Think Babies Michigan, powered by the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC), is proud to announce that the coalition has been selected to receive a grant award from Perigee Fund as a part of its first national funding opportunity, “Building Together: Equitable Systems for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Mental Health.” Across the country, the national initiative will provide $2.5 million over two years to fund systems change so more prenatal-to-age-3 families can access mental health supports. With Building Together funding, Think Babies Michigan aims to change systems to equip trusted messengers to support perinatal, infant, and early childhood mental health across multiple settings.
“This grant is a powerful affirmation of the collective work happening across Michigan,” said Alicia Guevara, CEO of ECIC. “We are deeply grateful for the support of Perigee Fund and for their partnership which underscores the critical importance of family-driven priorities and trusted partnerships with community and parent leaders in shaping equitable systems of care, ensuring that all young children and their families in Michigan thrive.”
Since 2020, TBMI has partnered to promote system improvements that advance the health, mental health, and well-being of infants, toddlers, and their families. Staffed by ECIC, TBMI engages prenatal-to-3 stakeholders—including parent and family leaders, direct service providers, state agency representatives, advocates, and other early childhood partners—in co-leading efforts, intentionally centering families with lived experiences, to achieve policy change for infants, toddlers and their families.
The Building Together Initiative and partnership with Perigee Fund will support TBMI’s work to advance equity and strengthen maternal, infant, and early childhood mental health supports. The core group of TBMI coalition partners leading this project includes ECIC, Wayne State University’s Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute, Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health, Michigan Council for Maternal and Child Health, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and TBMI parent leaders. Together, these partners bring significant expertise and experience working collaboratively to shift policies and practices across Michigan in multi-sector settings to advance systems change. Alongside TBMI, nine other visionary organizations across the country were selected for their exceptional efforts in fostering partnerships and prioritizing family-driven approaches. Read more in the news release from Perigee Fund.
About ECIC
Created in 2005 to be a statewide leader in early childhood, ECIC collaborates to increase public and private investment in the earliest years, to elevate issues affecting young children and their families, and continuously improve Michigan’s comprehensive early childhood system, ensuring every child has the opportunity to succeed in school and in life.
We have a vision that all young children and their families in Michigan thrive.
About Think Babies Michigan Coalition (TBMI)
Think Babies Michigan is a collaborative of nearly 3,000 members — leaders, experts, families, organizations and providers — working together to improve the lives of babies prenatal to three years old and, therefore, the well-being of our state as a whole. Together, this collaborative combines resources to help support these growing minds and their families. Michigan is a part of a national effort made possible by the Pritzker Children’s Initiative, an initiative of the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation. ECIC is honored to serve as the project lead for this collaborative, statewide initiative. To learn more, please visit https://www.ecic4kids.org/policy-thinkbabiesmi/.
About Perigee Fund
Deeply committed to equity and compelled by the urgent need to increase mental health support for prenatal-to-age-3 families impacted by trauma, Perigee Fund is a Seattle-based national philanthropic organization that invests in systems change to ensure that during pregnancy and early childhood, more families receive healing programs, services, and resources that protect and nurture their unfolding relationships. Our Vision is to end intergenerational trauma through the power of early relationships. Our Goal is to shift policies and systems to increasingly value and embed supports for caregiver and infant mental health in the places where families are during pregnancy and early childhood. Learn more about the Perigee Fund at https://perigeefund.org/.