Child care workers celebrate, talk about current pressures

Recognition ceremony honors early learning professionals while pointing to the pressures facing the sector

By Nick J. Buckley / For Black Squirrel News

BATTLE CREEK — Battle Creek’s early learning and care professionals stood together on stage in a spotlight they seldom receive.

About 50 providers, advocates and community partners gathered March 21 at the Binda Performing Arts Center at Kellogg Community College for “Celebrating the Heart of Early Childhood,” hosted by the Rotary Club of Battle Creek in partnership with the Early Childhood Education Collective of Calhoun County and Pulse at the W.E. Upjohn Institute.

The program included a recognition ceremony, a screening of the “Make a Circle” documentary and a raffle for a Rotary day-of-service raffle for one center-based and one home-based provider in which club members volunteer for a day of hands-on labor at one center-based and one home-based provider. The event thanked early learning and care professionals while drawing attention to a workforce that speakers described as essential to children, families and the local economy, yet too often overlooked and under strain.

Misty White of Community Unlimited at Prairieview Elementary said the recognition “means absolutely everything.”

“A lot of times we’re not seen or heard, we are [behind] the scene,” White said. “So to have these kinds of events to connect, it just means the world to all of us, and it helps keep us going. Without these events, I feel like we would lose a lot more people.”

A workforce under strain

Nationally, early learning and child care remains a low-paid field with high turnover. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said child care workers earned a median hourly wage of $15.41 in May 2024 and projected about 160,200 openings a year on average over the next decade, largely to replace workers leaving the field.

In Michigan, MiLEAP highlighted a 2025 Michigan State University study estimating that child care access-related disruptions cost the state about $2.88 billion a year, including $2.3 billion in employer losses and $576 million in lost state tax revenue.

Kathy Szenda Wilson, founder and co-director of Pulse at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, told providers at the event, “We know the work you’re doing is hard. It is the brain-building work that’s going to be the engine for our future. And we know how under-resourced you are, and we’re working really hard to change that.”

Lisa Farrell, early childhood career pathway navigator for the Early Childhood Education Collective of Calhoun County, said the documentary shown spoke to those pressures.

“We watch ‘Make a Circle,’ and we get fired up,” Farrell said. “We get stirred by the inequities of the workforce. Please know that in Battle Creek, there is a group that sees you every day in what you do, and we’re here to advocate for the profession.”

Battle Creek Mayor Mark Behnke tied those pressures to the wider community, saying providers’ work “often happens quietly behind the scenes, but its impact echoes for a lifetime” and that early childhood development “is not just a family issue. It’s a Battle Creek priority, it’s a workforce priority, and it’s the future economic health priority.”

Child care as community infrastructure

That broader view surfaced throughout the ceremony, where speakers described early learning and care as part of the infrastructure that supports the wider community.

Behnke echoed that theme in his remarks, saying support for early learning also means support for “working families, local businesses and the local economy,” and the “long-term well-being for our entire city.”

Battle Creek Rotary President Chuck Asher said the club’s involvement grew out of conversations about taking on a special project — and why early childhood was worth that attention. He said the field “just doesn’t get enough recognition.” The Rotary day-of-service raffle, he said, was one way to help programs that do not have “a deep bench” when something needs to be done.

That support will soon take shape at Busy Bees Community Childcare, where the outdoor play area will be improved through a Rotary day of service.

Faye Washington, who runs the home-based program with her daughter, said she was glad to be included. “I was excited to come out,” Washington said. “It was an opportunity for us to be recognized for the work that we do.”

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Photos by Nick J. Buckley

How We Reported This
This story was reported through in-person coverage of the event and interviews with organizers and attendees. Background information was sourced and verified using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Michigan State University.

For more information, visit the Early Childhood Education Collective of Calhoun County at careerszero2five.org, Pulse at the W.E. Upjohn Institute at pulseroadmap.org, and the Rotary Club of Battle Creek at battlecreekrotary.org.

Disclosure: Nick J. Buckley is under contract with Pulse at the W.E. Upjohn Institute on separate child care case studies. He was not paid by Pulse to report or write this story.