2025 Year in Review: Building Community Connections That Support Livingston County Families
A Year Rooted in Connection and Collaboration
As we reflect on 2025, one thing is clear: families thrive when communities work together.
Great Start Livingston exists to support families raising young children because no one should have to navigate parenting alone. As a system-building and convening body, our role is to bring families, community partners, and organizations together to strengthen the supports that help children ages 0–8 grow, learn, and thrive across Livingston County.
Throughout the year, our work showed up in many forms—playdates and parenting classes, literacy celebrations and StoryWalks, Family Coalition meetings, professional learning for educators, and advocacy at the local and state level. Together, these efforts strengthened relationships, reduced barriers, and built a more connected early childhood system.
Playdates That Built More Than Play
Playdates continued to be one of the most powerful ways we connected families to one another and to the broader early childhood system.
In the summer of 2025, we interacted with over 600 children, parents, and caregivers through outdoor playdates held across Livingston County—including Howell, Brighton, Pinckney, and Hamburg. During the winter months, hundreds more families joined us indoors, reinforcing that families are eager for opportunities to connect year-round.
These playdates were made possible through collaboration with more than 40 community partners, each helping create welcoming, low-cost opportunities for play, learning, and connection. Every interaction strengthened trust, expanded networks, and built momentum for a more responsive early childhood system.
Our networks and bonds continue to grow stronger—and the impact is clear: community connections work.
Early Literacy Everywhere: Books, Music, Movement, and StoryWalks
In 2025, early literacy came to life across Livingston County in joyful, accessible, and creative ways.
We launched new StoryWalk® installations, bringing the total to six active StoryWalk locations countywide. These installations transformed parks, downtowns, and community spaces into interactive reading experiences—inviting families to read, move, and connect together in everyday places.
Literacy also took center stage through:
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Family Fun Day, a countywide celebration of early literacy and community joy
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Books & Beats concerts for young children, including a June event with Music at The Blissful that intentionally featured a sensory-friendly concert earlier in the day
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Storytelling at The AMP in Downtown Brighton, bringing stories to life in an outdoor, family-friendly setting
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The Stories in Storefronts StoryWalk® kickoff in Downtown Howell and a StoryWalk launch in Unadilla Township
Together, these experiences reinforced that literacy belongs everywhere—and that inclusive, multisensory approaches help all children and families feel welcome.
Family Coalition: Parent Voice That Shapes Action
The Great Start Family Coalition remained a cornerstone of our work in 2025, offering space for families to connect, learn, and lead.
Throughout the year, families and community partners gathered for meetings that blended relationship-building with meaningful conversation. Topics reflected real concerns families raised, including:
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Parenting through mental health
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Making the most of read-alouds
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The Science of Strong Kids (NEAR framework)
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Connection-focused gatherings like a summer picnic and Speed Friending
Importantly, parent voice didn’t stop at conversation. When families shared concerns—such as worries about young children damaging books during read-alouds—we responded with action by providing indestructible books. This commitment to closing the feedback loop builds trust and ensures families know their voices matter.
Parenting Education That Meets Families Where They Are
Throughout 2025, Great Start Livingston offered free parenting classes and Parent Café opportunities that addressed real-life challenges families are navigating, including:
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Positive discipline
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Potty training
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Screen time and brain development
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Parenting through stress and mental health
These sessions paired expert guidance with peer connection—providing families with both practical tools and a sense of belonging.
Strengthening the Early Childhood Workforce
System-building also means supporting the professionals who work with young children every day.
In 2025, Great Start Livingston hosted multiple professional learning opportunities for early childhood educators, strengthening quality across the system:
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A Joyous Way to Learn, presented by Jim Gill, focused on using music, movement, and play to support early learning and engagement
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A Birth-to-Three (B-3) Early Literacy Workshop, which brought early childhood professionals together to deepen understanding of early language and literacy development during the most critical years of brain growth
These workshops equipped educators with practical, research-informed strategies they could immediately apply in classrooms, child care programs, and early learning environments across Livingston County—ensuring children benefit from high-quality experiences wherever they learn and grow.
Advocating for Livingston County Families at the State Level
In 2025, Great Start Livingston elevated the voices of Livingston County families beyond our local community and into statewide decision-making spaces.
We traveled to Lansing multiple times throughout the year to advocate for policies and investments that support young children and the adults who care for them—ensuring that local family experiences were represented where early childhood decisions are made.
Key advocacy moments included:
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Early Childhood Capitol Day 2025, where we joined parents and partners from across Michigan to meet with legislators and share why strong early childhood systems matter for children, families, and communities.
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Participation in the Child Advocacy Summit 2025: Lifting Voices, Building Power, where we strengthened advocacy skills, deepened statewide relationships, and amplified collective efforts to prioritize children and families.
These efforts reflect our role as a system-building and convening body, connecting local family voice to state-level policy conversations and ensuring Livingston County families are part of shaping Michigan’s early childhood future.
Partnerships That Power the System
None of this work happens alone.
In 2025, Great Start Livingston collaborated with over 60 community partners, including libraries, local governments, early childhood providers, health and human service agencies, businesses, and advocacy partners. These collaborations supported events, literacy initiatives, safety education, leadership development, and access to timely resources for families.
We also convened broader systems through efforts like the Livingston County Preschool Open House Tours and Great Start Collaborative meetings—helping ensure families experience supports as connected rather than fragmented.
2025 By the Numbers
- 600+ people engaged through summer playdates
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Hundreds more families connected during winter playdates
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40+ community partners collaborating
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6 StoryWalk® locations active across Livingston County
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Multiple literacy events blending books, music, and movement
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Family Coalition meetings centered on connection, resilience, and parent leadership
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Multiple advocacy visits to Lansing, including Early Childhood Capitol Day and the Child Advocacy Summit
Looking Ahead
As we move into the next year, we remain committed to:
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Listening to families and responding with action
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Reducing barriers to participation and access
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Strengthening partnerships across sectors
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Building a coordinated early childhood system that works for families
Our tagline says it best:
Building Community Connections that Support Families of Young Children.
That is exactly what families and community partners helped make possible in 2025—and we are grateful to continue this work together.
