Strengthening Systems So Children Can Thrive

Thriving Wisconsin Member Network:

Family Resource Centers (FRCs) and Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs)

A Note from the Director
Thriving WI Unveiling Event
Thriving WI Joins NCIT
Partners in Advocacy Update
Child Care Advocacy Day
Watertown Family Center News
FRC's a Lifeline for Parents
WCWPDS has a New Name
Standards of Quality Training
Free Online Parenting Courses

Foundational Training
Child Care Costs Soar
CCR&R Network Training Page
Upcoming FRC PD
Upcoming CCR&R PD
WCCA Conference
Positive Solutions Training
Thriving WI Marketing
Staff & Board Members

A Note from Thriving Wisconsin's Executive Director

Greetings, Partners,

I hope you are all feeling inspired by the New Year. We are feeling energized by several changes at our organization that have already made 2025 a year to remember. At the top of the list is our new name! Supporting Families Together Association is now Thriving Wisconsin - “Strengthening systems so children can thrive”.

On February 5th, we were joined by over 100 local, state, and national partners from business, nonprofit, government, and academic sectors for a truly magical rebranding celebration. The event was sponsored by the Thriving Wisconsin Board of Directors, the Waters Center for Systems Thinking, and Lakeshore Learning. Speakers from Child Care Aware of America, the National Family Support Network, Department of Children and Families, Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board, and member CCR&R and FRC Directors discussed the critical role of Thriving Wisconsin in strengthening, integrating, and coordinating systems to better respond to the evolving needs of those who care for Wisconsin’s children. I shared how Thriving Wisconsin plans to lean into our organization’s rich history as systems builders to guide our future direction. We are absolutely delighted to advance forward into this next era with a name, logo, and tagline that better express the new energy and longstanding vision and mission of our organization.

Thriving Wisconsin has also restructured and adopted a co-leadership model. I’m honored to announce Connie Dunlap as our new Assistant Director! For the past decade, Connie has been a tremendous asset for Thriving Wisconsin. Her deep content knowledge about the field of family support and wellbeing has been integral to Thriving Wisconsin’s success as Administrator of the Family Resource Center Network. Connie has also demonstrated unmatched ability to efficiently manage the organization’s diverse programs and operational initiatives. Our complimentary skill sets and shared vision for Thriving Wisconsin make this co-leadership model an ideal strategy for organizational growth and resilience. I’m so excited for what’s to come!

While our organization has changed its name, look, and structure, we have not changed our north star. Thriving Wisconsin continues to cultivate a system of organizations and professionals across Wisconsin to promote quality, strengths-based early childhood and family support services in all communities. We are still driven by our vision of a Wisconsin where all children have the opportunity to reach their highest potential and all adults embrace their role and responsibility to children. You can also expect the same high-quality services and programming, with the same dedicated team under our new name.

Cheers to 2025! Our team and Network look forward to partnering with all of you, our fellow system builders, to strengthen all the systems that work together to ensure children reach their highest potential and Wisconsin thrives.

Until soon,

Thriving Wisconsin Celebrates our New Name

Thriving Wisconsin held an unveiling event with partners from around the state and country. While our organization has changed its name, look, and contact information, we continue to have the same mission to strengthen systems.

Our dedicated team's new emails are:

Heidi Luft, Executive Director, heidi@thrivingwi.org
Connie Dunlap, Assistant Director, connie@thrivingwi.org
Amanda Austin, Early Childhood Specialist, amanda@thrivingwi.org
Jeffrey Mund, Systems Administrator & Data Analyst, jeffrey@thrivingwi.org
Julie Walter, Family Support Specialist, julie@thrivingwi.org

Thriving Wisconsin Joins NCIT

Thriving Wisconsin is a proud new member of the National Collaborative for Infants & Toddlers. Our commitment to infant & toddler advocacy just got stronger! Together, we're shaping a future where every child thrives. Join us in this impactful movement!

To learn more about ncit visit their website.

Thriving Wisconsin and Partners in Advocacy

Thriving Wisconsin and our Partners in Advocacy (FRC’s, CCR&Rs, United Ways, and, WI-AIMH) have been very active this past quarter with advocacy efforts.

