Home Visitor Alliance Meeting
On April 3, 2009, Great Start Collaborative-Wayne, in collaboration with many of our partners, convened its first Home Visitor Alliance meeting of programs providing home based services to families with children prenatal to age five.  

Participants at this peer support meeting of home visitors gave the event exceptional reviews and were able to network, share information, ideas, tools and techniques.  They also began to explore ways to maximize training resources and strengthen the social emotional foundation in the families they serve.  

The group decided to meet quarterly, starting with its September 25, 2009 meeting, and is launching a Home Visitor Learning Community list serve in May.  A number of attendees from our April event, in collaboration with GSC-W’s Social Emotional Action Team (which launched this alliance), will plan the September meeting.  

If you have questions or would like to join the network, please contact GSC-W at 734-285-4001 or the Social Emotional Action Team co-chair, Katie Silverman (U of M Dearborn) kasilver@umd.umich.edu or acting co-chair, Catherine Lentz (the Guidance Center), clentz@guidance-center.org

GSC-W's First Business Breakfast Roundtable
On March 4, 2009, approximately 70 Wayne County business leaders gathered at the University of Michigan Dearborn to hear Mr. Bill Millett, founder of Scope View Strategy Advantage, deliver a powerful message:  early childhood investment is economic development.  Mr. Millett, who was introduced to the attendees by Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, effectively raised our awareness of the importance of building our human infrastructure during the critical years of early development.  He focused much of his presentation on information specific to Wayne County and our potential workforce.

Mr. Millett informed us that entities such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Committee for Economic Development, the Federal Reserve Bank and Business Week all acknowledge the phenomenal return on investment in high quality early care and education.  This investment supports our current and our future workforce.  The Great Start Collaborative-Wayne, through our Business Engagement Committee will be planning additional Business Roundtables on topics pertinent to our mission in the near future.