Developing Mainspring Early Care Alliance

In-home child care providers in Kent County are getting back-end support to maintain their businesses, helping to stabilize the industry. A three-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation is providing funding for First Steps Kent to build on its Shared Services Pilot Project with an initiative now known as Mainspring Early Care Alliance. The expenses and time associated with running a child care business force many providers out of the industry. Research shows easing those burdens helps stabilize the pool of providers, giving families more options.

W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s grant renewal will allow First Steps Kent to implement what was learned during the pilot. An early care alliance infrastructure will support and strengthen home-based child care businesses, so they can reinvest time and energy into quality care and education.

First Steps Kent has partnered with in-home child care providers throughout the pilot project and will continue to do so as Mainspring. During 2022, 11 child care business owners joined the Mainspring Advisory Team. Responsive to and reflective of the community, this team will ensure that early care resources are invested wisely and fairly. As the experts, the advisory team is crucial at this stage of implementation to guide and strategically inform the alliance.

"Your team has made an amazing impact on the lives of all child care professionals in Kent County, and in turn throughout Michigan. I am excited to learn that important work will continue," said Laurie Fletcher, in-home child care business owner and member of the Mainspring Advisory Team.

"First Steps Kent's ability to guide and lift the voices of those of us working in this industry has helped create for us a more positive and respectable working environment. At the same time, your team has assisted us in making significant steps forward on some of the biggest issues we have always faced."

The framework for the Mainspring Early Care Alliance consists of five priority areas: 1. Provider Informed Voice, 2. Connector, 3. Business Acumen, 4. Translation/Interpretation Support, and 5. Advocacy.

2022 Mainspring Numbers: 

• Hosted four webinars, with 1,197 registered participants from more than 50 different cities in Michigan
• Recruited an 11-member in-home child care business owner advisory team, representative of all areas of Kent County
• Provided information and resources to 209 in-home child care providers
• Learned best practices at the 2022 National Shared Services Technical Conference in Austin, Texas, which featured 30 learning sessions with more than 500 participants from across the country

"As the experts, child care business owners will have the power to inform the creation of an equitable system where their needs are centered. ” -Kristen Sobolewski, First Steps Kent