North Central Michigan College opens new Early Learning Center childcare and early childhood education

North Central Michigan College held a ribbon cutting ceremony for its new Early Learning Center on August 19, 2025. The new facility will serve up to 12 participants, ranging in age from infants to preschoolers, in its mission to create sustainability in childcare. The opening of the new facility is aligned with the college’s Child Care Initiative, established in 2022.

According to an article on North Central Michigan College’s website, Jennifer Wixson, who serves as the Early Childhood Education program coordinator, was quoted as saying of the vision for the new facility, "We believe this center can serve as a demonstration site for what’s possible when a community chooses to invest in its children and its caregivers. We hope it inspires others to join us in building a system where every family has access to the highest quality care, and every educator is supported with dignity, compensation, and professional respect. Our work doesn’t stop with this ribbon-cutting. Today is an invitation: We are calling on our community — business leaders, funders, policymakers, and families — to help us reimagine childcare as the public good it truly is."

The center will use a true-cost fiscal model, which will give the center’s care providers a living wage to promote sustainability in childcare. Instead of charging a “going rate,” which is what many childcare providers charge based on what they believe most families in the area can afford to pay, the true-cost fiscal model will charge families what is necessary to sustain the living wage and benefits of the center’s childcare providers.

According to the webpage for the new Early Learning Center, the center’s mission is “To partner with children, families, and the community in providing a Reggio Emilia-inspired early education experience that nurtures curiosity, independence, and holistic development.” It also “prioritize[s] every child's intellectual, social, emotional, and physical well-being in a secure and inclusive setting.”

College president David Roland Finley said, "North Central exists to serve our neighbors, our employers, and our region, and right now, one of the most urgent needs in Northern Michigan is for more high-quality childcare options. By opening the Early Learning Center, we are helping address that need, supporting families, and making it just a little easier for parents to succeed.”

For more information about North Central Michigan College, visit the school’s website.