SAVE THE DATE

April 5 & 19 at 4:30 PM: Bay-Arenac Great Start Family Network @ Arenac Community Center, Standish

Learn more: FAMILY NETWORK

April 6, 13, 20 & 27 at 10 AM: Great Lakes Bay Mom Cafe @ Bay City Town Center, Bay City

Learn more: GREAT LAKES BAY MOM CAFE

COMMUNITY RESOURCES 

NEMSCA Early Head Start

Early Head Start (Pregnancy to Age 3)

Early Head Start serves pregnant women and children birth to three years old and their families. The program provides intensive and comprehensive child development and early education services including health, nutrition, and family support services. Early Head Start seeks to provide the foundations for school readiness by fostering developmental competence during the earliest years of childhood. Services are delivered through a home visitation model with a weekly home visit and monthly socialization opportunities. The program is free to families who meet federal poverty guidelines or other risk factors and reserves ten percent of total enrollments for inclusion of children with disabilities regardless of income.

Head Start (Ages 3 to 5)

Head Start is a no-cost school readiness preschool program for children 3 – 5 years of age whose family incomes are at or below 100% of poverty. Head Start is a comprehensive program that, in addition to education, provides for social services, health/dental, nutrition, mental health, and disability services to participating families. By coordinating these services for each child, Head Start provides skills that bring about a greater degree of social competence and allows the child to deal more effectively with his/her present environment and later responsibilities in school and life.

Great Start Readiness Program (Ages 4 to 5)

The Great Start Readiness Program provides many of the same services as Head Start but eligibility is limited to children who are 4 years of age. Programming is open to families whose incomes are within 250% of poverty. GSRP families who exceed income guidelines may be charged tuition based upon GSRP income requirements and a sliding fee scale.

For more information about Bay & Arenac County Early Head Start call Jessica Eichman at 989-464-0172

Fall Preschool Options

Prepare with Pedro!

American Red Cross

Prepare with Pedro is a 30- to 45-minute preparedness education program for grades K-2 that teaches students how to BE PREPARED and TAKE ACTION for either home fires or a local hazard.

Learn more: PREPARE WITH PEDRO

Michigan Medicaid Approved Doula Policy 

Effective January 1, 2023 Michigan Medicaid will begin reimbursing for doula services provided to individuals covered by or eligible for Medicaid Insurance. Doula providers seeking reimbursement for their professional services to Medicaid beneficiaries are required to be on the MDHHS Doula Registry and enrolled in CHAMPS as a Medicaid provider. Doulas must contact the Medicaid Health Plans prior to serving Medicaid Health Plan members. 

Learn more: DOULA

Michigan Tri-Share

The MI Tri-Share Child Care Program (Tri-Share) is an innovative approach to increasing access to high quality, affordable child care for working families, with the cost of child care shared by an employer, the employee and the State of Michigan. The pilot also seeks to increase the labor market by allowing employers to offer a child care subsidy to help retain and attract talent.

Learn More: MICHIGAN TRI-SHARE

Child Care Workforce Support Stipends

The Bay Area Community Foundation is funding a onboarding stipend for child care providers hired on or after 9/14/21 (scholarship to support the provider's costs to hire new staff)

Learn More: CHILD CARE WORKFORCE SUPPORT STIPENDS

Caring for MI Future

Caring for MI Future is a statewide effort to help child care entrepreneurs open 1,000 new or expanded child care programs by the end of 2024. This initiative, led by the Michigan Departments of Education and Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (MDE & LARA) is focusing on what entrepreneurs need most to open and expand child care businesses—help finding and renovating space, startup funding, help recruiting staff, and support creating a business plan.

Learn More: CARING FOR MI FUTURE

Upcoming Conferences

Learn more: ARENAC COUNTY CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION CONFERENCE

Learn more: MICHIGAN ACE INITIATIVE

National Kidney Foundation

Extension Extras Parenting Hour

WHEN: Tuesdays at 8 - 9:30 PM

April 4 - ABC's of ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences)

April 11 - Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Science for Young Children

April 25 - Positive Discipline

Online Kinship Caregiver Workshops

April 12 at 7 PM - Together We Can: Co-Parenting

April 14 at 11:30 AM - The Parent Talk System Webinar Series

The Parent Talk System Webinar Series

April 27-June 1 - Thursdays, 7:30 - 9:00 PM

Learn More & Register: MSU EXTENSION PARENT CLASSES

Visit Great Lakes Bay Parents' KIDS DAILY CALENDAR for a full listing of story times, family/ kid events, and new places to discover in the Great Lakes Bay Region.

Easter Egg Hunts

STEM Passport

STEM Pipeline

You and your child can explore STEM Passport locations and events in the Great Lakes Bay Region (GLBR) by accessing our STEM calendar of events or our partner websites in the list below.

Arenac & Bay County STEM-Rich Organizations

• Arenac Community Center, Standish
• Bay City State Recreation Area, Bay City
• Bay County Library System
• The Historical Museum of Bay County, Bay City
• Delta College Planetarium
• Delta Kids / Michigan Learning Channel

Start Exploring: STEM PASSPORT

PLAYGROUPS

APRIL EVENTS

April 1

April 1

April 2

April 3

April 3, 4, 5 & 6

April 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24 & 25

April 3 & 5

April 4

April 4

April 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27

April 5

April 5 & 19

April 5, 12, 19 & 26

April 5, 12 & 19

April 5, 12, 19 & 26

April 6, 13, 19 & 26

April 6

April 7 & 21

April 13, 15 & 18

April 14

April 15

April 15

April 22

April 21

April 21

April 22

April 24

April 28

April 28

April 29

Visit Great Lakes Bay Parents' KIDS DAILY CALENDAR (Sponsored by the Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan) for a full listing of story times, family/ kid events, and new places to discover in the Great Lakes Bay Region.

211 NORTHEAST MICHIGAN