanne Bailey-Boorsma is a reporter covering Kent ISD, Godwin Heights,
Kelloggsville, Forest Hills and Comstock Park. The salutatorian for the Hartland
Public Schools class of 1985, she changed her colors from blue and maize to
green and white by attending Michigan State University, where she majored in
journalism. Joanne moved to the Grand Rapids area in 1989, where she started her
journalism career at the Advance Newspapers. She later became the editor for
On-the-Town magazine, a local arts and entertainment publication. Her eldest
daughter is a nurse, working in Holland, and her youngest attends Oakland
University. Both are graduates from Byron Center High School. She is a volunteer
for the Van Singel Fine Arts Advisory Board and the Kent District Library. In
her free time, Joanne enjoys spending time with her family, checking out local
theater and keeping up with all the exchange students they have hosted through
the years. Read Joanne's full bio


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