50 signatures reached
To: Detroit City Council Members
Support the Detroit Child Care Zoning Amendment:
August 2024
Support the Child Care Zoning Amendment: Increased Early Education and Care Leads to Healthier Outcomes for Detroit’s Children
Dear Detroit City Council:
We strongly encourage you to join us, as residents of Detroit, in supporting the Zoning Amendment to reform existing regulations for licensed child care facilities in Detroit. Children deserve safe places to learn and grow while our families work, but there are more than 15,500 children aged 0-5 years old in Detroit with no child care options. Supporting the proposed zoning amendments from the Mayor’s Office of Early Learning will expand the child care supply in Detroit and increase access for our children and families.
High-quality child care is crucial to ensure healthy, thriving families, children, and communities:
- Early childhood education sets kids up for successful futures with lasting academic benefits well beyond high school;
- Child care enables parents to remain in the labor force, increasing household income, boosting economic productivity, and benefiting their community, while ensuring that infants and toddlers are in a safe and nurturing environment; and;
- Availability of child care facilities and services helps communities grow by attracting new residents – especially young families – and businesses whose employees need child care options.
Even though child care programs provide an incredible value to our community, they often have to navigate burdensome challenges to open as businesses. The proposed zoning ordinance would make changes to eliminate unnecessary administrative burdens and fees for home-based providers, align Detroit zoning regulations for child care to similar business entities, and facilitate greater community collaboration for child care options to expand in a given community. To address Detroit’s severe and unmet need for child care, the proposed zoning amendment includes the following reforms:
- Aligns child care zoning permissions more closely with schools, religious institutions, recreation centers, and other neighborhood civic organizations, allowing for child care facilities in more residential- and recreational-zoned areas.
- Allows more residents to establish home-based day cares in additional zoning districts.
- Eliminates unnecessary land use public hearings and fees for higher-capacity home-based day cares in residential districts. Despite the City’s never denying this type of zoning appeal, child care providers must pay more than $1,000 for the hearing.
- Prohibits home-based day cares in apartments and other multi-family dwellings.
- Requires spacing between day cares to prevent their over-proliferation in any one location.
- Requires notice be sent to neighbors of child care facilities, including contact information for state and local regulatory agencies.
Municipalities across Michigan are recognizing the importance of providing nurturing and safe options for their youngest residents by leaning on similar changes to expand their supply of child care for families.
We strongly urge you to help the local economy, families, and children by voting in favor of the child care zoning changes.
Sincerely,
Your Community Members
Why is this important?
The proposed zoning ordinance would make changes to eliminate unnecessary administrative burdens and fees for home-based providers, align Detroit zoning regulations for child care to similar business entities, and facilitate greater community collaboration for child care options to expand in a given community.
High-quality child care is crucial to ensure healthy, thriving families, children, and communities:
High-quality child care is crucial to ensure healthy, thriving families, children, and communities:
- Early childhood education sets kids up for successful futures with lasting academic benefits well beyond high school;
- Child care enables parents to remain in the labor force, increasing household income, boosting economic productivity, and benefiting their community, while ensuring that infants and toddlers are in a safe and nurturing environment; and;
- Availability of child care facilities and services helps communities grow by attracting new residents – especially young families – and businesses whose employees need child care options.
How it will be delivered
Each Member of the Detroit City Council will get a copy of this signed petition. We want your voices heres so they know that Detroiters want access to safe, affordable, and convenient child care in their neighborhood! Each Member will receive their copy before September 1st 2024.