On July 16, community partners from across Brown County gathered in-person for a Reading for the Future Strategy Team retreat with a focus to move Brown County closer to every child is reading at grade level by the end of third grade.
With only 54% of local third-grade students meeting that milestone, the stakes are high—and the Strategy Team plays a vital role in mapping out a community-wide plan and guiding our response. These leaders bring perspectives from education, business, nonprofits, and community life. Together, they help shape the structure, direction, and momentum of the Reading for the Future Initiative and its projects.
The retreat began with members sharing why they care deeply about this work and reflecting on the challenges they’ve faced. Longtime partners noted how far the group has come—shifting from conversations that sometimes focused on blame to ones now grounded in trust, shared responsibility, and a commitment to collaboration. “We all know what we need to do. We just haven’t been able to get it right—yet,” one member said. But this team believes we can—and must—get it right together.
One key focus of the retreat was developing a shared understanding of what “early literacy” really means. From birth through age nine, early literacy can look different for parents, educators, and across cultures. How can we define it in a way that’s inclusive, actionable, and aligned? What needs to happen at each phase of development—and who is responsible? One team member commented, “If we don’t know how we all define early literacy how will we know that we got there?”
Big questions like these are exactly what this team is built to navigate. Achieve Brown County’s backbone staff (our five-person team) supports this work by facilitating tough conversations, creating safe spaces to explore ideas, and helping partners translate strategy into action. As the Collective Impact Forum puts it:
“A successful collective impact initiative requires collective leadership… The backbone staff hold a unique servant leadership role stewarding the agreements of their network through seemingly contradictory practices: facilitation skills that build inclusive, trusting cultures that engage partners; and management skills that align and hold partners and systems accountable for moving results together.”¹
This collaboration between the Strategy Team and ABC staff is laying the foundation for future work: defining early literacy in community-driven terms, aligning efforts across sectors, and preparing for our Fall 2025 Early Literacy Convening and the launch of a new county-wide Early Literacy Dashboard.
“This group is proof that systems change doesn’t just happen in theory—it happens when people with different perspectives show up, listen to each other, and stay committed to a shared goal,” said Sarah Beckman, Executive Director of Achieve Brown County. “The Strategy Team is helping lead our community forward in a way that’s both visionary and grounded in real, collaborative action.”
This is what community leadership looks like. And it’s exactly what we need to move the needle for kids in Brown County.
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¹ Collective Impact Forum – The Unique Role of the Backbone https://collectiveimpactforum.org/resource/the-unique-role-of-the-backbone/