These are hard times to be young in Michigan. The state's youngest learners - those between birth and age 5 - face daunting challenges.

Consider:

• Poverty affects one of every five children ages 0-4 in Michigan.
• Forty five percent of all the births in Michigan are to single women well below poverty level. One of every 10 births in Michigan was to a teenager.
• Michigan has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the nation, ranking 43rd.
• More than 10,000 young children in Michigan suffered from neglect in 2006. A thousand more suffered other forms of abuse.
• Nearly half of the estimated 37,000 hospitalizations of Michigan children 5 and younger in 2006 could have been prevented by timely and effective primary care.
• The rate of young children receiving food stamps doubled from 2000 to 2007 and is now at 25 percent.

Because of these factors and more, far too many Michigan children - one in three, in fact, according to a recent survey of the state's kindergarten teachers - enter kindergarten with previously unidentified health, social-emotional, developmental or learning problems.

For these children - who all too often are from low-income and/or minority families - not being ready for school becomes a life sentence of poor academic achievement, diminished expectations and limited opportunity.

• Pediatric and Family Health
• Social and Emotional Health
• Child Care and Early Education
• Parenting Leadership
• Family Support (basic needs)

It doesn't have to be that way. We know things now about the development of the brain that we didn't know before. We know, for instance, that a stunning 90 percent of a child's brain architecture is formed by age four.

Likewise, we know from numerous studies that children who start school behind tend to stay behind. In fact, children who repeat a grade are 30 percent more likely to drop out, and 90 percent more likely if they repeat two grades.

We know that the first few years of a child's life make all the difference. Experiences in those years - positive or negative - determine intelligence, behavior, and personality.

And finally, from research, we know that early childhood programs, systems and supports - properly supported and implemented - can make a world of difference.

That's why now is so critical. Times were already hard in Michigan, but the particularly brutal economic tsunami currently sweeping the state threatens more children than ever before.

Investing in early childhood is one of the best ways to ensure all of Michigan's children reach kindergarten healthy and eager to learn.