IMPACT 2024 will help us find solutions to our community’s childcare challenges. Ann Arbor SPARK will preface our morning with a big picture view of the problem and its work to address it with the Livingston-Washtenaw Counties Childcare Coalition. We will engage with practical resources and solutions already at hand, hear more about possible solutions to emulate from Kent County, and learn about EPIC, an aspirational model our guests are putting to work in Colorado. By lunch we will be better equipped to achieve individual and collective success.
 
The Washtenaw Landscape: Why Childcare Matters
IMPACT will commence with SPARK’s Phil Santer, with an overview of the current childcare landscape and what solutions the Livingston and Washtenaw Counties Childcare Coalition proposes. This group of local childcare providers, families, policymakers, and businesses developed possible solutions to address the issue of childcare from an economic development perspective.
 
Childcare Stories, Strategies, and Solutions
Our panel will provide their perspectives on running a childcare business, policy tools available to communities, and meeting individual organizational needs through Tri-Share and childcare connections.

Etta King Heisler, Executive Director of Apple Playschools

Annette Sobocinski, Executive Director of Child Care Network

 
Engagement Sessions
 
Michigan Success: The Kent County Model

Jennifer Headley-Nordman, President of First Steps Kent, will tell us how First Steps works with parents, service providers, funders, advocates, and other stakeholders to build a comprehensive early childhood system in Kent County. Jennifer will give perspective on Kent’s recently renewed Ready by Five Early Childhood Millage, how the community worked to create it, and what lies ahead in implementation.
 

Nicole Riehl, President and CEO, EPIC Colorado
Executives partnering to invest in Children


Steph Itelman, Chief Impact Officer, EPIC Colorado
Executives partnering to invest in Children

Colorado’s EPIC Childcare Answers
IMPACT will culminate with special guests from Colorado, Steph Itelman and Nicole Riehl. Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC) is putting the Colorado Model to work by helping employers attract and retain the best workforce while supporting environments that enable families and children to thrive. One of the biggest challenges identified by employers in our region is clarification of the role they can—or even should—play in childcare solutions, and EPIC has a track record of addressing this concern and developing solutions for diverse workforces. Data shows employers can return up to $4.00 or more for every dollar they invest in childcare solutions due to increased recruitment and retention. EPIC is expanding nationwide and will share their Colorado Model as well as a wider perspective on how a region can address this issue.
 

Yazeed Moore, Director of Michigan Programs with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

We are excited that both of our engagement sessions and their question-and-answer periods will be moderated by Yazeed Moore, Director of Michigan Programs with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

To be a sponsor of this event, please click here for detailed information on sponsorship opportunities, or contact Rosalind@a2ychamber.org for more information.