ABOUT SANDY WILLIAMS:
Sandy has been at Foundations Preschool since 2008, serving for 8 years as the Development Director and 10 years as the Executive Director. Before beginning her tenure at Foundations, Sandy was the Executive Director at the Family Learning Institute. She has spent her career funneling her passion for children and families into her work, pushing for Washtenaw County to better serve its most vulnerable constituents.
RESOURCES:
Foundations Preschool of Washtenaw County
Foundations Preschool of Washtenaw County on Facebook
Foundations Preschool of Washtenaw County on Instagram
TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and today we're going to explore the importance of and the challenges of providing early childhood education and quality, affordable day care. It's a real problem for far too many parents and families. I'm David Fair, and this is Washtenaw United. It's our weekly exploration of equity and opportunity. Washtennaw County is home to the oldest continuously running child care center in Michigan. Foundations Preschool of Washtenaw County has been around since 1934. And here in 2026, like so many others, it's still working through the issues of access and affordability. Our guest today is the Executive Director of Foundations Preschool, Sandy Williams. And thank you for making time for us today, Sandy! I appreciate it!
Sandy Williams: Oh, I'm so happy to be here! Thank you!
David Fair: Well, for those in the lower and middle-income ranges, affordability is a real and serious issue. The cost of food, housing, transportation, health care, those are all going up. How do you see that playing out for the parents and families of the children you serve at Foundations?
Sandy Williams: It's an everyday struggle. We hear these stories constantly. We are here for them on a daily basis, not just to provide access, but we have had to expand our services in so many ways, whether it's food, clothing, helping them find access to housing, because it's just, as you said, everything out there is expensive. The prices are rising. Our prices here are rising to serve them to feed the children to pay the high-quality employees. Everything's going up, yet we know if we've raised the tuition for our families, they will not be able to come. And if they can't be here, they can't work, they can't go to school and childcare becomes that barrier. It is that barrier for so many families between success and crisis.
David Fair: And of course, when basic needs are unmet, then education tends to fall to the wayside and the effectiveness of the programming you offer becomes less.
Sandy Williams: That's so true! Education for the families who are trying to obtain that and can't because they can't find a place for their children, but we know from decades of studies that children who are considered at risk, these are just children who have certain risk factors, right, that where their families may come from, they have certain struggles, they're low income, English is the second language, there's a list of risk factors the state has. But what they know from studies is that if children have these risk factors, and they don't have high-quality early education because there's a difference between just being put into care somewhere and having high quality care and education. We know that high quality matters. By having this before kindergarten, they are more kindergarten-ready. Without it, they are more likely to be two years behind, at least two years, behind their non-at-risk peers when they enter kindergarten. And that success follows them through the years into adulthood. Early childhood matters, high quality early childhood, and that's what we're here for, to provide that access for every family, regardless of their ability to pay.
David Fair: For some, there's a whole new set of worries. I don't know what the diversity level of the student population and family population of Foundations is, but for those of Mexican or Latin descent, are you finding increased stresses among the families because of Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in our area?
Sandy Williams: Very much so. Our services for these families have always been very high, and we have translators on site. Everything we do is to help support families who need it to get on their feet when they're here in our community. What we have seen because of this is that our staff has been diverted to really having to pay attention to issues we haven't had to before. Finding where we can get emergency support, keeping our eyes open for activity in the area, so that we are prepared if we need to be. But we're finding enrollment to be lower because these families are afraid to be out there in the community. And they aren't able to obtain support like they have in the past. Even if they have been able to attain it, they're afraid to try. Because to go out there and expose themselves to receive support through DHHS child care scholarships, they have to put their information out there, and they're so unsure, whether even if they are able to be here in the country, all these stories out there, there's no assurance that that they're going to be safe or their families are going to get safe. So, we have seen a decrease in something where we've been riding usually about. 36% Latino families--that's really decreased this year. And sometimes, the ones that we do have here just end up not coming for a period of time because...
David Fair: They're scared.
Sandy Williams: They're scared. And we also have had to provide support with immigration courts and things like that. So, it's not just childcare. It's entire family care, entire community care. And we've really had to increase all types of support, including that, this year.
David Fair: This is Washtenaw United on 89.1 WEMU, and we're talking with Sandy Williams. She is the executive director of Foundations Preschool of Washtenaw County. Now, I'm wondering if it's also having an impact on staff. Staffing can always be difficult. And in a time of less money and more demands, are you able to provide the kind of caregiver educator staffing rate that you have in the past?
Sandy Williams: Yeah, that's something that we're not going to compromise on because providing high quality means also the best staff. This is difficult because, as you know, you're at Eastern Michigan, we know that people aren't getting the degrees in areas where they have to have a lot of student debt. Unfortunately, childcare--preschool--is not a career where you're going to be making a lot of money. So, there aren't really a lot if people going into this profession. And in order to be considered a high-quality center, the state and the national accreditation agencies tell you that your teachers have to have an actual degree in early childhood education So, we need these teachers. Have we had a compromise a little bit? We have compliance plans, we hire people and we help them get these degrees. We actually will help them pay for the degree through to outside programs because we want that quality. But that also means we can't compromise on pay. We can't compromise on pay or on benefits. We provide benefits and wonderful time off. This is where we cannot compromise. But again, that means we need that outside support. We need our grants. We need our donors' support. You know, we're a charitable nonprofit. So, this is where we get that support because we cannot make those expenses put into our tuition, so that they only have to offset that because our whole mission is accessibility for our families who can't afford this high-quality kind of standard because they deserve this, but they can't pay for it. So, we can't offset it by tuition. We have to find it elsewhere because we won't compromise on that quality.
