Early learning and development has been a hot topic for Sheboygan County, and exciting new efforts are underway. In a 2014 blog I wrote about Brown County’s breakthrough effort to make sure all newborn babies receive a Welcome Baby visit. (https://kidsforward.org/welcome-babies-brown-county-reaching-newborns/) Well, good ideas can be...
With about two weeks to go until the end of the 2016 open enrollment period, Wisconsin was on target to sign up substantially more people in the federal health insurance Marketplace than a year ago. The most recent Marketplace enrollment report from the federal Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS), with data on sign-ups through...
Affordable, reliable bus service is critical for many Wisconsinites, particularly low income workers and people who are elderly or have disabilities. Unfortunately, bus systems and other public transportation services have long been underfunded in Wisconsin, and a transportation funding bill the legislature is considering will compound...
“Quality child care matters” is the theme in the new report and summaries from the Committee for Economic Development (CED). Besides the overall economic analysis, the report includes Wisconsin-specific key findings and talking points. A few samples: The report, Child Care in State Economies, examines the child care industry’s effect...
Tonight Governor Walker delivers his State the State address. He is expected to talk about his vision of where Wisconsin should be headed, outline his priorities for the remainder of his second term, and describe how he thinks the state should move forward economically. Traditionally, governors haven’t used the State of the State...
As I reflect on Martin Luther Kings’ legacy, and the distance that we have travelled over the 52 years since his “I Have a Dream Speech,” I am struck by how much farther we have to go, as a nation, and as a state. A recent study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation showed that the well-being of Wisconsin’s African-American children is the...
No matter who you are, or what you do, we can all agree that we want what’s best for Wisconsin’s kids. Access to health coverage is a critical piece of the puzzle to set children up for success. A recent report from the Georgetown Center for Children and Families (GCCF) and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) found that we’re making...
Child Trends has released a blog on paid family leave, finding that family leave laws in the United States lag behind those in other countries. It is embarrassing that the United States and Papua New Guinea are the only two countries in the world to not provide any income coverage during maternity, according to the report. Wisconsin has...
If you have been living in a cave or have been transfixed watching only football over the last two weeks – let’s hope neither is the case – you perhaps have missed the extensive main media and social media attention that has been given to the controversial Netflix documentary, Making a Murderer. The murder of Teresa Hallbach in the fall...
As advocacy efforts to raise the age of adult court from 16 (yes 16) to 18 in New York continue, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his plan to give former youthful offenders a second chance by pardoning those who committed nonviolent crimes as youth but have since been law-abiding citizens. New York is one of just two states that...
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