Cora Bell and her family live in Suttons Bay.
“My story is a little bit different than a lot of people,” Bell said.
She runs her own marketing agency and is a mother to three children ages two, six and eight. Her youngest, Archie, was a surprise pregnancy. He had some health issues and was diagnosed with Down syndrome after birth.
“I was left in a pretty dark depression for the first little while," Bell said. "Everything compounding from the birth — it was a very traumatic birth — let alone his diagnosis, let alone a third kid. So it kind of threw everything in the mix.”
Bell was signed up for services from Parenting Communities two days after Archie’s birth. She contacted someone with the program for help.
“She came to the house and sat with me," Bell said. "It was incredible ... she truly was one of the first people that came over and treated Archie just like any typical newborn and talked to me like I mattered and I was important, and that he mattered."
Parenting Communities connects parents with health experts to explore potential services that could help their children. Parents must approve home visits, they can also reach out by text, phone or in person.
The program also provides developmental screenings for children, play groups for families, lactation consulting and more.
The services are free for parents of any income level with children zero to 6.
The five-year millage that funds it passed in 2019 but only by 100 votes.
Critics told IPR at the time that they felt parents already had access to services at the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department, which oversees the program.
The critics
“I can give you why I opposed the millage initially,” said Will Bunek, a former Leelanau County Commissioner.
“It was brought as early childhood education. And we were told that it was a Parenting Communities program," Bunek said. "Our lawyers told us that the county can’t get a millage for education, that it belongs to the school. So my thinking is that it still belongs to educators, not to the health department.”
In 2021, Bunek moved to reduce the millage to zero. He says at the time, the health department had plenty of COVID relief money to fund Parenting Communities for up to three years.
“Well, that got twisted into, ‘I was nullifying the vote of the people.’ But it was really about (how) we have a responsibility as representatives to protect the people when they're being overtaxed," he said.
Voters disagreed. They recalled him from office. He’s now running again.
The millage was still slightly reduced after Bunek’s recall.
This time around, the renewal calls for returning the millage to its original rate. It would be a total of 0.253 mills for every $1,000 of property value for five years.
So, on a $200,000 house, that would amount to an extra $50 per year in taxes.
Bunek does not oppose the program. He has concerns about how much funding it's getting and who manages it, but will abide by the will of the voters.
“As a commissioner, if the voters vote it in, I’ll try to implement it the best way possible," he said. "But I think the whole thing was brought about in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons, and I still believe it belongs in the schools, not with the health department. They are not educators.”
Where the program belongs
Those who were involved in the millage from the get-go dispute the characterization that it was initially presented as an education measure.
Sue Miller is on the current Early Childhood Development Committee, and has been part of the effort to fund "Parenting Communities" since its inception.
"We felt the initial committee looked at a lot of the needs that were going unmet," she said. "They seemed to fall under health-related services."
Putting it under the health department was "a logical choice," she said.
Mary Beth Kelley-Lowe is a member of the Leelanau Early Childhood Committee and supports Parenting Communities. Lowe said it makes perfect sense for the program to exist within the health department.
“ They know where the people are for the various services if people need them," she said. "And this will never - this is not taking the place of regular child care and education while their parents are working. This is a kind of different thing.”
A study commissioned by “Parenting Communities” found that the majority of parents surveyed benefited from using the program, from the connection to services to having more tools as a parent.
“I think if everyone who loves Leelanau County and loves children and wants the best for our community will get out and vote,” Kelley-Lowe said.
The study found that the program has reached a third of all children zero to 6 in Leelanau County.
Bunek wishes that was higher.
But those who use the program, like Cora Bell back in Suttons Bay, say more people should know it exists and use its services.
“It really helped me get out of my depression, to be honest, just being around people, you know, you're so isolated as a new parent, and as a parent with any littles,” Bell said.
She said the program has helped her become a better parent — because she asked for help and because that help was available.
