Who We Are

The Great Start Family Coalition is a group of parents and guardians who make up a body representing the voice of the family, the child, and their community to the Genesee Great Start Collaborative. The mission of the Family Coalition is to assure a coordinated system of community resources and support to help all Genesee County families provide a great start for their children prenatal to third grade.

The Great Start Family Coalition is a subset of the Genesee County Great Start Collaborative. This Collaborative is the planning and decision making body for Michigan's Great Start System at the local level. Michigan's Great Start System works to connect parents to services that provide the following:

• Basic Needs, Economic Security, and Child Safety
• High Quality Early Care and Education
• Parent Education and Family Support
• Physical Health Care
• Social Emotional Health Care
• Home Visiting Services

What We Do

The Genesee Great Start Family Coalition connects parents, the community, agencies, and government together toward a vision of early childhood advocacy. Parents provide unique contributions as members of the parent coalition. Parents are actively involved in the decision-making process about what is needed to support young children in the community. We work together to assess how well existing programs and services are working and give feedback about what services might be improved in the future. Parents serve as leaders, advocates, and advisers for Genesee County in the following capacities:

• Speak publicly about the work of the Great Start Collaborative and the importance of early childhood investment
• Represent the needs and issues of our community and build a knowledge of and appreciation toward the richness of cultures that we have in Genesee County
• Assist one another in finding early childhood services
• Become effective coalition members and leaders in our community
• Represent the views of parents at the Great Start Collaborative Steering Committee and Comprehensive Collaborative meetings

Parent Members

The Great Start Family Coalition is seeking parent and community members to join the organization. The benefits for Parent Members include:

• Opportunities to affect meaningful change
• Working to improve services for own families
• Sense of pride in making a significant contribution
• Assist providers to improve services for families

If interested in serving as a Parent Member, contact Felicia Campbell, Parent Liaison, at (810) 591-5605 or by email.

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