If it takes a village to raise a child, some of us may need to ask ourselves if we’re falling down on the job.

The numbers are alarming: As reported in Sunday’s Record-Eagle, nearly half of Michigan residents live in “child care deserts,” where the ratio of children ages 0-5 to the number of licensed child care locations is greater than three, according to the Michigan League for Public Policy.

The state has a mere 8,000 providers to take care of almost 560,000 children under the age of 5, a ratio of 70 children for every one child care provider.

As the people of northern Michigan — policymakers, part-time residents and all points between — we also need to ask ourselves what type of “village” we want to be. Do we want to be a community which welcomes working families and provides the resources young children need to thrive?

Thankfully, there are some who have answered that question with a resounding “yes.”

Interlochen Center for the Arts is planning to open a child care center for 1- to 12-year-olds in the former Interlochen Community School building. The center is to be a collaboration between ICA and Pitter Patter Preschool and Childcare and will start by offering 42 slots for local families.

“We know in general, in the community at-large, there’s been a shortage of day care as well,” said Pat Kessel, ICA vice president of finance and operations. “So, we thought we would not only help our employees, but we’d also help the community as well, as they drive all over the place to find day care and/or they can’t find day care at all.”

It’s the kind of project our area needs — different entities willing to think creatively and work together to help fix a problem.

We need our local governments to be part of the solution too, but the problem is too big and too urgent to rely solely on bureaucracy.

The new child care center is an isolated rainstorm in the desert — it’s desperately needed and a big help to the families who get to enroll. But much more is necessary to meet the needs of northwest Michigan families, and hopefully this is part of a movement that continues to grow.

— Traverse City Record-Eagle