Caring for MI Future:
Facilities Improvement Fund

Research

• A System for All Children: An Early Childhood Education Needs Assessment in Grand Rapids (2018)
• The System We Need: A Neighborhood Snapshot of Early Education in Detroit (2015)
• Building a Better System: The Need for Early Childhood Education in Macomb, Oakland, and Out-Wayne Counties (2015)
• Getting Ready: Preparing to House Your Pre-Kindergarten Program (2006)
• The Building Blocks of Design: A Handbook for Early Childhood Development Facilities (2004)

Articles

• The importance of facility quality in early education
• Big and small: sharing early education wisdom from rural to urban communities
• The high cost of limited access to early childhood education in Detroit
• Prepared to learn: Why early education is so important for Michigan’s children
• The positive signs, and challenges ahead, for early education in Detroit and Michigan
• What Michigan can learn from Chicago about growing early childhood education
• What will it take to make Detroit a “baby friendly” city?

IFF, a mission-driven lender, developer, and real estate consultant, received $50 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding, awarded by the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP) as part of the Caring for MI Future initiative. Caring for MI Future is a $100 million investment that will help more Michigan families find quality, affordable child care in their community by opening 1,000 new, or expanded, child care programs by the end of 2024.