By Teri Banas
BATTLE CREEK – There’s been no better friend to the early childhood movement in Michigan than the Kellogg Foundation, the state’s largest private philanthropy and one of the top five independent benefactors nationwide.

“They’re a significant funder in the world of early childhood,” said Judy Samelson, CEO of the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC), which was launched in 2005 with $7 million dollars worth of support from Kellogg. “They’re really taking this issue to heart and working at all levels so that this issue has traction and has the ability to build.”

Launched in 1930 by Will Keith Kellogg, the cereal mogul who amassed a fortune from stumbling onto a “digestible substitute for bread,” the foundation’s mission has always been to protect, nurture and support opportunities for children.

It’s a vision the foundation has taken across the country as part of the Birth to Five Policy Alliance, an elite group of seven major foundations focused on a single social transformation.

“Their role nationally has been huge,” Samelson said.

In recent years, the Kellogg Foundation has shined its spotlight and efforts on three economically hard-hit states – Mississippi, New Mexico and Michigan. It also has a similar focus on New Orleans.

Without the backing of the foundation, the ECIC, now in the forefront of improved quality child care and early learning initiatives in Michigan, would not exist nor would it function as the comprehensive change agent it is today, said Samelson.

When Kellogg financially backed ECIC five years ago, the intent was that ECIC would create operating agreements with intermediate school districts (ISDs) across the state and provide local technical assistance “that results in every child entering school healthy and ready to learn,” according to Samelson.

The foundation’s support began with a $3.4 million grant through the Council of Michigan Foundations, followed by two grants of $3.05 million and nearly $200,000 directly to the ECIC.

"Their money allowed us to get anchored, grow, and get a lot done in a short amount of time,” Samelson said. “We actually fully funded the Great Start network across Michigan a full year earlier than anybody dreamed possible.”

Tony Berkley, deputy director of education and learning for the Kellogg Foundation, called ECIC “one of the best examples of a Michigan effort that truly aligns with the Kellogg Foundation’s mission to improve the lives of vulnerable children and families, and our work in early learning and getting children ready to start school.”

What’s made the difference, he said, is ECIC’s work to create change by successfully bringing together divergent entities – the state legislature, business leaders and agency leaders – all working together to help kids. Equally important has been uniting local community-based councils and parent groups to build a cohesive grassroots power base, he said.

“We are where we want to be now,” he said. “ECIC in its role in coordinating the state for the Great Start Collaboratives has worked to ensure community ownership and bipartisan support for children’s issues in Michigan.

“This is a new day with an incredible level of momentum we’ve never seen before, Berkley added. “And the recent Sandbox Party Convention is proof that Michigan is moving in the right direction when it comes to our children and the future.”

The Sandbox Party convention – staged in late August at MSU’s Breslin Center – drew more than 5,000 participants, including gubernatorial candidates Virg Bernero and Rick Snyder.

Samelson said Kellogg’s early involvement with ECIC was instrumental in leveraging other support, particularly from lawmakers and charitable organizations such as the Kresge Foundation. The realization at the time, Samelson noted, was that “this is bigger than all of us, and it will take all of us to make fundamental change in how we address this critical issue.

“Kellogg’s growing work in early childhood has influenced the state side of the equation – to stay in this work and address this work,” Samelson said. “I still thank state Sen. Ron Jelinek of Berrien County every day, and other legislators, for maintaining the Great Start Collaboratives. That, to me, is an amazing statement about the importance of a public-private effort to make social change.

“Kellogg coming in – in a big way – got the Legislature’s attention,” she said.

Sen. Jelinek, R-Three Oaks, said the foundation’s support of the early childhood initiative did indeed persuade others in the emerging cause for a strong statewide public-private initiative for quality child care improvements and education. 

“Yes, it helped put recognition of the need on the table. It was a major factor in offering early childhood services,” Jelinek said. “This program (ECIC) helped put together other existing programs and coordinate them into just one and make the services more attainable for more children.”

Dr. Marvin McKinney, who worked at the Kellogg Foundation in 2005 and was one of the architects of the ECIC plan, views ECIC’s role as pivotal in the continuing development of a coordinated early childhood system in Michigan.

“We’ve done a very good job at ECIC in positioning ourselves politically such that optimal early development is now an understood issue among the people that make policy here in the state of Michigan,” said McKinney, who is now an executive committee member with ECIC.

“(But we) still have a long way to go until we can really make a dent with vulnerable kids, and to really ensure that systems are in place to support vulnerable children and families. We’ve just got some dastardly statistics in this state of Michigan and we’ve got to address them.”

McKinney referred to rates in which nearly one of every five children live in poverty, as reported in the annual Annie E. Casey Foundation “Kids Count” report.

He also cited the dire needs of Michigan’s minority children as reported by the National Center for Children in Poverty. The report found a vast economic disparity with African-American and Hispanic children making up two-thirds of the state’s low-income families compared to white children who live in one-third of such households.

In response, the Kellogg Foundation has refocused its attention on the effects of racism on children. Its new executive team, headed by President and CEO Sterling K. Speirn, has pledged a long-term commitment to help “vulnerable children,” including low-income and minority children, according to the foundation’s Tony Berkley.

The partnership between ECIC and Kellogg is vital because helping ECIC “truly aligns” with Kellogg’s mission to improve the lives of vulnerable children and help them get ready to start school, Berkley said.

As ECIC’s Marvin McKinney sees it, that focus is critical to the state’s children.

“We don’t have time to waste. We don’t have time to say, well, if we miss a kid this year, we’ll get them next year. We can’t miss any in any years. There has to be a sense of urgency on the part of policymakers. It’s not business as usual. It can’t be.”