An anonymous donation creates a new fund at the Keweenaw Community Foundation to address challenges in early childhood

Challenges in childcare can hinder a community. In recent years, the Copper Country Great Start Collaborative has led the area’s movement to address the lack of childcare centers and programs with help from various community partners.

We have been so excited to partner with the Keweenaw Community Foundation on a couple of different projects. They bring the community together to work on things that impact the community, and that’s the goal of the collaboration too. So we’ve been working with them for the collaborative on a car seat initiative. We’ve also been working with them on some safe sleep education and other projects that impact our community for good, including a childcare project. And so when this anonymous donor came to us and said, let’s get this fund started, we were happy to look at what funds we had available and also contribute to this early childhood fund. – Iola Brubaker, Director, Copper Country Great Start Collaborative

The way that we do our work, we’re supporting all sorts of initiatives, for all ages. The Great Star Collaborative and the Keweenaw Family Resource Center have these pillars of early childhood work in our community. We’ve done work together, not just on this fund, but on grants that we’ve provided to them in addition to ensuring that there are diverse voices on some of their committees as well. I sit on one of their committees. We’ve had collaborations for many years, and this is just a continuing extension of that to make sure that there’s funding for the long-term future of these initiatives. – Robin Menguzzo, Executive Director, Keweenaw Community Foundation

At the beginning of the year, an anonymous donor helped the collaborative and Keweenaw Community Foundation create the Great Start Early Childhood Fund.

Donors who are passionate about a certain type of, it could be the environment, it could be hockey or it could be you name it. This donor felt passionate about the early childhood time in a child’s life and a family’s life and they wanted to make sure that there was an opportunity for organizations that do work in that space to have the opportunity to apply for funding. The first grant is going to be a $2,000 grant, so starting kind of small, but one goal is for us to raise funds. So we are looking to the community to help continue to grow this fund. – Robin Menguzzo, Executive Director, Keweenaw Community Foundation

Through future grants with the Great Start Early Childhood Fund, the community will add programs that align with Michigan Early Childhood Outcomes. CCGSC Director Iola Brubaker says the Copper Country Early Childhood Fund can help existing or new childcare professionals in various ways.

So it can support any program or service that benefits children 0 to 8 or their families. So some of the examples that you might look at are reading initiatives. Maybe you want to do a reading program to teach parents how to better read to their children at home. Or perhaps it’s a car seat clinic or safe sleep education. Or maybe it’s a nonprofit child care that’s looking to purchase a curriculum to… improve the classroom quality. – Iola Brubaker, Director, Copper Country Great Start Collaborative

KCF Executive Director Robin Meneguzzo adds that the foundation will enlist leaders from the Copper Country Great Start Collaborative to help the fund’s resources in directions that make the most impact.

A lot of the funds at the Keweenaw Community Foundation have been started and then have been almost crowd-sourced. Like the community says, oh that’s a great cause we want to contribute too. And so this is the same thing. We’re hoping that people who understand the need and are passionate about early childhood initiatives, and how important quality and education are at that time, are going to consider thinking of giving financial gifts to it. The ways that people can do that are they can go onto our website and there’s a whole page about this fund, why it was started, and what initiatives it’s there to support. And there’s an easy way to donate right there. – Robin Menguzzo, Executive Director, Keweenaw Community Foundation

Every dollar invested in early childhood programs can provide $6.30 return through increased school readiness, improved health, and lower participation in social service programs. Those interested in learning more about the Great Start Early Childhood Fund with the Keweenaw Community Foundation and Copper Country Great Start Collaborative can find more details here.