Early Childhood - TalentFirst

Investing in Child Care Pays Dividends to Employers — and All of Us

Child care is one of the biggest expenses facing working parents, often costing more than housing or health care. In Michigan, the average annual cost...

Opinion: Preserve Community-Based Preschool Programs

The following opinion was originally published in The Detroit News on May 21 (subscriber link). By Kevin Stotts For more than a decade, Michigan has...

We Must Fix Legislation Threatening Pre-K Roadmap

A lot of hard work was finally showing progress toward expanding access to high-quality preschool education and addressing the state’s child care crisis. New legislation...

State of State 2024: Beyond Headlines, Focusing on What Works

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s 2024 State of the State address on Jan. 24 generated headlines about two topics that have long been priorities for TalentFirst: improving...

Report proposes solutions to poverty wages driving child care crisis

NEWS RELEASE: Grand Rapids, MI (October 19, 2023) In response to a two-decade decline in Michigan’s child care workforce, a new report lays the groundwork...

Employers go all-in on student success as investment in our future

In our efforts to make to make Michigan a leader for talent, we know exactly where to find the group with the greatest potential to...

Exploring the ROI of Pre-K in Michigan

Extensive research has long established that investing in Early Childhood Education pays long-term dividends in academics and life. This has been the foundation for Talent...

Moving Forward: An Impact Report for 2021

Talent 2025 has always been a forward-looking organization, determined to catalyze a talent system that meets the needs of the region’s employers and supports the...

2020 Year in Review

Reflecting on a year fraught with historic challenges, it can be easy to overlook progress. Talent 2025’s CEO leaders and partners in education and workforce...

Entrusted with Our Children and Our Economy, Child Care Providers Need Support

Even before the pandemic, child care shortages were keeping people out of the workforce. The challenges facing this essential industry have only grown. So has...