To date, we have collectively held 45 visits with Legislators and/or Governor Evers' office:

4 visits with Governor Evers office
15 visits with Senators
26 visits with Representatives

We are excited that many of our collective advocacy priorities were included in Governor Evers' 2025-2027 Biennial Budget. Our priorities include:

Increase Access to Supports for Family and Child Wellbeing

Increase the impact of the work of the Family Resource Center Network
Bolster the Child Care Resource & Referral Network
Expand Programming that supports Children’s Mental Health

Increase Access to Safe, Quality Early Care and Education

Child Care Counts

We continue with our collective advocacy momentum as more legislative visits are happening and we are hosting a Partners in Advocacy meeting on 3/11 to discuss the proposed budget released by Governor Evers on 2/18 and its alignment with our priority areas.

The following are Helpful Resources to support your advocacy efforts:

Video Recording of our Advocacy Kick Off Meeting
Toolkit of Advocacy Resources
Advocacy Webpage
Visit Tracker and Legislator Information

Child Care Advocacy Day

Thriving Wisconsin's partners at the Wisconsin Head Start Association and Raising Wisconsin are hosting a Child Care Advocacy Day on April 16th. There is a $30 registration fee – if you require hotel accommodations, you must select, book, and pay for those separately.

The event returns Wednesday, April 16 in Madison for a day that includes advocacy training in the morning at the Madison Concourse Hotel and visits with state legislators at the state Capitol in the afternoon. Join WECA, Raising Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Head Start Association for this important event, which takes place at a critical time during the 2025-27 state budget process.

Family Support Updates

Family Strengthening Month

During the month of April, we encourage you to follow Thriving Wisconsin’s social media page as we share stories from families from across Wisconsin. Family Resource Centers are partnering with local families to share stories of caregiver's self-identified strengths that help make their family strong.

The Blocyznski family shares how Parental Resilience/Building Inner Strength is the strength that they are most proud of for their family:

“We’re proud of this strength because it reflects our commitment to our family’s well-being and future. It’s what allows us to advocate for our children, dream big for our business, and keep moving toward the life we want to create. Resilience has become a cornerstone of our family’s identity, and knowing we’ve developed and strengthened it through hard work and love makes us deeply proud.”

We would like to thank Children's Wisconsin's Black River Falls Family Resource Center for submitting this amazing story of strength from a local family.

Congratulations Watertown Family Connections!

Thriving Wisconsin is excited to announce that Watertown Family Connections has earned their Accreditation as a Family Resource Center of Quality! The dedicated team at Watertown Family Connections has worked hard to intentionally incorporate strategies to achieve this recognition.

Watertown Family Connections is one of ten Family Resource Centers that have earned this prestigious recognition. To learn more about the Family Resource Center of Quality Accreditation visit here.

Family Resource Centers a Lifeline for Parents, Families

Family Resource Centers are featured in The CAPTIMES! This article shares the story of a La Crosse mother that moved to Wisconsin and found support and social connections at a local Family Resource Center, The Parenting Place. This story highlights the importance of Family Resource Centers with their free programming, support groups and resources available for all parents/caregiver.

The federal Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening Families Act was recently reauthorized to expand funding that can support Family Resource Centers at the local level. We thank U.S. Senators, Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson, for prioritizing Wisconsin families and supporting this essential funding.

The Home Visiting & Family Support Training Program at Wisconsin Child Welfare Professional Development System Has a NEW Name... The Professional Development Network

Our FRC Professional Development partners have rebranded and have a new name: "The Professional Development Network". This new name better reflects that they provide training and professional development for a wide range of professionals in their work of early childhood and family support.

To learn more and to find a training by The Professional Development Network visit here

Standards of Quality for Family Strengthening & Support Training Registration

SFTA is offering the national standards training which details how the Standards can enhance work with families. Whether you are setting up a new program or strengthening an existing one, the Standards provide a blueprint for implementing best practice. We encourage any and all supervisors, staff, and parents who have not yet had the opportunity to participant in the training to attend. Participants who successfully complete the training will receive a certificate from the National Family Support Network that is valid for two years.

Date: May 6th & 7th

Time: 8:30 a.m.- 2:30 p.m.

Click here to register in PDS

FREE Online Parenting Courses!

