How Community Advocacy Helped Secure a Historic Child Care Investment
Gov. Tony Evers has officially signed Wisconsin’s 2025-27 biennial budget, and for the first time in years, child care has taken center stage. With over $330 million in new funding to support Wisconsin’s early childhood education (ECE) sector, this budget reflects a historic and hard-fought investment in young children, working families and child care providers.
This investment didn’t happen by chance – it’s a testament to the power of community voice. Across Milwaukee, child care champions have worked tirelessly to raise ECE to the forefront of the conversation. Together, we organized, advocated and helped make this change happen.
“This investment is a direct result of our collective advocacy,” said Yimma Davila-Castro, Milwaukee Succeeds’ ECE manager. “While it won’t fix everything, it’s a meaningful step toward strengthening a broken system.”
An Investment in ECE
This commitment to stabilizing Wisconsin’s ECE sector is long overdue. While the funding is spread across several strategies, the message is clear: Lawmakers are finally treating child care as a public good.
To start, the state is investing $110 million to continue direct payments to providers during the first year of the budget. These payments won’t be permanent, but they give providers a much-needed bridge as they shift their business models to take advantage of new and more sustainable funding streams.
Another major breakthrough – starting in year two of the budget – is a new 4K/school readiness program called Get Kids Ready, backed by $66 million in state funding.
“This is a historic investment as this is the first time Wisconsin has ever invested above the minimum amount of state funding for child care,” explained Dave Celata, vice president of policy and research for the Greater Milwaukee Foundation (GMF). “Our goal was to create a dedicated fund for state support of child care, and this does just that.”
The budget also includes over $123 million to increase reimbursement rates to 75% through Wisconsin Shares, the state’s child care subsidy program. An additional $28.6 million is set aside for a pilot program designed to increase access to infant and toddler care.
Taken together, these investments provide a critical bridge for providers, give families a fighting chance at affordable care, and open the door to a more stable and equitable ECE system.
“Put simply: This is a pro-kid budget that’s a win for Wisconsin’s kids, families and our future,” said Gov. Evers in a press release.
A Win for Child Care Advocates
This budget win didn’t happen in a vacuum; it’s the result of sustained and strategic advocacy. Milwaukee Succeeds, GMF and the Wisconsin Partnership have been on the front lines of this work for years, calling attention to the child care crisis and pushing for sustainable change. Over the past year, that effort reached new heights – powered by data, grassroots organizing and a strong public narrative that kept child care at the top of the state’s agenda.
In the fall of 2024, Milwaukee Succeeds launched its first-ever ECE Advocacy Training Series – a six-part course designed in partnership with our ECE Ambassadors. The goal was to give educators and community members the skills, tools and confidence they needed to speak up and drive change. By the time the legislative session began, a new wave of grassroots advocates was ready to act.
“Through focused training, we empowered our community to find and use their voices around the issues they care most about,” said Anna Smerchek, Milwaukee Succeeds’ ECE community engagement manager. “We listened deeply to the needs of early educators and providers, built intentional action plans and rallied together with a unified message: invest in ECE.”
Then came the data to drive that advocacy forward.
“Our research and data work are strategically completed to support the initiatives of Milwaukee Succeeds,” explained Kristin Kappelman, Milwaukee Succeeds’ director of research. “For ECE specifically, we’re always trying to think of the broader picture and what insights could help move the work forward.”
In June 2024, we released Unlocking Wisconsin Shares, which explored the importance of the subsidy program for Wisconsin families, as well as identifying areas for improvement. That research became a key advocacy tool, helping make the case for the increased investment in Wisconsin Shares.
In March 2025, we released Still Making Every Dollar Count – a report that documented the real-life impact of Child Care Counts. The findings were sobering: Nearly 100 Milwaukee providers said they expected to close entirely once the program ended. The report became a rallying cry, offering lawmakers and community members a clear, data-driven picture of what was at stake.
“We work closely with partners, including early educators and parents, to make sure the stories and experiences behind the data are part of the picture. That combination helped shed light on what wasn’t working and supported the broader push to bring child care into the statewide spotlight,” said Samantha Reynoso, Milwaukee Succeeds’ ECE data analyst.
In the weeks and months that followed, our advocacy efforts moved from planning to action. We launched a letter-writing campaign that helped early educators, providers and parents share their stories directly with legislators. And when the Joint Committee on Finance came to Milwaukee for a public hearing, our community showed up in force. Just two weeks later, more than 50 Milwaukee advocates traveled to Madison to join a statewide rally and meet face-to-face with lawmakers. Their message was personal, unified and impossible to ignore.
“Our community showed up strong, making it clear that ECE is not just a policy issue, but a priority,” shared Anna.
To keep the momentum going, we partnered with GMF on a coordinated media campaign that amplified the voices of Ambassadors, educators, staff and families. Together, these efforts formed a strategic, community-driven campaign – one that blended training, data, personal storytelling and public messaging to ensure that ECE stayed front and center during the budget process. And it worked.
More Work to Do
We know that this is just the beginning. There is more work to do to ensure that every family in Milwaukee has access to high-quality, affordable child care. But today, we celebrate a major step forward, and we thank the advocates, educators, parents and community members who made it possible.
This is what happens when a community comes together to fight for our kids.