Families Asked to Participate in Child Care Survey

News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 27, 2023

TRAVERSE CITY, MI – Networks Northwest is leading an effort to create a regional plan to address gaps in child care in the 10-county region. To better understand and address barriers that families face when accessing child care, a Family Child Care Survey has been created and shared widely in the hopes of reaching as many families as possible.

The Family Child Care Survey is anonymous and confidential and aims to inform a regional action plan for increasing access to affordable, quality child care. With support from Michigan’s Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC) Child Care Innovation Fund, Networks Northwest has formed a Regional Child Care Planning Coalition charged with gathering and analyzing data to learn more about: the capacity and quality of the current child care system; the child care preferences of parents, and; the needs of the business community.

“We know there are significant gaps related to child care availability and need. With the Family Child Care Survey, we hope to learn more about what the real life experience is for families in terms of seeking, using and paying for care as well as their preferences when it comes to choosing a child care provider,” said Jessica Willis, Director of Northwest Michigan Works! at Networks Northwest. “We are hoping to have a really robust response from each of the 10 counties so we have as much information and insight from families as possible.”

Parents and families of a child 0-17 years old are being asked to take the survey which can be found at nwm.org/Childcare.

The Regional Child Care Planning grant runs through June 2024. For more information contact Jessica Willis at Jessica.willis@networksnorthwest.org.