Michigan Prosperity Region 4: Early Educator Wage Initiative

The Early Educator Wage Initiative—designed to enhance wages, stabilize childcare programs, and ensure that every Michigan child and family has access to quality care—will provide monthly stipends to about 250 early education professionals in 2026-27.  Wage Supplements will be distributed to early educators (teachers/lead caregivers and assistant teachers/family childcare assistants) from selected licensed childcare entities (i.e. business owner, organization or operator).

Selection includes two phases: (1) application and selection of childcare entities (i.e. business owner/organization/operator), and (2) enrollment of early educators from selected childcare entities.

PHASE 1
Selection of Licensed Childcare Entities

Dec. 5     Licensed Childcare Entity Applications Opens

Dec. 17   Implications of Wage Suppliments on Benefits Webinar from DHHS 

Dec. 18    Licensed Childcare Entity Application Closes

Dec. 23    Selected Childcare Entity Notified

PHASE 2
Enrollment of Early Educators from Selected Childcare Entities

Dec. 29    Early Educator Enrollment Opens

Jan. 12     Early Educator Enrollment Closes

Jan. 14     Selected Early Educators Confirmed and Notified

Jan. 15     Early Educator Information, Verification & Confirmation Process Begins

Jan. 31     First Wage Supplements Distributed

Before you fill out your application:

Please scroll down and read all details to understand requirements, benefit risks, and tax implications.

Who is eligible owners/operators of licensed childcare programs in Michigan Prosperity Region 4: Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kent, Lake, Mason, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newago, Oceana, and Ottawa Counties.

o   Child Care Center

o   Family Childcare Homes

o   Group Childcare Homes

o   Tribal Center

o   Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP)

o   Head Start/Early Head Start

All licensed childcare providers—including centers, group homes, family homes, Tribal Centers, Head Start, and Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) classrooms—are eligible to apply. If a childcare entity operates under multiple licenses, a separate application must be submitted for each license. It is not guaranteed that all licenses from one program will be selected.

Early educators must apply with a licensed program after being notified that their employer has been selected. Once approved, early educators must remain with the licensed program associated with application to remain eligible through August 2027. It’s possible for early educators to re-apply if they change employment, but re-qualification is not guaranteed.

Stipends will be allocated to each county according to the county’s share of population in Region 4. Within each county, stipends will be distributed relative to local application scores. As determined and ranked by Western Regional Childcare Coalition members at its July 2025 meeting, the criteria includes:

• Attraction/retention of early educators
• Concentration of child population density
• Acceptance of CDC scholarship
• Distribution of childcare sites across region by county
• Contribution to matching funds for Wage Initiative
• Alignment with coalition performance metrics
• Western RCC membership
• Classroom expansion

Participating childcare entities must support the employment verification process of their early educators prior to each monthly payment.  In Michigan Prosperity Region 4, early educators will receive stipends via direct deposit.  The stipend period will begin in January 2026 and continue monthly through August 2027:

$300/month for full-time early educators (defined as working 61 or more hours biweekly)

$200/month for part-time early educators (defined as working 40 or more but not exceeding 60 hours biweekly)

At least 250 awards are available in Region 4. An individual early educator cannot qualify for more than one award. Important: educators can apply in more than one region, but each can receive only one stipend. MiLEAP/MiRegistry will review all applicants to prevent duplicate stipends.

MiRegistry Requirements

1. Licensed programs must maintain an up-to-date organizational MiRegistry profile with employee documentation.
2. Educators must create or update a MiRegistry profile with current wage and employment documentation throughout the initiative.
3. Educators and programs must participate in all required evaluation activities.

Childcare Home Business Owners (home or group home license) To determine your annual income, refer to Line 31 on Schedule C  from your most recent federal tax return and divide this figure by the number of hours worked annually.  To calculate the hours worked annually, take the average hours worked weekly x 52.  For example, 40 hours per week is 40 x 52 weeks equals 2080 hours annually.

Benefits Caution In most cases, home-based childcare business owners and early educators benefit financially from accepting a wage supplement, even after taxes. In some cases, however, the supplement will raise taxable income enough to disqualify the recipient for SNAP benefits, CDC scholarship, health coverage, tax credits, or student financial aid. Each individual must carefully weigh the added income versus potential loss of benefits. Each applicant must acknowledge they have received information on benefit cliffs and tax implications.

Tax Liability Participation in the wage initiative may affect your taxes. You must pay any applicable income or other taxes on the wage supplements you receive. Many tax professionals recommend saving 30% of all contract wages (which will be reported but not have taxes withheld) in a separate savings account to pay taxes when due. If no taxes are due, you may use the savings account as a bonus. You can consult a tax professional to understand how additional income may impact tax liability.

For questions about eligibility or applications, please submit the form below or email: technicalassistance@vibrantfuturesmi.org