About The Coalition

In March of 2023, the Huron County Economic Development Corporation received a Regional Child Care Planning Grant to accelerate community-level efforts to develop new partnerships and implement action plans to address the child care crisis. After receiving the grant, the EDC worked across Huron, Sanilac, and Tuscola counties to form a Regional Child Care Planning Coalition. 

Coalition Members

Samantha Schnettler

Huron/Sanilac County EDC

Mackenzie Price

Huron County Community Foundation

Bryant Wilke

Sanilac County Health Department

Julie Bash

Eastern Quality Resource Center

Misty Schantz

Huron/Sanilac County EDC

Rachel Koepf

Great Start Collaborative

Melanie Radabaugh

Cass City Community Development

Debbie Powell

Village of Cass City

Amanda Hartzell

Cass City Schools

Dave Faber

City of Sandusky

Erinn Mausolf

Great Start Collaborative

Karolyn McEntee

Thumb Community Health Partnership

Emily Jones

Auntie Em's Day Care

Teresa Jex

Camp Cavell Conservancy

Coalition Priorities

  1. Centering community voice and needs around child care

  2. Bringing together diverse partners (e.g., economic development/business sense) to engage in strategy development

  3. Raising common themes from regions across MI to support a statewide advocacy strategy to address root causes of child care challenges

Action Plan

The coalition worked with Public Sector Consultants throughout 2023 to create the Thumb Area Action Plan, outlining the root causes of the child care crisis in our region and potential steps to address them. 

News & Updates

In 2024, the Coalition sought to narrow our strategic focus and begin implementation. The Coalition opted to focus on two key initiatives:

  • Engage employers to support employee child care needs

  • Reduce cost barriers for families seeking child care

With this focus in mind, the Thumb Area Child Care Coalition worked to vet the strategy of engaging employers by holding employer round table events in two locations. At these events, employers were given the opportunity to hear about the state of the child care landscape in our region from coalition members, followed by opportunities to participate in potential solutions from statewide partner organizations.

The options presented to employers included the MI Tri-Share Program, a State of Michigan partnership offsetting child care costs for parents alongside their employers, and the DuoShare Program, and employer sponsored program created and administered through the United Way. These two programs are first of their kind opportunities for employers to engage in supporting employee child care needs while also reducing cost barriers for families seeking child care.