Coordinator: Jan Shangle
1-877-702-8600 Ext. 4478
jshangle@oaisd.org

 Parent Liason: Andrea Mulder
616-581-7475
amulder@pathwaysmi.org

What is the Ottawa County Great Start Collaborative?

The Ottawa County Great Start Collaborative (GSC) is a partnership of local stakeholders and parents working toward a comprehensive early childhood system that will be aligned so as to address all factors that influence a child's readiness for school and life.

Ottawa County Great Start if funded through the generous support of The Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC) ECIC is a public corporation that was formed in August of 2005 after Governor Granholm called for its creation. It was created to assure that every young child in Michigan has a Great Start and arrives at the kindergarten door healthy and ready to succeed in school, with parents who are committed to educational achievement.

Mission, Vision and Values

Mission

Working together with our families and communities to identify needs, maintain resources and creatively seek solutions to exisitng gaps for families with young children.

Vision

A coordinated community approach for our families with young children to secure opportunities and resources for a Great Start in life and learning.

Values

We believe that the Great Start Collaborative of Ottawa County must value

• Accessibility
• Accountability
• Healthy Relationships
• Individuality: diverse and inclusive
• Safe and nurturing environments
• Honesty and integrity
• Unity
• Intentional and strategic actions

What is a Comprehensive Early Childhood System?

The Great Start System (Visual Representation)

A single, interconnected and intertwined network of public and private services and supports to accomplish better results for young children and families. Essential components are:

Physical Health Care

Comprehensive physical and child development services for all young children, as well as timely and appropriate referrals for children with developmental, behavioral, and psychosocial concerns.

Social-Emotional Health Care

Specialized child development and mental health services designed to promote the social-emotional well-being of all young children and address the needs of children at risk of developing mental health problems.

Parent Education & Family support

Supports parents in the critical role they play in their child's overall development. Support for the healthy development of children by addressing the stressors impairing the ability of families to nurture the well-being, safety, and overall development of their children.

Early Care and Education

Families have access to high quality early care and educational services that support children's early learning, health, and social-emotional well-being helping children to be ready to succeed in school and life.

Basic Needs, Economic Security & Child Safety

Infants and young children live in safe families and families of young children are economically stable.

Michigan's Project Great Start

Great Start Provides Ottawa County the Opportunity to...

• Lay the foundation for aligning services and resources.
• Formalize partnerships and processes.
• Focus on universality of programs and services for children ages 0-5 and their families.
• Make more data driven decisions.
• Broaden community involvement.
• Include parents in the process.
• Seek opportunities for program and service sustainability.
• Coordinate 0-5 efforts state-wide.

Why is Early Childhood a Good Investment?

• Well-designed programs for disadvantaged children age 4 and younger can produce economic benefits ranging from $1.26 to $17 for each $1 spent on the programs. (Rand Corporation 1/12/06)
•  "People who participate in enriched early childhood programs are more likely to complete school and much less likely to require welfare benefits, become teen parents or participate in criminal activities. Rather, they become productive adults." James Heckman, University of Chicago (and 2000 Nobel laureate in economics)
• While 85% of a child's core brain structure is formed by age three, less than 4% of public investments on education and development have occurred by that time. (Early Learning Left Out: Closing the Investment Gap for America's Youngest Children, 2nd edition, Voices for America's Children and the Child and Family Policy Center, 2005.)
•  "Careful academic research demonstrates that tax dollars spent on early childhood development provide extraordinary returns compared with investments in the public, and even private, sector." (Art Rolnick, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis)

Great Start is funded by the generous support of:

Great Start Home