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
Language Access in Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s diversity is one of our greatest strengths. But when children and their families face language access barriers, they are often excluded from critical information and services, which can hinder their development and well-being.
