Lawrence L. Kirby II will be serving as our partnership’s new Community Engagement Network Manager. Lawrence’s professional experience includes a formal background in urban ministry and a passion to build relationships with diverse people groups. He has spent the past few years building unity and creating collaboration within the faith community, connecting with organizations and individuals to promote positive change, and building coalitions to meet the needs of Kenosha’s underserved populations.

Kirby, as he is called by most, is honored to be considered a leader and a positive influence in Kenosha and has served on the board of directors of the United Way of Kenosha County, Kenosha’s Police and Fire Commission and Kenosha County’s Health Equity Task Force. He currently serves on the governance board for KTec School and the executive committee of the board of directors for Bread for The World.

Lawrence currently leads One Voice Church alongside two other pastors. Through Kirby’s relationship building with multiethnic and multigenerational groups, he will be able to foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, and trust that will ​impact the educational success of children and families in Kenosha.

Most importantly, Lawrence is happily married to his best friend Chandrika and is the proud father of Reginald, Kennedy, and Marley.
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We are so excited to have Lawrence as part of our team. Official start date is Tuesday, July 5.

A new episode of our podcast, Together, We're Better! is out. In this episode, BOF sits down with Kristin Kappelman and Kevin Meagher, both Data Managers for backbone partnerships. This episode will give you insight into the intentionality required to share data effectively with others. At Building Our Future, we strive to use data as a flashlight and not a weapon. Data isn't just numbers; it's any information gathered. It's powerful to help us understand what's changed over time and in other communities, and it can be used to support policy change, especially when the community shares their lived experiences to help bring the data to life.

​We invite you to challenge yourselves by using and viewing data from an asset-based lens. Listen here on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! 

Kenosha Unified School District will receive $45 million in American Rescue Plan funding, via the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund to address the impact of the pandemic on our district's students.

In May, Building Our Future and Kenosha Unified School District partnered to hear from the Kenosha community on important priorities for use of COVID relief funds. Twenty-two community members joined sessions on May 11 and 17, 2022, to share their priorities for spending. They answered the question: How would you spend the funding to maximize learning and counteract the effects of COVID? The data in this report represents the views of the 22 community members who attended and cannot be assumed to represent the entire community. However, strong themes emerged across the two sessions. 

Key Themes:
When considering KUSD as a whole, the community overwhelmingly prioritized mental health supports for students. Additional areas of focus include staffing, out-of-school time, enrichment, and academic supports.

​See our report for how those community recommendations break down by student grade level.