The Michigan Ready to Succeed Partnership
Summary of Business Conducted and Recommendations
October 2001

Prepared for
House and Senate Appropriations Committees, Michigan Legislature and Michigan Family Independence Agency

Prepared on behalf of
Michigan Ready to Succeed Partnership

Executive Summary

Section 628 of Michigan Public Act 294 of 2000 (the Family Independence Agency budget bill) provided $100,000 to continue the exploration and development of a system of early childhood education, care, and support that meets the needs of every child age zero to five. The funds were to be used to leverage other public and private funding and bring together leaders from business, education, faith, government, health, labor, media, philanthropy, and other sectors. The legislation requires that reports on the business conducted and the recommendations made during the dialogue be submitted to the legislature in the fall of 2001. (The text of Section 628 may be found in Appendix A of this report; the interim progress reports submitted to the Family Independence Agency are included in Appendix B.)

During 2001, the Michigan Ready to Succeed Partnership (MRTSP)¹ was formed to lead the state's dialogue by

• mobilizing and supporting expanded leadership involvement from multiple sectors,
• pooling investments to apply research and best practices in emerging community-based early childhood learning systems and policy development, and
• communicating and exchanging information across many levels, e.g., public and private, state and local, and across the continuum of political orientations.

The MRTSP is pleased to report significant success in all three action areas:

• The membership (listed in Appendix C) reflects a considerable expansion in leadership.
• Pooling of investments led to policy and program innovation and the creation and launch of the first statewide public awareness campaign on the importance of early childhood, Be their Hero from age Zero (see Appendix D, Briefing on Investments Leveraged by the Ready to Succeed Dialogue with Michigan).
• The partnership attributes Michigan's success in moving forward to the bringing together of state and community leaders from all sectors of society to work together for a common goal. This has been achieved largely through communication, networking, and providing education opportunities.

This report describes the successes of the last year and presents a wide range of recommendations for leadership across sectors, but particularly policymakers, in order to realize the vision of every Michigan child ready to succeed in school and in life.

¹ A glossary of acronyms used in this report is provided in Appendix E.

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