Summer Is Hot in Michigan!

FCF Offers June-September Trainings, Webinars on State Survey Results and More!

Greetings Child Care Leaders,

First Children's Finance has great business planning and professional development opportunities available from June-September. These training sessions and Business Leadership Cohorts can help provide you with the tools and knowledge to make your business more successful!

Find more information below on these offerings (blue for centers, orange for home-based providers).

FCF also offers 1-on-1 consulting to child care businesses! Our consulting services focus on the essential business components necessary to create and maintain high-quality child care businesses. Whether you need help with day-to-day operations or want to plan a strategic future for your business, we have the ability to assess your unique circumstances and work through the decisions with you. Learn more by emailing us at infomi@firstchildrensfinance.org.

FOR STATEWIDE PROVIDERS

• JUNE 24 | Quality Staffing for Your Child Care Center (Statewide Centers)
• JULY 17 | Managing Enrollment for Your Child Care Center (Statewide Centers)
• AUGUST 14 | Developing a Child Care Center Policies and Procedures Manual for Parents (Statewide Centers)
• SEPTEMBER 11 | Injecting Quality into Your Home-Based Child Care Business (Statewide Family CC and Group Homes)

FOR DETROIT-AREA PROVIDERS

• JUNE 10 | Separating Your Family Child Care Finances from Your Personal Finances (Detroit-Based Family CC/Group Homes)
• AUGUST 27 | Marketing for Your Home-Based Child Care Business (Family CC and Group Homes) (Detroit-based, in-person training event!)
• SEPTEMBER 25 | Quality Staffing for Your Child Care Center (Detroit-based Centers)
• Business Leadership Cohort (BLC) Series (Detroit Home-Based Providers)

The following training courses are free for all Michigan-based providers.

June 24, 6-9 pm | Quality Staffing for Your Child Care Center (Statewide Centers)

Learn the three phases of employee recruitment, hiring and retention. Analyze current hiring and employee retention processes. Identify strategies to recruit qualified teachers. Review best practices for hiring new employees. Understand the importance of a holistic employee orientation process. Develop strategies to increase staff leadership development. 

3 MiRegistry training hours; Event ID: 164705

July 17, 12:30-2:30 pm | Managing Enrollment for Your Child Care Center (Statewide Centers)

Learn how to understand enrollment in a child care center and develop your skills to create realistic enrollment projections and how to track current enrollment and future openings. Create action steps to maintain and grow enrollment. 

2 MiRegistry training hours; Event ID: 172081

August 14, 12:30-2:30 pm | Developing a Child Care Policies and Procedures Manual for Parents (Statewide Centers)

Explore the primary components of a Child Care Center Policy and Procedure Manual for parents. Identify gaps and opportunities for creating or updating your existing policy and procedure manual for parents. 

2 MiRegistry training hours; Event ID: 172089

September 11, 6:30-8:30 pm | Injecting Quality into Your Home-Based Child Care Business (Statewide Family CC and Group Homes) 

Explore new opportunities for quality in your individual professional development, program offerings, and business operations. Using the case study of Angie’s Daycare – walk through Angie’s own evaluation of where she is at and how she can improve her outcomes with quality.

2 MiRegistry training hours; Event ID: 172085

The following training courses are free for all Detroit-based child care providers.

Funding for these training courses and cohorts provided by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation.

June 10, 6:30-8:30 pm | Separating Your Family Child Care Finances from Your Personal Finances (Detroit-Based Family CC/Group Homes)

Develop the basic skills of starting and running a successful child care business. Learn the skills needed to refine your child care business idea, manage finances, develop a budget, create a marketing plan, and identify business policies that contribute to sustainability and growth of the child care business. Explore the basic business concepts through a hands-on approach using case studies, individual exercises, group exercises, and classroom discussions. 

2 MiRegistry training hours; Event ID: 162259

August 27, 6-8 pm | Marketing for Your Home-Based Child Care Business (Detroit-Based Family CC/Group Homes)

Learn basic marketing principles and concepts. Complete an environmental scan. Identify features and benefits of your child care program. Analyze child care competitors. Identify strategies to build an effective message. Define target market to secure future enrollment. Learn how to use marketing principles to secure community partnerships.

2 MiRegistry training hours; Event ID: 172173

IMPORTANT! This is an in-person training event that will be held at:

Tech Town Detroit, 440 Burroughs St., Detroit MI, 48202

Details will be emailed after registration.

September 25, 6-9 pm | Quality Staffing for Your Child Care Center (Detroit-Based Centers)  

Learn the three phases of employee recruitment, hiring and retention. Analyze current hiring and employee retention processes. Identify strategies to recruit qualified teachers. Review best practices for hiring new employees. Understand the importance of a holistic employee orientation process. Develop strategies to increase staff leadership development.  

3 MiRegistry training hours; Event ID: 172095

Business Leadership Cohort Series for Home-Based Providers (Detroit-Based Family CC and Group Homes)

The Business Leadership Cohort program from First Children’s Finance provides center directors and other program leaders with the opportunity to learn about the basics of business related to their child care program. The program includes four group cohort sessions and two individual consultation meetings. Providers must attend ALL training sessions and both Relationship Based Professional Development (RBPD) individual consultations to receive the Business Leadership Credential and the Business Leadership training hours and RBPD hours.

1. Enrollment Management and Marketing
2. Financial Management
3. Financial Analysis Individual Consult #1
4. Staffing
5. Develop a Plan of Action
6. Goal Setting Individual Consult #2

Funding for these cohorts provided by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation.

Begins July 1, 6:30-8:30 pm | Business Leadership Cohort Series (Detroit-based Family CC and Group Homes)

Session 1: July 1

Session 2: July 22

Session 3: August 12

Session 4: August 19

8 MiRegistry training hours; Event ID: 172087

Results from FCF's State of Child Care Business Survey

Join the FCF Michigan team for webinars that will review the data collected from this year’s survey on the State of Child Care Businesses in Michigan. Our team will be offering two webinars: one on statewide data and one on Detroit-specific data.

June 25, 10-11 am | First Children’s Finance Presents: Insights from the 2024–2025 Michigan State of Child Care Survey  

Thank you to everyone who participated in our 2025 State of Child Care Survey! We’re excited to invite you to an upcoming webinar where we’ll highlight the key data and trends revealed by the responses. 

September 25, 6-9 pm | First Children’s Finance Presents: Detroit Key Findings from the 2024–2025 State of Child Care Survey

Additionally, we’ve pulled out Detroit-specific data for a special session focused on the city’s unique child care landscape.

Need Financial Solutions for Your Business?

The FCF Loan Fund Might Be Able to Help!

The FCF Loan Fund provides innovative, flexible loans and comprehensive business solutions to child care entrepreneurs. We are the only CDFI in the nation that specializes in lending to both family (home-based) and center-based child care businesses.

If you are interested in finding out more about how you can get started, please visit our Loan Fund website!

Also, be sure to see how the Loan Fund has helped people just like you. Read Yolanda Massey's Detroit-area success story!