Achieve Brown County

08/31/2026

bSometimes, change starts with simply getting the right people in the room.🧡

📚A health care partner attends an early literacy event and starts exploring how their data could help us better understand early literacy and the whole child.

🏥A community connection helps bring books to more children through Reach Out and Read.

🔠An idea becomes ABC Conmigo | ABC With Me, bringing bilingual literacy into everyday spaces.

➡These are the connections Arne, a $10,000 donor invests in. And they're what we want to keep growing.

Better Futures. Together. allows YOU to support the community coming together. This monthly giving community starts at just $10/month.
🧡Join Here: https://achievebrowncounty.org/better-futures-together/

Your support helps make the next connection possible.

08/26/2026

This is what connection and togetherness can make possible. 📚🩺

Today, we were grateful to join Emplify Health by Bellin and Reach Out and Read Wisconsin to celebrate the expansion of Reach Out and Read across local clinics.

Over the past two years, Achieve Brown County has helped connect Reach Out and Read with local partners who share a commitment to giving young people a strong start. One of those connections helped Reach Out and Read grow from 3 Bellin sites to 12 sites in just one year.

🙌 Those 9 additional sites are expected to reach more than 5,200 well-child visits and put more than 5,200 books into the hands of children each year.

Now, an even bigger milestone: all 25 Emplify Health by Bellin clinics are participating in Reach Out and Read.🎉

Sometimes our role isn’t to create something new. It’s to connect the right people and help something great grow.

We’re proud to play a small part in this story and excited about what it means for young people and families in our community. 🧡

➡️Read the FOX 11 story:
https://fox11online.com/news/local/emplify-health-by-bellin-clinics-boost-brain-development-for-kids-through-reading-reach-out-and-read-literacy-books-home-library-language-proficiency-graduation-rates-pediatrics-doctors

08/24/2026

What if opportunities for literacy and learning were built into the everyday places families already go?

Our Built Literacy Environments Action Team spent time dreaming and creating ideas for laundromats, waiting rooms and local outdoor locations.

From books and wall art to letters and hands-on learning, we’re imagining spaces that invite kids and families to learn together.

We can’t wait to bring these ideas to life with our community partners. 💚

08/21/2026

There’s something special about that back-to-school energy. 📚

We loved being part of the excitement at Green Bay Schools Welcome Back Celebration!

Kids and Families Stopped By To:
🔤 Search for their ABCs with ABC Conmigo | ABC With Me
📖 Discover just how many words they can take in by reading 20 minutes a day
📚 Help us name our forWORDS bookworm, with some pretty great suggestions from Felix to Inchy

But our favorite part was seeing kids, families, educators and community members all sharing in that excitement together. Strong starts don’t happen alone. It takes all of us.

Here’s to our community, and a strong start to the school year! 💛

08/21/2026

Child care costs and availability are making it more challenging for Brown County families to make ends meet.

08/19/2026

Brown County families spoke. We’re listening.

Together with Brown County United Way and Wisconsin Early Childhood Association, we heard directly from local families about their experiences with child care.

“Our work definitely does not stop here. This is just the beginning, because this is a major issue. It’s not going to be solved overnight.”

This data gives us a place to start and a reason to keep moving forward, together.

A survey by Green Bay-based organizations found that over 100 parents felt high childcare costs could cause workforce shortages. What comes next. See link below ⬇️

📸 Tork Mason, USA Today NETWORK-Wisconsin

08/18/2026

Please join us in welcoming Mike Vander Heiden to the Achieve Brown County Board of Directors!🎉

Mike serves as Dean of the College of Business, Communication & Social Sciences at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and brings years of experience across secondary and post-secondary education, community engagement, and board leadership.

What excites us most is Mike’s belief that supporting young people takes all of us.
“I believe a strong foundation for our youth is built through community efforts, and early development and support provides greater opportunities for lifelong success.” 🧡
​
As a board member, Mike hopes to help strengthen connections across education, business, and community, aligning efforts from early childhood through post-secondary education and into family-sustaining careers.

We’re grateful to have Mike’s perspective, leadership, and commitment at the table as we continue working toward a Brown County where every young person has the opportunity to thrive.

Welcome to the Board, Mike!

08/14/2026

84% of Brown County respondents with child care needs identified cost as a barrier.

That number is powerful. But behind it are real people making real decisions.

Parents deciding whether they can afford to return to work. Families weighing child care costs against other household needs. Employers seeing how access to care affects whether their employees can show up, stay in the workforce and build a future here.

That’s why we’re listening.

Our new Child Care Survey Data Brief gives us a clearer picture of what Brown County families are experiencing. The data is helping us better understand where we go next.

Read the latest blog and explore the full data brief: https://achievebrowncounty.org/2026/08/13/child-care-is-a-workforce-issue-brown-county-families-are-showing-us-why/


Brown County United Way Wisconsin Early Childhood Association

08/11/2026

Help us welcome Patti to the Achieve Brown County team! 🎉

Patti joins Achieve Brown County as our new Operations & Administrative Specialist, bringing with her a heart for serving others and a career rooted in healthcare. As a servant leader, she loves finding ways to support the people around her while helping organizations work more effectively and efficiently.

Patti earned her bachelor’s degree from St. Norbert College and her MBA from UW-Oshkosh.

Outside of work, you can often find her running, strength training, gardening, cooking, baking or curled up with a good book.

We’re so happy to have Patti here and excited for all the ways she’ll help support our team and our work across Brown County.

Welcome to the ABC team, Patti! 🧡

08/06/2026

Today, business leaders came together around one shared challenge: child care.

We heard what families are experiencing:
• 64% have considered staying home instead of using child care.
• 80% say cost is a barrier.
• One parent shared, “I quit my job of 9+ years to stay home because child care cost too much.”

Then we asked a different question: What can we do about it?

Together, we explored the connection between child care and our local economy, advocated by sending postcards to our elected officials, and committed to keeping this conversation moving forward - in our businesses, in our community, and across Wisconsin.

Because “that’s just how it is” isn’t a solution. Together, we can do better. 💙🧡