I was in Green Bay this past summer for the annual meeting of the Community Partnership for Children, coordinated through the Brown County United Way, and focused on school readiness.
Here was the shocker for me: last year 86% of families with newborn babies in Brown County received a Welcome Baby home visit. That’s 2,918 visits. They are aiming at 100% in the future.
More intensive home visiting services occur based on assessments of the baby and families. 390 families were served with the intensive home visiting.
How are they doing this? A combination of public funding (federal, state, county and city) covers 71% of the costs, and private funding (private grants, individual donations, and United Way support) cover 29%. The annual budget for the program, which also includes prenatal assessment referrals and other services, totaled $1.9 million for 2013. And leaders at the meeting were discussing how to raise more funds.
They are also developing a solid data system to track longitudinal results.
It seemed to me that this is what public-private partnerships is all about. Readers, please send me info on other communities around the state that are doing great things for young children.
Dave Edie
K-12 Education in the Fox Valley
Every student in the Fox Valley region deserves to receive the educational support and resources needed to help them achieve a bright future. Over the past few years, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant impacts on students in Wisconsin. These challenges were particularly acute for students who were more likely to be struggling prior to the pandemic, like students with lower incomes, students of color, and students who speak English as a second language. With federal pandemic relief funds drying up, state leaders must ensure schools have adequate resources and that students don’t fall even more behind.
