Childcare Success Stories

Cascade Engineering: Helping Employees Stay Employed

A qualified workforce is one of the key factors limiting healthy growth in Michigan's early care and education sector. Yet one of the biggest constraints for early childhood educators needed is the cost of childcare for their own children. Fortunately, the region's largest provider of early education took a visionary position last year. That's when Head Start for Kent County began offering Tri-Share benefits to their staff, including the professionals whose chosen career is providing quality care and learning for infants and toddlers. With Head Start opening nine new Early Head Start classrooms for infants and toddlers, the childcare benefit is especially valuable. The new, nurturing, mixed-age classrooms for up to eight children feature a play-based curriculum that promotes learning throughout every part of the day... as well as talented teachers who value the affordability Tri-Share provides for their own children's care.

"It's a war for talent out there," said Kenyatta Brame, executive vice president of local manufacturer Cascade Engineering. Yet he frequently sees employees forced to choose between going to work and paying for costly childcare, or staying home to take care of their kids.

"Assume you're making $18 an hour and you're paying $340 a week for childcare," Brame said. "That's unsustainable. So employees have to make a decision: If you don't have affordable and consistent childcare, there may be times where you can't show up to work. And that impacts your ability to pay your childcare because you don't get paid that day."

Head Start Kent: Childcare for Childcare Professionals

"Tri-Share is an exciting opportunity to expand affordable access to childcare for our staff," said MaDonna Princer, executive director of Head Start for Kent County Inc. "We recognize that many of our staff struggle to afford high quality care for their young children, and this partnership provides HS4KC an avenue to help our staff with this need.

"We also see this as a way to attract talent to our agency during a time when the early childhood field is facing a staffing crisis."

Huntey's Clubhouse Expands to Six Locations

Established in 1995, Huntey's Clubhouse has grown from an in-home daycare to six early learning and child care centers across west central Michigan. In October of 2021, Tyler joined the family business as CEP. "I'm thankful to be part of a team that is passionate about bringing high quality child care services to the communities we serve," said Tyler Huntey. "I enjoy applying my business development background to the childcare industry to grow our reach and be a positive force in the world." For the Huntey founder, family, and staff, providing quality child care has always been the heart of our business. It was true in the beginning 30 years ago, and it remains the number one focus today. Huntey's Clubhouse offers safe, nurturing care for infants through school age children, along with established preschool programs.

"I feel that working with children creates the foundation for development and education," said Leanne Ablin, Huntey's Clubhouse executive director and meal service director. "I'm so thankful that I can work where I am fulfilled and where I can serve children and families in rural communities."

SIX LOCATIONS

Big Rapids

Hesperia

Howard City

Morley Stanwood

Newago

Reed Cit

Parent Coaching Leads to Childcare Success

Grand Rapids single parent Schera Swagerty has juggled several fulltime jobs, multiple side gigs, and an ever-changing array of childcare solutions to provide for herself and her young son. For nearly six years, Swagerty has struggled to find affordable childcare, paying rates as high as $250 a week for her one child. More than once, she has changed jobs simply to earn enough to cover the trifecta of basic essentials: childcare, rent, and groceries. Swagerty's plight is common in West Michigan, where a critical childcare shortage costs the region $279 million in missed economic performance each year. The lack of affordable childcare limits workforce participation and performance, according to a Vibrant Futures survey of employers. Roughly one in four parents said they've worked fewer hours, stopped working or had to leave a job due to not having access to childcare, the survey said.

For Schera Swagerty, Vibrant Futures "Little Scholars" parent coaching helped her balance the mental, emotional, and financial demands of single parenting. The confidence she gained was a key factor in finally finding childcare that was both successful and sustainable. Designed to help parents help their children grow smarter, Little Scholars serves Kent County parents of children age 0 to 5. In weekly coaching sessions via phone, Zoom, or home visits, parents learn and reinforce techniques for cultivating verbal skills, fostering healthy development, and encouraging learning.

Free books, toys, and fun incentives keep Little Scholars rewarding for both parent and child.

Taylor Totts Childcare Commits to Quality Learning

As the proprietor of a Michigan-licensed child care group home, Tasha Taylor has embraced a triple ethic of quality, service, and compassion. "I set out to create a quality environment for children, with learning and enrichment every day," said Taylor. "And I made a commitment to be available for parent who need me. I care deeply about the children in my care, their families, and their futures." Taylor started her in-home child care business, Taylor Totts, in the Burton Heights neighborhood in 2017. Now offering 24/7 early childhood care to families in the area, she currently serves a dozen kids, ages 0-12, out of her home. She dreams of someday opening a child care center

Rising costs in childcare businesses include food, gas, water, electricity and trash. With many mouths to feed at every meal, home-based childcare business owners must be financially stable and budget-savvy. "I'm budgeting for 12 kids per shift," said childcare business owner Tasha Taylor. "Money will go as quick as you get it if you don't know how to budget."

Through her commitment to delivering affordable, quality care, Taylor has emerged as an inspiration and role model for others interested in childcare careers.

Tri-Share Helps Family Afford Childcare for Two

When a young Michigan family learned they were expecting their second child, they started planning early for affordable childcare solutions. "Both of us have always worked hard to support ourselves and our family, and we've always tried to spend modestly," the dad wrote in a letter to Vibrant Futures. The addition of another child and sending their older son, Silas, to a quality learning environment required a new childcare budget. With costs still too tight after serious belt-tightening, Silas' dad started searching for a new role with a higher income. The new job and baby Elijah arrived in the same week, a double blessing with perfect timing. Then a third, unexpected breakthrough: the new employer introduced Tri-Share. With support from one employer and the state, the family was able to retain both parents' incomes, and shift from surviving to thriving.

"To our family, the Tri-Share program is the greatest benefit offered by any company either of us has ever worked for," wrote a father of two young boys, one of two parents working full-time to provide for the family.

"The wage gap has never stopped growing," he added. "I believe social programs will be necessary to give even middle-class families the opportunity to achieve."

Wolverine Coil Spring Co. Invests in Loyalty and Growth

As a Michigan Tri-Share employer partner, Wolverine Coil Spring Co. adopted the state's innovative solution to help current and
prospective workers find and secure childcare. Wolverine CEO Jay Dunwell joins business leaders from across the state who see Tri-Share as a powerful magnet to attract new talent, a
potent catalyst to spark lasting loyalty, and a promising foundation for positive business growth.

"We got on board early because we knew the lack of high-quality
affordable child care was hurting our employees and our business by shrinking the talent pool we needed to draw from in order for our business to thrive," Wolverine Coil Spring HR Manager Diane Peacock said. "We see Tri-Share as good for our employees, vital for our business and great for Michigan's economic future."

Single mother and Wolverine department leader Melissa Trotter was struggling to make ends meet after her mother and grandmother could no longer help care for her 3-year-old daughter Ava.

"Child care was taking a big chunk of my check and I didn't know how I was going to make it," Trotter said. "When I signed up for Tri-Share, my world began to change for the better. Now I pay about $280 a month for child care and I can keep working at a job I love... with the confidence that my daughter is safe with a quality child care worker who I can afford to pay."

Childcare Success Stories