David Fair: So, talking about the staffing brings us full circle back to the kids. The state of Michigan has its free Preschool for All initiative. Does that benefit students at Foundations?
Sandy Williams: It certainly does! So, that's a wonderful program, and it is a good start, this initiative. It does serve only a portion of families who need support. This is a pre-K program. It doesn't cover a full workday. It doesn't a full year for families. So, those families, those hardworking families who need a full workday, full week, full year it doesn't cover those families. It doesn't covered families for children who are younger than four-year-olds. But it is a great start for Michigan to have this initiative. And we have three classrooms here that participate in the Great Start Readiness program, which is the Free Pre-k for All program. All of our other classrooms from six weeks--our infant program--all the way up to that Great Start Readiness program, we provide the same services on a sliding scale, just like the Free Preschool for All, but we do it for everybody all week, year-round. Even the Great Start Readiness program, we make sure these families can have access full day, full week, year-round. So, we do more then Free Preschool for All. But that state initiative, that's getting recognition, that is a start, and we need to see that extended, expanded for all ages, more time, so all families can benefit from that.
David Fair: Well, that leads us to the final question, and I think it's fair to say we've identified there is a crisis in affordability and accessibility in childcare. As you do your longer-term strategic planning, what does the future look like? Will the next five to ten years, what will that look like in the childcare arena?
Sandy Williams: Yeah. So, it's very interesting and a little scary. So, we just heard that there is a local center that had to close their doors. It was quite shocking. They're also a nonprofit. They had to closed one of their satellites over at Ypsilanti because they just couldn't get the funding and they couldn't get the enrollment, which is shocking because there are kids who need it, there are families who need. But for some reason, the enrollment's down. I don't know what that's about. Families afraid to get out there maybe. Who knows? But we're seeing centers close. Families can't pay for it. Centers can't afford the expenses. I think that's what we're going to see. I think we're going to see, unfortunately, centers closing, and that's not okay. Families need it, but they need to survive. A study just came out, just last week, that shows that federal guidelines consider affordability with accounts for no more than 7% of household income. This means the average household income they show making a $130,000 annually. That means that childcare should not cost more than $9,000 annually. However, in Michigan, the average cost is over $25,000 a year. That's college tuition!
David Fair: Right.
Sandy Williams: And families just can't afford it. We're going to be that, David. We're going to see childcare closing. We're going to see families not having many kids. I know the younger generation, my kids included, are talking about not having children because they can't afford it. That's not okay. And it all has to do with childcare. So, I don't know. I don't know what's going to be happening. It's all up in the air. Funding and everything has gotten a little bit crazy. But I can tell you this. Foundations Preschool been around for over 90 years. We were established during the Depression. We can pivot. We've been through wars. We've been through so many things, pandemic, and we're here. And we're here because of community. And if community cares, and if community wants children to be positive contributors to the society, and they want our families to succeed, I think childcare stands a chance. So, if they advocate for it, if they care about it, if they want to support what's important, that Free Preschool for All, their local non-profit, childcare centers, if people start doing this kind of thing, I think there's a chance. So, yes, it's scary now, and we're seeing things happen. And if we want to be pessimistic and say, "Where's it going?" we could look at that. But we choose to be optimistic and say, "Let's get together! Let's be a community! Let's rise up and make it happen for all the right reasons!" And that's where I choose to go with the outlook for the future.
David Fair: And it's great to be positive and to work toward that end, but you did put forth a whole lot of ifs in there.
Sandy Williams: Yes, it's always iffy. It's iffy. The industry is iffy, being a non-profit is always iffy, and it changes all the time. Every time I open up the news and I take a look at it and I see what's happening with funding, I see what's happened politically, it's always iffy for everybody. And when that happens, because childcare is dependent on what's happening to our families, what's happening with businesses, what's happening with everything out there, we have to constantly keep an ear to the ground, and we have the pivot. So, the ifs are always there, and we just have to roll with it and ask for people's support.
David Fair: Well, what is not iffy is we will have occasion to continue these kinds of conversations in the months and years ahead. I thank you for today's!
Sandy Williams: Oh, thank you so much for the opportunity!
David Fair: That is Sandy Williams, she is Executive Director of Foundations Preschool and has been our guest on Washtenaw United. For more information on Foundations Preschool and the topic of childcare and early childhood education, stop by our website at WEMU.org. Washtenaw United is produced in partnership with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, and you hear it every Monday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU Ypsilanti.
WEMU has partnered with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to explore the people, organizations, and institutions creating opportunity and equity in our area. And, as part of this ongoing series, you’ll also hear from the people benefiting and growing from the investments being made in the areas of our community where there are gaps in available services. It is a community voice. It is 'Washtenaw United.'
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