http://www.michigan.gov/ en Copyright 2008 - State Of Michigan Sun, 7 Sep 2008 17:18:27 EDT http://www.michigan.gov/podcast http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.mi.gov/images/gov/gradio_143016_7_188404_7.jpg 144 125 http://www.mi.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-37483---,00.html http://www.mi.gov/documents/gov/Gov139_Full_230526_7.mp3 Fri, 04 Apr 2008 09:00:00 EDT Across the country, many business leaders, economists and scientists are coming to a very important conclusion - to create the workforce of the 21st century, we must begin in the earliest years of life. In 2005, I created the Early Childhood Investment Corporation, also known as ECIC, to assure that every child in Michigan arrives at kindergarten healthy, safe and ready to succeed. ECIC is working to identify ways to invest smarter in the crucial first five years of a child's life, and it's working to end the achievement gap that prevents us from realizing the potential of far too many children. ECIC supports a network of local public-private partnerships; those are known as Great Start collaboratives. From the day I took office I have stressed that investment in early childhood education and care is critical for the economic viability of our state. http://www.mi.gov/documents/gov/Gov139_Full_230526_7.mp3