GWCHF receives $75,000 Dream Up! grant
to support early care and education solutions
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The Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation (GWCHF) and Dodge County partners have received a $75,000 boost for early care and education efforts, in the form of a Project Growth Dream Up! Child Care Supply-Building grant from the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF).
The grants are designed to help solve the challenges facing Wisconsin’s child care system and bolster the state’s economy.
“Affordable access to quality early care and education is essential to a strong workforce,” says Becky Glewen, GWCHF Community Development Strategist. “We are already meeting with early care providers and business leaders, looking for innovative solutions to the child care crisis.”
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Dodge and Jefferson Counties are classified as child care deserts, with fewer than one slot available for every three children. The cost of care in our region averages 19% of a family’s income. National guidelines suggest no more than 7% of income be spent on child care annually.
Despite the high cost for families, many early care and education providers are unable to make ends meet. Closures spiked during the pandemic and continue in our region. Dodge and Jefferson Counties lost 120+ child care slots since the pandemic.
Why are childcare providers closing their doors? Their business model is not sustainable, because fees charged to families simply do not cover the actual cost of providing care. As a result, wages and benefits for early childhood educators (who are trained and certified), are far from competitive: The median wage in Dodge County is $10.98 per hour. Only 11% of early childhood educators are offered health insurance and 34% reported they were enrolled in Badgercare or Medicare.
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The Dream Up! Child Care Supply-Building grant program, facilitated by First Children’s Finance, focuses on building child care supply through a collaborative community approach.
“We have seen in various communities across the state that when business, economic development, early learning, and other community partners come together and innovate, we all benefit,” said DCF Secretary Emilie Amundson. “These grants are helping us kickstart and build those partnerships, as well as find innovative and sustainable child care solutions that can be modeled in communities and businesses across the state.”
GWCHF is one of 10 initial cross-sector teams that will receive strategic planning support and $75,000 in grant funding to evaluate, plan, sustain, and expand existing child care, and support new child care programs.
GWCHF’s approach to addressing the early care and education crisis in our region is threefold:
Add immediate capacity, bringing fresh resources into our region to add childcare slots and FREE Wisconsin Early Care Association (WECA) startup coaching to interested organizations and individuals.
Strengthen high-quality care with free training and coaching using the evidence-based Pyramid Model framework to boost social-emotional learning (soft skills), decrease challenging classroom behaviors, and improve employee retention.
Boost sustainability of providers, by making the Wisconsin Early Education Shared Services Network available so providers can pool resources to save time and money with discounted purchasing, business coaching, back-end services, standardized curriculum, mental health services, professional development, and technology. Additionally, GWCHF will utilize its powerful collective impact model to advocate for update funding models, from stronger state and federal support to innovative employer-supported care.
“This grant highlights our ability to leverage partnerships in order to attract resources to our region,” says GWCHF CEO Tina Crave. “We’re grateful to our committee members, who provided leadership in developing an application to earn this valuable funding. These partners are instrumental in creating community solutions to challenges that impact children and families in our region.”
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Collaborators who co-led this grant application include:
Alex Allon, Strategic Initiatives and Development Coordinator, City of Watertown
Jon Lange, Chief Executive Officer, Watertown YMCA
Nate Olson, Community Development Administrator, Dodge County Land Resources and Parks Dept.
Kathy Schlieve, City Administrator, City of Waupun
Emily Dieringer, Community Benefit Coordinator, Marshfield Clinic Health System
Renae Henning, Administrator, Community Care Preschool & Child Care, Inc
Matt Camp, Plant Manager, Richelieu Foods
Connie Curley, Manager of Employee Relations, Specialty Cheese
Tracy Propst, Executive Director, Beaver Dam Chamber of Commerce
Jenny Husselman, Principal/Dodgeland Schools
Latisha Spence-Brookens, Associate Dean, Moraine Park
Kelly Matthews, WI Early Childhood Association - WEESSN
Mary Kuntz, School Board Member, Beaver Dam Unified School District
Sylvia Orvitz, Parent Representative
Harper Mruk, United Way of Dodge County
Rebecca Glewen, GWCHF/City of Beaver Dam
Mailia Bachleitner, Parent Representative
Melissa Biel, Parent Representative
Tricia Peterson, Administrator/Owner, Future All Stars Academy, LLC
Brandon and Jessica Holtz, Parent Representative
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We want to hear from you about the strengths and needs of your communities. Help us plan for your healthiest future. Share your thoughts now through June 27, 2022. Your answers are anonymous, and if you're uncomfortable answering a question, you may skip it. The survey should take about ten minutes to complete.
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Queremos saber de usted acerca de las fortalezas y necesidades de sus comunidades. Ayudanos a planificar tu futuro mas saludable. Comparte tus pensamientos ahora asta el 27 de Junio de 2022. Sus repuestas son anonimas, y si no se siente comodo respondiendo una pregunta, puede omitirla. Le enquesta debe tardar unos 10 minutos un completarse.
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Safe Families for Children:
Providing relationships and respite
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The opportunity: Who can parents turn to when things get tough? For some, it’s trusted family members. Others may have a close circle of friends. Unfortunately, too many families are going it alone. Some struggling parents just don’t have people nearby they can turn to.
That’s where Safe Families for Children (Safe Families) comes in. Safe Families provides family-like supports to parents experiencing social isolation. Active in over 40 states, Canada and the UK, Safe Families was established in Wisconsin in 2014.