Through funding from the Department of Children and Families, Children's Wisconsin is offering FREE online Triple P parenting courses to all Wisconsin parents/caregivers! Over 4,755 individuals have benefited from these free parenting supports, which have courses covering the following topic areas:

Triple P Baby
Triple P for parents of children 0-12
Triple P Teen
Triple P Fear-less (for children experiencing anxiety)

To learn more or to request access to the free online program visit here

Early Care & Education

Child Care Foundational Training

The CCR&R Network serves as the primary provider of foundational child care trainings for the Department of Children and Families. The Foundational trainings help support child care providers in onboarding them to the profession and learn skills and strategies for their critical role in caring for young children.

Childcaring, Inc (a local CCR&R) recently hosted the training series and after completing the Introduction to the Child Care Profession, a participant commented “I look forward to learning more and continuing growth in this career and I could not have started this journey without you guys!! Thank you for everything.” This provider is new to the field and was enrolled in the course by her employer. She was actively working during the course and knew completion of the course was vital to her employment as well as maintaining adequate staffing. Throughout the course, individualized technical assistance was provided to this participant from Childcaring staff to ensure understanding of course content and how it applies to her work with children. Trainers were happy to see the growth and increased engagement in live sessions from this participant throughout the course.

Child Care Resource & Referral agencies offer the Child Care Foundational Training statewide. To find an upcoming opportunity, visit our website.

Wisconsin Child Care Costs Soar, But Thousands Miss Out on State Aid

With rising costs of child care throughout Wisconsin, fewer families are accessing benefits from Wisconsin's child care subsidy program, Wisconsin Shares. The number of children receiving subsidies dropped 39% over the last 13 years.

Read more to hear from local families, DCF, and 4-C's Child Care Resource & Referral agency here.

CCR&R Network Training Webpage!

The Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) Upcoming Trainings webpage provides a list of trainings available through the network of nine CCR&Rs. This list gives providers options for taking trainings that work with their schedule.

Information on Delivery Method (In-Person, Virtual, Online, or Blended), Agency offering the training, and Start and End Date of the training are included in the list.

Check out CCR&R Upcoming Trainings

Providers can view a full list the following trainings:

Child Care Foundational Trainings (Introduction to the Child Care Profession, Fundamentals of Infant and Toddler Care, Skills and Strategies for the Child Care Teacher, and Fundamentals of Family Child Care).
Health and Safety (Abusive Head Trauma Prevention with Mandated Reporter, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Reduction, Pediatric First Aid, and Infant and Child CPR with AED).
Wisconsin Pyramid Model (8 Part Series, Infant/Toddler 8 Part Series, e-Modules with Reflective Coaching - Birth to 5, and e-Modules with Reflective Coaching - Preschool).
Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards
Strengthening Families through Early Care and Education with Mandated Reporter
Other (Basic Heath and Safety Topics, Onboarding New Staff, Understanding Regulatory Requirements, and Supervising Children).

Note: The upcoming training events listed on this page are not an exclusive list. To find more trainings, visit your local CCR&R's training calendar by clicking on their logo at the bottom of the webpage.

Upcoming Events

Upcoming FRC Professional Development Training

Bringing The Protective Factors Framework to Life In Your Work (March-April)
ASQ3 (March 12)
Ethics and Boundaries (March 12)
ASQ3 (March 25)
Stewards of Children (April 2)
FRC Foundations (May 5, 8, 12, 15)
Standards of Quality (May 6 & 7)
Five For Families Parent Curriculum Orientation (May 20 & 21)
Growing Brain (May 22)
Parent Leadership (June 3, 4, 5)
Play Group (June 11 & 18)

Click here to register and learn more about each offering and information for how to register.

Upcoming CCR&R Trainings

The CCR&R Network offers a wide variety of services that are tailored to meet the local and statewide needs of families, early childhood educators, child care programs, local organizations, and communities. Trainers at each of the CCR&Rs meet the Wisconsin Registry Professional Development Approval System (PDAS) requirements for training. All trainers also have unique expertise in both early childhood education and teaching strategies for adult learners to ensure the highest quality training experience

Click here to learn more about training offerings and how to register.

Wisconsin Family Child Care Association 2025 Conference

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect, learn, and grow with fellow family child care professionals April 10-12! Register today by completing the online registration form and take advantage of early bird pricing. Fees include lunch for registrations paid in full before March 31, 2025. Secure your spot today and be part of an unforgettable experience!

Positive Solutions for Families

Positive Solutions for Families Facilitator Training registration is being offered on April 29th and 30th in Madison, Wisconsin. This training prepares participants to use the NCPMI Positive Solutions for Families content to support families of preschoolers. Click here to learn more register.