Danielle Ford, a caregiver for Community Action Head Start in St. Ignace, poses by one of four new cribs the facility received January 7. It took part in a program that gave more than 900 child care providers in the state the opportunity to swap old cribs with free new cribs. Fifteen day care homes and centers in Mackinac, Luce, and Chippewa counties received 35 new cribs when more than 900 licensed child care providers in the state had the opportunity to trade in old cribs for new ones as part of a free crib exchange from January 7 to January 14. Head Start at Community Action Agency in St. Ignace was among the recipients of the new cribs.

The exchange was the second of two such events made possible by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

The first crib exchange in August issued 2,000 new cribs that met federal safety guidelines to early learning and development programs.

In January, 3,500 cribs were issued to early learning and development programs. Crib exchanges took place at 18 Lowe’s stores throughout Michigan. Providers who received a certificate for the exchange were able to identify the Lowe’s store where they could pick up their cribs.

Anne Helfrich (left), teacher assistant, and Cheryl St. Louis (far right), teacher, at Community Action Head Start in St. Ignace, display the message board they made with recycled wood from an old crib along with Ellen Ruddle, the Early Head Start supervisor. The facility destroyed four old cribs after receiving new cribs January 7. The Early Childhood Investment Corporation also took part in sponsoring the program.

The exchanges serve a licensing requirement for licensed and registered providers serving infants. Infants in care younger than one year of age are required to sleep in a crib, and National Consumer Product Safety Commission requires all cribs manufactured prior to June 30, 2011, to be replaced with cribs meeting new stricter safety requirements.

Karen Roback, director of Early Learning Innovation for the Early Childhood Investment Corporation, said cribs were targeted to the early learning and development programs serving the most vulnerable children.

“The purpose of the funds is to improve the quality of care for the most vulnerable children. Safe cribs improve the quality of the early learning and development setting and we know that quality is critical for childhood development,” Ms. Roback said.

The Early Childhood Investment Corporation is a public/private organization working to implement a high quality early learning and development system for Michigan as part of its work to restructure the state’s investment in children from birth to five through state and local community efforts. ECIC supports local Great Start Collaboratives and Parent Coalitions covering the state.