Safe Families is a network of volunteers who help isolated families get back on their feet. The volunteer community helps support families during a temporary crisis or difficult season.
The solution: The Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation (GWCHF) is proud to have provided a $200,000 capacity building grant to support the startup of Safe Families for Children in Dodge and Jefferson Counties.
The results: Over the past two years, the organization has grown from two partner churches to ten, and has over 60 volunteer families ready to serve their neighbors.
Since launching services to families just over a year ago, over 15 families (29 children) have received support from Safe Families in Dodge and Jefferson Counties.
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What makes Safe Families different?
First, parents remain in control throughout the process.
“We are different because we are about relationships,” says Amanda Combs, Director of Development for Safe Families for Children of Dodge and Jefferson Counties. “Everything about our program is voluntary and the parent drives their own goals.”
Second, “host families” are volunteers (though they are thoroughly screened and trained, including a home safety check). As volunteers, they do not receive income when they provide temporary respite care. They simply want to reach out to neighbors in need.
Finally, Safe Families focuses on building trusted, extended family-like relationships. It’s more about connections than services.
“My partner and I are still ‘Auntie’ and ‘Uncle’ to kids we have hosted,” says Combs. “They’re family friends now.”
What kinds of support are available?
When a family connects with Safe Families, the first step may be accessing “family friends.” These are volunteers who can offer hot meals, babysitting, transportation help, and a connection in the community. There are also trained volunteer coaches who can partner with parents or guardians on their goals. Finally, if needed, a host family can temporarily care for children, even overnight, as parents work toward their goals. Again, the parent remains in charge, with full guardianship of their children, during this voluntary process.
“In reality, many families reach out for support without ever having their children hosted,” says Combs. “It’s about extra support and strengthening families.”
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Strong Families is a key priority for GWCHF
Strong Families grants provide seed funding for agencies leading efforts to build sustainable systems that improve family health. Strong Families grants provide up to $200,000 in funding to support high-impact, multi-sector initiatives that create systems to support a family's ability to thrive. Another project funded with the objective of building supports for Strong Families in our region:
- Funding to grow Watertown Family Connections (WFC), formerly the Watertown Family Center, into a community-based family resource center that is a welcoming hub of support, services, and opportunities for families with children ages birth-5.
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Interurban Trail celebrates next milestone |
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Progress continues on the Interurban Bike Trail project, and a June 4th celebration recognized the hard work and dedication of all involved.
Phase 1 of the trail, Clark Street to River Road, is now open to the public. This section of the trail includes a 2.5 mile paved trail with a beautiful 3-span recreational bridge over the Rock River. Watertown has also finished landscaping and paving a full service trailhead facility adjacent to the start of the trail at Clark Street.
Phase 2 will add an additional 4.5 miles of new trail from River Road to County Highway F. Current estimates have this section of trail being completed by the end of August.
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We stopped by The Bread Basket to check in. The line outside the Watertown Area YMCA at 415 S Eighth Street was long, and stayed long for almost two hours. Lots of Spanish and English could be heard as those in line exchanged friendly and familiar greetings.
“It’s more than just a food pantry,” says Amy Hanson, President. “Everybody who walks in is waving at me. We have the same volunteers working the same shifts. We’d lose these relationships if we rotated shifts, and they’re important.”
Much has changed in the short time since the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation (GWCHF) provided a $12,000 capacity building grant to The Bread Basket. Most notably, their new location at the YMCA. The organization began life as an innovative, mobile pantry. They still host pop-up pantries at the Watertown Senior Center, bringing their grocery-store style pantry experience directly to clients.
What sets The Bread Basket apart? Fresh produce. A store-like experience where visitors shop for their food. No restrictions in terms of residency or income. All in need are welcome. And that commitment to being mobile, bringing a fresh, diverse variety of foods directly to the community.
In addition to the new location (which just added a second open day on Fridays), the future vision still includes mobile units. Further capacity and storage, thanks to an upcoming walk-in cooler project, will lead to teams of mobile units to serve smaller pantries (many lack fresh produce and refrigeration), and other locations.
“We are not looking to take anything away from the Watertown Food Pantry, but the demand is there,” says Hanson.
And the numbers on the whiteboard nearby tell the story: In March, The Bread Basket served 1,278 people. 1,682 in April. And by the third week in May (when we visited), 1,665 already.
When asked who she would like to thank, Hanson grows flustered. “There are so many,” she says. “There was a core group of us that were the catalyst, and that group is not really even together anymore. I would thank every single person in the past, current, future… not just me, not just my board. Everybody that has touched The Bread Basket.”
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Open Grants Focus on Improving Community Health for All |
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GWCHF is currently accepting proposals for four open grant cycles.
Changemaker Grants provide support for agencies working to improve health equity for those they serve, while focusing on the social determinants of health.
Capacity Building Grants are for agencies looking to advance their missions by developing leadership skills or strengthening organizational efforts.
Submitted proposals must directly support the communities served by the school districts of Dodgeland, Hustisford, Ixonia, Jefferson, Johnson Creek, Lake Mills, Waterloo and Watertown.
To date, the Foundation has invested more than $14 million in its five strategic, child-focused priorities: Strong Families; Kindergarten Readiness; School Success; Social Emotional Wellbeing; and Healthy Eating/Active Living.
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Related Articles (click on the links to read)
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920.390.4000
600 East Main Street, Suite 200, Watertown WI 53094
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