League of Women Voters examines childcare
From staff reports
On Monday, Feb. 23, the League of Women Voters Leelanau County, along with Child and Family Services of Northwestern Michigan, Samaritans’ Closet, Leelanau Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Leelanau Early Childhood Development Commission, NW Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health and the Leelanau County Family Coordinating Council will show a second episode in The Raising of America documentary series: “Once Upon a Time: When Childcare for All Wasn’t Just a Fairytale.” This film traces the history of legislative efforts to create high quality early childhood services for our country’s young children. It helps us imagine how things might be different if all American children had access to the high-quality early care and education that is available in other developed nations. A follow up discussion with community leaders will continue the conversation about where we go from here in creating the kind of environment that values young children and supports their families.
The community is invited to attend a 6:30 p.m. gathering, with refreshments, in the Community Room of the Leelanau Government Center followed by the film at 7. A panel discussion featuring Jim Scherrer of Child and Family Services of Northwestern Michigan, Sarah Jane Johnson of Leelanau Children’s Center, Doug Luciani of Traverse City Chamber of Commerce and Tricia Denton of Samaritan’s Closet will follow the film. The audience will be encouraged to participate in a question and answer session with the panelists. A box of diapers is a suggested donation.
In November 2014 the League of Women Voters and a number of Leelanau County organizations opened a community conversation about how our country can better support families and their young children. They showed Are We Crazy About Our Kids, part of The Raising of America documentary series to the community. That episode focused on how investment in high quality early childcare and education can pay big economic dividends many times over. Community business leaders spoke to this point in a panel discussion following the showing.
More information about The Raising of America documentary can be found at www.RaisingofAmerica.org
For more information: Call 231-386-5106, visit LWVLeelanau.org or follow LWVLC on Facebook at League of Women Voters Leelanau County.
