2007 Promising Projects — Enhancing the Lives of Children and Their Families

After a quarter century, the availability of reliable, high-quality childcare in Harbor Springs was interrupted by the announcement that the structure that housed the Holy Childhood Daycare and Preschool was being demolished. Mounting utility costs and the huge sums needed to bring the 90 year-old building up to code left the primary supplier of local childcare without a home.

In response, a group of community leaders rallied to form the Harbor Springs Community Daycare and Preschool, and embarked on a strategic planning process to seek a comprehensive solution to the area's need for affordable, accessible, high-quality child care. In the interim, the Frey Foundation joined other funders in providing support to maintain operations in a temporary facility, retain staff and reduce the disruption to local families during the process.

The Grand Rapids Public Library (GRPL) received a grant to launch a fresh approach to improving early literacy. The plan, called Success from Birth, proposes to train librarians to help parents prepare their children to read, and ultimately better prepare them for kindergarten entry. Partnering with local colleges, the GRPL plans to develop curriculum designed to introduce their staff to early childhood development. Their staff, in turn, will work with parents to help demystify the process of learning to read. Outreach is an integral part of the plan with a particular emphasis on low-income and at-risk families.

Public libraries are in a remarkable position to expose children to great quantities of print and meaningful language opportunities that researchers agree are crucial to reading achievement. The GRPL plans to combine this expertise with an alternative approach to greatly influence the reading skills of young children before they enter kindergarten.