The state of Michigan needs to fund the early childhood programs. The Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank has shown that the investment in early education for at-risk kids can yield an 18% rate of return. Not to mention the goal of the Great Start Collaboratives and ECIC is to harness the dollars already at work to allow them to work more effectively between programs and allow the private sector to invest in these programs. Use your voice to advocate for the youngest citizens in Michigan...they will be the ones responsible to clean up the mess that we are currently in.
Let the Michigan Legislators know that OUR KIDS MATTER!!!!!

***95% of Michigan Voters state that investing in early education matters to them and should be funded in the state budget.

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Added by: amliddle on June 19, 2009, 11:43:57 am
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The state of Michigan needs to fund the early childhood programs. The Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank has shown that the investment in early education for at-risk kids can yield an 18% rate of return. Not to mention the goal of the Great Start Collaboratives and ECIC is to harness the dollars already at work to allow them to work more effectively between programs and allow the private sector to invest in these programs. Use your voice to advocate for the youngest citizens in Michigan...they will be the ones responsible to clean up the mess that we are currently in.
Let the Michigan Legislators know that OUR KIDS MATTER!!!!!

***95% of Michigan Voters state that investing in early education matters to them and should be funded in the state budget.
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Added by: amliddle on June 19, 2009, 11:44:35 am
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The state of Michigan needs to fund the early childhood programs. The Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank has shown that the investment in early education for at-risk kids can yield an 18% rate of return. Not to mention the goal of the Great Start Collaboratives and ECIC is to harness the dollars already at work to allow them to work more effectively between programs and allow the private sector to invest in these programs. Use your voice to advocate for the youngest citizens in Michigan...they will be the ones responsible to clean up the mess that we are currently in.
Let the Michigan Legislators know that OUR KIDS MATTER!!!!!

***95% of Michigan Voters state that investing in early education matters to them and should be funded in the state budget.
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Added by: amliddle on June 19, 2009, 5:09:59 pm
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Sent to me from a concerned Mother of two boys in Ontonagon County:
From day one, Michigan's children should be our number one priority. I know there have been several programs emphasizing the “cradle to career” or “birth to work” think, in an effort to solicit a notion of caring from Michigan’s legislators, but to me, that’s backwards.  OUR CHILDREN ARE NOT COMMODITIES.  Years ago as a culture we got rid of the idea of women as commodities and minority races as commodities, and yet today, our most precious beings, the foundation of humanity, are only important as long as they are future money makers.  This is wrong.  More importantly than career-oriented automatons, or our future working class, CHILDREN ARE CITIZENS.  They deserve the fundamental guarantee of health and the pursuit of happiness from day one.  They need to be celebrated, not estimated for their future worth and work.

Today and every day going forward, I'm asking all Michigan legislators to consider this:  The economy is suffering, but what is money if your children are sick?  What is a job if you cannot care for your child?  Money, jobs, these are not considerations when it comes to the well-being of Michigan’s children.  If you want a human example, ask Aaron Ruotsala of Cole's Foundation<http://www.colesfoundation.com> in Gogebic County, whether he would give all of his past, present and future earnings up to bring back his three-year-old son who died of cancer last year: YES! Michigan, he would.  Ask my friend Katie Maki in Houghton why she is <http://www.mixedgreens.org> teaching moms to breastfeed their babies--Because she knows the needs of our little citizens have to be met in the best way possible, even if it involves personal sacrifice. No Michigan parent would ever exchange their child for a job or a money.  And yet here we have our "representative" body doing exactly that!  It's appalling. 

Whether a newborn or a middle-schooler, Michigan’s children SHOULD BE our state's number one priority.  Economy is secondary.  Children are number one from day one.  Be the model Michigan!  Set the standard for quality care and program funding for ALL children of ALL ages!  Repudiation of the worth of early childhood programs, citing that all other budget allocations have returns on investments too, is speculative and poor reasoning for the use of Michigan taxpayers' money. This is not investing in the stock market, or planning for retirement where the returns aren’t guaranteed and don't happen for years and years.  This is now, and the ROI is immediate.  FULLY FUND ALL 0-5 PROGRAMS! FULLY FUND K12! Healthy, happy children are our only guarantee that we can have have a caring, contributing families of citizens today and tomorrow.

Sent from a Mother of three in Gogebic County:
As a parent of 3 children in Michigan I am saddened today to hear that the proposed budget has so many cuts to early childhood. Two of my children have benifited from the GSRP program and would not be as prepared for K had they not attained GSRP. Please advise whom ever you can to save Michigans early childhood system...this long term investment is priority #1 ....for kids, and the FUTURE of our state!!!! IT'S NOT TIME TO GO BACKWARDS!!!

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