2024 Impact

Over the past year, the community has also come together in new ways to address longstanding barriers in access to affordable, quality child care. First Steps Kent is the early childhood content expert for both the Kent County Child Care Task Force and the City of Grand Rapids through a National League of Cities technical assistance grant. Those public-private partnerships are an opportunity to create meaningful, lasting improvements to the child care system—which is critical to our local economy. Through conversations within the business community, we’ve recognized how much we need one another and how child care is already embedded within local strategic plans.

First Steps Kent received significant donor commitments in 2024, from: W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Wege Foundation, BCBSM Foundation, Keller Foundation, Baker Family Foundation, Steelcase Foundation, Children’s Funding Project, Doug & Maria DeVos Foundation, Early Childhood Investment Corporation, KRW Foundation, and Frey Foundation. These valued partnerships ensure our community realizes our vision that children are born healthy, developmentally on track, and school ready.

As an organization, we’re honored by the commitment from voters, philanthropy, and our partners in both the public and private sectors. We are focused on effective and efficient operations as well as authentic collaboration. In 2025, that means better alignment of our teams, goals, and connections with families and the greater early childhood ecosystem. Each aspect of First Steps Kent informs child progress but economic progress as well.

What will the next six years hold? There is no crystal ball, but history and research have proven that early childhood investment works. Kids that are ready early remain ready. And communities committed to child readiness reap the benefits of their investments for years to come.

Warm regards, Jennifer Headley-Nordman