Building Our Future is building strong cross-sector and data-driven civic infrastructure in Kenosha and advancing cradle-to-career outcomes. In one example of this work, BOF Smart Beginnings Network launched Help Me Grow in late 2022 with a goal to build a comprehensive system of supports for pregnant women, caregivers with new babies, and families with young children. Help Me Grow uses data and a community navigator approach to integrate  development screenings, services, and referrals across agencies. Housed within KAC, Help Me Grow Kenosha will work in partnership with other community organizations and embed navigators across the community to best support families. 

Learn more about Help Me Grow - Kenosha here. 

Due to work that BOF convened in late 2021 around the child care workforce, we are excited to share that the Wisconsin Early Education Shared Services Network (WEESSN) will be expanding to Kenosha and Racine Counties.

A program of Wisconsin Early Childhood Association (WECA), WEESSN connects family child care providers and center-based child care programs together to benefit from shared resources, staff, and expertise. WEESSN offers a tiered level of services from simple information sharing in Tier 1 to deep collaboration in Tier 3. Any child care provider in Wisconsin is eligible to join Tiers 1 and 2, and WEESSN is excited to announce that Tier 3 services will soon be available in Kenosha and Racine Counties. Tier 3 services will be available to 40 child care programs in the region.

Please join the WEESSN team for an information session on May 4th that will contain a presentation on the history of WEESSN and how WEESSN can support family and group child care providers through pooling shared staffing, resources, knowledge, and expertise. You will hear stories of how WEESSN has positively impacted programs across the other 16 counties in Wisconsin already served at Tier 3. Think of WEESSN as an extra team member dedicated to helping providers improve programming, decrease costs, and save time. Their #1 goal is to make providers' professional lives less stressful. 

There are two options for attending. There is no need to attend both sessions because the same content will be shared. Please register in advance here:

1:00pm Time - Register

OR

6:30pm Time - Register 

Did you know that over 4,000 children under age 5 in Kenosha County may not have access to child care? That parents in Kenosha County pay on average 2.8 times the recommended national guidelines towards infant care costs? That only 7% of child care in Kenosha County is rated as 5-star, compared to 13% at the state level?

​Learn more in our new Early Childhood & Education in Kenosha County handout! We encourage you to leverage this material in your advocacy and systems change efforts related to early care & education.