The State Head Start Collaboration Office in the Office of the Governor contracted with the MSU Early Childhood Institute (ECI) to recommend specific steps that state agencies could take to improve the disaster preparedness of the early childhood sector in the state.

The recommendations which ECI developed were designed to create systemic improvements by strengthening the sector’s infrastructure, rather than focusing on a

particular type of disaster, type of child care provider, geographic area, or phase of emergency preparedness. At the conclusion of Fiscal Year 2008, the Office of the Governor was taking steps to implement the recommendations.

Elizabeth F. Shores, M.A.P.H., directs this project.