Great Start to Quality Southwest Resource Center

06/11/2026

Did you know that your local Great Start to Quality Resource Centers have toys, books, and parenting resources that your family can use for free? Contact your local GSQ Resource Center to learn more: https://bit.ly/4ft4fRY

06/08/2026

From the Friday Flyer ~

Reminder! Training Plan for the New Licensing Rules for Child Care Homes
The Child Care Licensing Bureau (CCLB) finalized a training plan to ensure all group and family child care home providers receive training on the new licensing rules for child care homes that were officially adopted on April 27, 2026.
Our goal is to offer training in ways that best supports you. Feedback from CCLB’s survey of licensed child care home providers made it clear that this means offering training outside of regular business hours, with flexible virtual participation options.
Who needs to attend a training?
All licensed child care family and group home providers are required to attend one new child care home rules training session.
How will training be offered?
You will have the opportunity to choose and complete one training session that best meets your needs. Training will be offered in the following formats:
• In-person Presentations: These live sessions give providers the opportunity to ask questions, participate in discussions, and connect with one another in person. This option is a great fit for providers who prefer face-to-face learning.
• Zoom Webinar Presentations: These webinars let providers join from home or their program using any device, while still offering real time questions and engagement. This option is ideal for those who want live instruction with the flexibility of virtual attendance.
• Virtual Self-paced Video: The self-paced video training lets providers complete the training on their own schedule, with the ability to pause, replay, and move through the content at their own pace. It’s a flexible option, for those with busy schedules or who can’t attend a live session.
When will training be offered and how long are the sessions?
Live training, both in person and over Zoom, will be offered in the evenings and on Saturday mornings. The training sessions are two hours long.
The self-paced video will be available for you to complete at any time, and you can take as long as you need to complete it.
All providers will need to complete a training session by December 31, 2026.
How do I sign up for a training session?
We will publish the training schedule in the Friday Flyer and on our website. All training registration will be completed through MiRegistry.
Reminder: Please only sign up for one training session so that all providers have a chance to register. We will ensure that everyone has access to training and will add more sessions as needed, so there is no need to sign up for multiple sessions.
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06/03/2026

06/02/2026

Check out our June training offerings! As always, they are FREE :)

05/26/2026

New Child Care Home Licensing Rules Implementation Plan for Providers ~
The new child care home licensing rules were officially adopted on April 27, 2026. Providers will have at least 90 days from that date to meet the new requirements.

For a look at the new child care home rules please click the link: https://ars.apps.lara.state.mi.us/AdminCode/DownloadAdminCodeFile?FileName=R%20400.1901%20%20to%20400.1963.pdf&ReturnHTML=True

During this 90-day transition period, the Child Care Licensing Bureau will offer training, updated technical assistance, and provide new rule books to support providers with the changes. The training schedule for child care home providers will be released later this month.

05/20/2026

What a beautiful day for Kalamazoo Public Library's Party in the Park. Our staff, Yvonne Cox, Ra'Shel Abbott & April Goodwin went down to join in the fun ☀

05/20/2026

Our staff members, Gail Lager & Ra'Shel Abbott, attended the Kalamazoo RESA Head Start Family Resource Night on Tuesday evening at the Kalamazoo Farmer's Market. It was great to see so many families and share how we can support them!

05/12/2026

On Monday, the City of Kalamazoo officially recognized the city's child care providers with a proclamation declaring Childcare Provider Appreciation Day as May 8th, 2026. Local child care providers Tina Glover, Jackie Fullerton, DeAnna Phares & Twanna Shepherd accepted the proclamation from Mayor David Anderson.

05/12/2026

Michigan's budget season is in full swing, and Think Babies Michigan wants to keep all of our infant and toddler advocates in the loop!

Join us for a virtual webinar on Wednesday, May 20, from 12:30-1:30 p.m. EST.

Our team will outline and compare what was included across in the different budget proposals as it relates to prenatal-to-three-year-old children and their families.

Together, we can advocate for prioritizing Michigan’s youngest children and their families in the budget. Register now: https://bit.ly/4wixJrH

05/08/2026

Shout out to Barry County for officially recognizing and proclaiming May 8, 2026 as Child Care Provider Appreciation Day! 💖
We are honored to serve the child care providers of Barry County.