Wisconsin Partnership All Staff Convening | Milwaukee, Wisconsin
For two days in Milwaukee, four Wisconsin organizations from the StriveTogether network came together with one shared purpose: creating a stronger future for kids across Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Partnership is made up of:
- Achieve Brown County
- Higher Expectations for Racine County
- Milwaukee Succeeds
- Building Our Future Kenosha
Together, these organizations work to help more young people get on a path to economic mobility by improving cradle-to-career outcomes across Wisconsin communities. Why?
Young people who reach each cradle-to-career outcome are 4x more likely to reach economic mobility.
Jen from StriveTogether
Building Together
This convening was dedicated to building a shared statewide policy agenda that reflects the needs, experiences, and hopes we hear from families, educators, nonprofits, employers, and communities every day.
Over the course of the retreat, we worked to:
- Collaboratively develop a policy agenda for the next 2-4 years
- Begin establishing clear roles and responsibilities across the coalition
- Build consensus on 2026 legislative priorities
- Strengthen commitment to long-term coalition work
- Deepen ownership, connection, and excitement around the work ahead
What emerged was not just policy discussion. It was alignment, shared purpose, and a reminder that meaningful systems change happens when our communities come together.
Being a part of systems level work for our young people is personal and meaningful.
Elizabeth, Executive Director at Higher Expectations for Racine County
Sharing What Matters Most in Our Communities
The retreat began with each organization sharing the priorities and strategies currently shaping work in their local communities.
Hearing updates on everyone’s work was great and enlightening.
Achieve Brown County
Achieve Brown County shared its focus on early literacy and early childhood systems. Conversations centered around how communities can intentionally support children long before they enter a classroom.
Examples included:
- Mapping early literacy resources to find gaps in the community and improve family engagement with literacy, increase participation in early learning opportunities, and strengthen early language and literacy skills
- Creating bilingual “alphabet adventure” experiences in parks and public spaces to encourage literacy interaction in everyday community environments
These strategies reflect a larger belief that literacy does not only happen in schools. It happens in homes, parks, grocery stores, libraries, and neighborhoods.
Higher Expectations for Racine County
Higher Expectations shared priorities focused on educational advocacy and postsecondary access, including:
- Supporting intentional partnerships with parents and caregivers as students’ strongest educational advocates
- Retaining local talent and attracting families to Wisconsin communities
- Creating direct state funding mechanisms for dual credit opportunities through the state budget
Their work highlighted the importance of ensuring students and families have both support systems and accessible pathways toward higher education and career success.
Milwaukee Succeeds
Milwaukee Succeeds focused heavily on strengthening the early childhood education sector through policy and systems work.
Key priorities included:
- Implementing Get Kids Ready initiatives
- Identifying the needs and indicators necessary to stabilize the early childhood education sector
- Influencing city policy and regulations
- Mobilizing community leadership around early childhood priorities
Their work reinforced how critical sustainable child care and early education systems are to families, workforce participation, and long-term student success.
Building Our Future Kenosha
Building Our Future discussed strategies connected to both postsecondary success and early intervention.
Examples included:
- Increasing FAFSA completion rates so students better understand financial pathways to college
- Expanding dual enrollment opportunities so students can begin seeing themselves as capable of succeeding in college environments
- Increasing developmental screenings for children ages 0-5 to ensure more children are connected to early intervention supports before kindergarten
The conversations emphasized how early support and exposure can shape confidence, opportunity, and long-term outcomes.
Finding Alignment Across Wisconsin
After each organization shared its priorities, a clear pattern began to emerge.
The most valuable part of the convening was the shift from isolated local work to collective state strategy. This made it
Although each community faces unique challenges, the coalition recognized strong alignment around several key issue areas, particularly early childhood education, kindergarten readiness, and sustainable support systems for families and educators.
From there, the group worked together to move broad issue areas into measurable policy opportunities. Teams identified:
- Existing gaps and challenges
- Root causes impacting children and families
- Policy opportunities available at the state level
- Potential legislative agenda items
By the end of the first day, the Wisconsin Partnership identified three major policy focus areas moving forward.
Three Shared Policy Priorities
1. Stabilizing Wisconsin’s Child Care Sector
The coalition identified the need for stabilizing the child care sector and ensure families have access to high-quality care.
Strong child care systems support:
- Children’s development and learning
- Family stability
- Workforce participation
- Economic mobility across communities
2. Ensuring Child Care Reimbursement Reflects the True Cost of Care
The coalition also focused on improving Wisconsin Shares reimbursement rates so they better reflect the actual cost of providing quality child care.
When reimbursement rates fail to meet the realities providers face:
- Early educators leave the profession
- Child care centers struggle to remain open
- Families lose access to care
- The entire sector becomes unstable
This policy focus is about creating a sustainable model that supports both educators and families.
3. Defining and Measuring Kindergarten Readiness
The final focus area centered around establishing cohesive kindergarten readiness benchmarks and metrics across Wisconsin.
The goal is to better understand:
- Whether children are entering kindergarten prepared with foundational developmental skills
- Where intervention and support may be needed earlier
- Whether current early childhood and K-12 policies are effectively supporting young learners
This work would help create stronger connections between early intervention systems, schools, and family supports statewide.
Turning a Wisconsin Vision Into Strategy
The second day of the retreat focused on situational analysis and strategy development.
Teams evaluated each proposed policy priority by identifying:
- Current conditions and realities
- Opportunities for momentum and partnership
- Risks and barriers
- Desired long-term outcomes
This process helped the coalition better understand where Wisconsin currently stands and what steps are needed to move policy priorities forward in meaningful ways.
Power Mapping for Change
To close out the retreat, the Wisconsin Partnership participated in a Power Mapping session focused on early childhood education funding and child care stabilization efforts.
The activity helped identify:
- Existing partners and advocates
- Institutions and decision-makers connected to the work
- Potential barriers and opposition
- Missing voices and stakeholders who need to be included in future conversations
One of the strongest takeaways from the session was realizing how deeply connected each organization already is within its local community.
Now, the next step is bringing those local relationships together into a stronger statewide vision. With our combined power, we can drive meaningful policy change for Wisconsin’s children and families.
What Comes Next
As a Wisconsin Partnership, we are now preparing to develop shared 90-day action steps that will help move these priorities from conversation into action. We are excited. We are eager. We are ready for the work.
We are driven by a shared desire to ensure that every child, regardless of zip code, race, income, circumstance, religion, or background, has the opportunity to learn, grow, and achieve their dreams.
None of this work would be possible without the collaboration, leadership, and commitment of StriveTogether and all four of our organizations coming together to move Wisconsin forward.
These two days were filled with thoughtful conversations, hard questions, strategic thinking, and passionate people who deeply care about creating a better future for kids.
And this is only the beginning.