Community Feature
Frey Foundation
Community Feature - Frey Foundation
Enhancing Early Child Care and Education through Transparent & Authentic Partnerships
The Frey Foundation is celebrating 50 years of service, supporting Grand Rapids and several communities in Northern Michigan. The family foundation is reflecting on its past while working to strengthen the work it leads for the future.
A funding pillar of the Frey Foundation since its inception has been supporting access to high quality, affordable early child care and education.
“The Frey family and trustees deeply believe that certain things must happen when the brain is developing from ages zero to three. If we can get that right and support children and families across all zip codes, the outcomes for that child will better allow them to reach their full potential,” Holly Johnson, president of the Frey Foundation said.
The work that the foundation supports within early care and education isn’t done alone. It is through multi-sector partnerships and collaboration that the foundation can effectively address issues in the child care system.
“We work through trusted and brilliant partners. Our partners are the smartest people in the room when it comes to our funding pillars, and we choose our partners strategically,” Johnson said.
Johnson shared that it is important for the foundation’s partners to authentically hear from the individuals in the community who are most affected by the challenge.
“Parents know exactly what their children need to thrive; we listen to parents to understand their predicament. We value our partners that see this huge unmet need in early care and education,” Johnson said.
Since 2022, the foundation has partnered with the North Central Michigan College, which is addressing an undersupply of child care options in Emmet County through its three-phased Child Care Initiative.
The initiative brought together multi-sector partners to develop a community-centered plan for a sustainable and viable local child care system.
The foundation is aware that throughout Michigan, an ongoing issue has been the undersupply and underfunding of child care, which impacts children, parents, employers and child care providers.
“Whenever we can partner with an organization that creates new spots and opportunities for children to be enrolled, we are hyper-focused on those partnerships,” Johnson said.
“We need to listen to those who have lived experiences and what would be helpful to them. We have many challenges to solve, maybe what we’re missing is truly listening to those who have the hurdles, and then listen to what they need to clear those hurdles.”
Holly Johnson
President, Frey Foundation
As data has shown, child care workers are paid worse than 98% of other professions, resulting in difficulty in retaining quality child care providers.
“We’re really looking at creating equity in that space and lifting up that field as incredibly essential. We need to better support those caring for our most vulnerable children,” Johnson said.
Moving forward, the foundation is intentionally focused on strategic partnerships, collaboration and multi-sector initiatives. An essential part of this work is building transparent relationships with its partners.
“We would not be able to be the nimble, responsive and effective funder we are if we did not build transparent relationships with organizations across sectors,” Johnson said.
Johnson shared that building trust and transparency in relationships requires being comfortable with vulnerability, acknowledging that funders may not be the subject experts and aligning with those who are.
“Funders don’t have to be experts in everything, but we have to know who we trust to give us the best advice. We hold a lot of power and privilege in the decisions we make,” Johnson said.
Johnson shared that CMF has served as a support in navigating challenging work and encouraging growth.
“Growth happens through tension, and I hope CMF is always there to provide that healthy tension and holding space for what is really important in communities,” Johnson said.
Johnson hopes that funders explore the feeling of being comfortable in discomfort as an authentic way to support diverse communities.
“We need to listen to those who have lived experiences and what would be helpful to them. We have many challenges to solve, maybe what we’re missing is truly listening to those who have the hurdles, and then listen to what they need to clear those hurdles,” Johnson said.