11/21/2025
NEWS RELEASE
FOR RELEASE NOVEMBER 17, 2025
State Stipends to Boost Wages of Early Educators
Advancing shared prosperity by ensuring every child
and family has access to quality care
GRAND RAPIDS – A statewide $16 million investment will supplement the wages of select childcare professionals through an initiative administered by Vibrant Futures for 13 West Michigan counties on behalf of Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP) and fiduciary Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District (GOISD). Early educators selected for the wage enhancement program will receive $200/month for part-time and $300/month for full-time employment from January 2026 to August 2027.
“With the childcare crisis costing Michigan nearly $3 billion in lost productivity every year since the pandemic, it’s a good time to try innovative interventions,” said Chana Edmond-Verley, CEO of Vibrant Futures, a 51-year-old nonprofit serving childcare professionals, working parents, young children, and employers with childcare needs. “The trifecta of statewide apprenticeships, employer benefits, and now wage enhancements is a powerful formula of well-known interventions commonly used to create catalytic shifts in talent pipelines more generally including the ECE workforce.”
Vibrant Futures and The Right Place teamed up in 2024 to lead the development of a five-county plan for childcare expansion. In 2025, Vibrant Futures was selected to lead Early Childhood Innovation Corporation (ECIC) regional childcare coalition efforts and distribute MiLEAP Early Educator Wage Sustainability stipends for all 13 counties of Michigan Prosperity Region 4.
“The new state initiatives add to our ongoing efforts to support the owners of small childcare businesses,” said Lisa Brewer Walraven, CDC director for MiLEAP. “Expanding access to quality childcare in Michigan is essential, not only for supporting families who need safe, reliable care, but also for strengthening our workforce and growing the state economy. The investments we make today will produce big returns tomorrow.”
Throughout the region, many childcare centers have unused space but cannot find the teaching staff to open existing and new classrooms. Childcare business owners say they must weigh what parents can pay versus higher wages that would make care unaffordable.
“One of the biggest challenges parents face in finding childcare across West Michigan is the difficulty providers have in attracting and keeping qualified staff due to low pay,” said Kevin Stotts, president of TalentFirst, a nonprofit alliance providing leadership on competitive talent challenges in West Michigan. “Our study, Balancing the Scales, and its accompanying pilot program demonstrated that even a modest wage increase equips childcare providers to recruit, retain, and develop the workforce needed to offer reliable care, expand capacity, and support employees in pursuing additional training.”
Edmond-Verley noted the compelling support for childcare investments as documented in Vibrant Futures’ Amplifying Voices: Employers study. Given broad support from multiple sectors, she encourages all early childhood educators who might qualify to apply for the Wage Sustainability Initiative (WSI) stipends.
“The stakes for families and young children are so very high,” said Edmond-Verley. “Maximizing earning through gainful employment is top of mind for families. Childcare with an adequate pipeline of early educators makes it possible. Nutrition, health, and education in the first three years of life set the course for a life of thriving. Childcare with strong educators improves all three.”
“Childcare professionals play an essential role in shaping strong, thriving communities,” said Julie Burrell, senior economic development director for Newaygo County's Economic Development Partnership, powered by The Right Place. “Investing in these educators is an investment in our children and their futures. It’s critical that we continue to prioritize meaningful support for the people who guide children through their earliest, most formative years.”
Vibrant Futures forms alliances, leads coalitions, and guides regional infrastructure to stabilize and expand the childcare sector for Michigan’s children and families. Vibrant Futures leads the Region 4 Western Michigan Regional Childcare Coalition with The Right Place. Regional Childcare Coalition research reports are available at www.vibrantfuturesmi.org.
FACTS:
STATE NEWS RELEASE MiLEAP and GOISD Launch $16 Million Initiative to Boost Wages for Michigan’s Early Educators
WHO:
Michigan’s Office of Child Development and Care (within MiLEAP, the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement and Potential) approved Vibrant Futures, the lead agency for the Western Regional Childcare Coalition, to serve as Region 4 administrator of its Early Childhood Educator Wage Sustainability Initiative.
WHAT:
The Early Educator Wage Sustainability Initiative will provide $16 million in stipends for select, qualifying childcare professionals in Michigan. In West Michigan’s Region 4, full-time educators will receive $300, and part-time teachers $200 each month.
WHEN:
November 4 MiLEAP announcement
November 17 Region 4 announcement
December 4 Region 4 stipend application available online
January 30 First stipend payments issued
WHERE:
Region 4 includes Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kent, Lake, Mason, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newago, Oceana, Osceola, and Ottawa counties.
HOW:
Early educators in Region 4 counties can add their name to an information list at: Wage Initiative Communications
WHY:
Based on wage enhancement efforts in Iowa, Washington, and other states, wage stipends may help increase retention of childcare professionals, boost sustainability of childcare businesses, reduce statewide childcare shortages, and increase workforce participation of adults with young children, and contribute to overall GDP.
Vibrant Futures holds the vibrant promise of every child, youth, family, caregiver sacred to ensure vibrant futures for all.
