Dear Friends,

First of all, thank you for your interest and ongoing support of the Cass  County Great Start Collaborative! As you know, we are a group made up of parents, clergy, business people and health and human service organization leaders, and our mission is to ensure that all children arrive at the kindergarten door ready, willing and able to succeed.

Fiscal year 2009 was a tough, busy one, to be sure. The state budget tested all, but most especially young children and their families. That said, out of trial comes strength, and the good news was that we discovered that by working together passionately we can improve the lives of young learners and their families, and therefore improve Michigan’s economic and social future.

The listing below is by no means comprehensive, but it does provide the highlights of the year and demonstrates the hard work and commitment of the GSC and Parent Coalition members.  

I wish you all the best as we head into another challenging – and hopefully rewarding – fiscal year.

-Mona Borowicz, Chair

GSC Activities

Cass County joined the other 82 counties within the State in launching its Great Start Collaborative effort.  Joining forces and working together on behalf of young children is the focus of this state wide initiative.  Cass believes that this unified approach will change how we as a community and state look at early childhood services and supports.  We are aligning ourselves to help children be eager and ready to start school.  

Thus far:

• A coordinator was hired
• The 25-30 person collaborative was established, with strong representation from area agencies, courts, schools, childcare centers and many others
• A parent liaison was hired
• Development of the parent coalition is well under way
• Attendance at the Capitol, rallying on behalf of early childhood services, opposing proposed cuts
• Collaborative members attended the Kit Payne conference on Brain Development