What We Do | Collaborative Action | Asset Map of Early Literacy Resources
Asset Map of Early Literacy Resources
Community Partners
Backbone Team Role
- Convene & facilitate
- Project management
Conditions of Systems Change
- Resource Flows
- Power Dynamics
Outcome & Initiative
- Early Grade Reading Outcome
- “Reading for the Future Initiative“
Purpose
In 2023, Community Listening Sessions and Human Centered Design Workshops identified an opportunity to better support parents with building confidence by providing tools to help with learning at home.
ABC Partners, through the Reading Begins at Birth Action Team, identified that organizations in Brown County were not aware of all the available early literacy resources for families. This team–made up of literacy professionals, parents, childcare providers and more– is working to create an interactive asset map of existing Brown County community programs and at-home literacy activities. Designed with parent and community input, this tool will help partners identify gaps and barriers to resources, and improve communication strategies with families to easily connect parents with the early literacy tools and resources their child needs at home and in their neighborhoods.
This project aims to improve access to early literacy resources and grow confidence of parents and at home caregivers of children in Brown County with supporting early literacy learning through playing, singing, talking reading and writing with their children.
Project Timeline
Early Literacy Resource Asset Mapping Development
At Achieve Brown County, we are building a community-driven Early Literacy Resource Asset Map that reflects the strengths of our community’s supports for early literacy. This asset map is intended to be supported by program providers and used by both community connectors (organizations and resource hubs) and eventually directly by parents.
The map is being developed in six phases, each rooted in collaboration, transparency, and data-informed decision-making.
Phase 1: Planning
Complete
The first phase established the foundation for this initiative. We clarified the purpose of the map: to centralize early literacy resources and programs so partners can see what exists, where it exists, and who it serves, and use that insight to strengthen confidence for parents.
Together, Partners and Backbone Staff worked together to create a common framework for both collection and dissemination of information from this asset map. We also assembled an initial outreach list to guide engagement and collection.
To ensure the map reflects real community needs, we identified three primary groups of partners to engage:
- Early childhood educators and care providers (ECE/4K/K)
- Organizations that support early literacy, directly and indirectly (e.g., libraries, family services, health, out-of-school time)
- Existing Achieve Brown County partners across sectors
Phase 2: Community Engagement
In Progress
In October, we are hosting partner input sessions to share current state of the project, gather feedback, and identify pilot organizations.
Milestone: On December 4, 2025, at the Early Literacy Convening, we will share a public project update and kick off the collection process with partners.
Phase 3: Resource Collection
Upcoming (December 2025–January 2026)
This phase focuses on gathering submissions from partners and ensuring data quality. We will distribute the resource form broadly and begin quality assurance steps such as deduplication and standardizing fields. We will also track coverage (by geography, age, language, and more) to identify early gaps.
Phase 4: Asset Map Visualization (Phase 1 Tool)
Upcoming (Early 2026)
As cleaned data becomes available, we will build the interactive map, including search and filter features, location layers, and accessibility checks. The initial release will be reviewed with the Strategy Team and pilot partners, and any critical improvements will be prioritized for the next update.
Phase 5: Asset Map Community Rollout
Upcoming (Mid 2026)
We will share the Phase 1 map with the broader community, host review sessions, and conduct a structured gap analysis to surface where access can be improved. Community feedback will inform action ideas and guide the roadmap for enhancements.
Phase 6: Sustainability Planning
Upcoming (Late 2026 and Beyond)
Long-term success requires more than a launch. In this phase, we will:
- Work on the plan to ensure the tool grows alongside our collective work
- Establish a refresh cadence for partner submissions and updates
- Offer trainings and a simple maintenance process to keep content current
- Evaluate the map’s usefulness and impact for partners and families
Resources
This project is part of the
Reading for the Future
a community wide initiative to get all third graders reading at grade level