The Faces of ECE series is designed to raise awareness of the many early care and education professionals who are supporting one of the most important fields in America today. From the people on the front lines working with children to those working behind the scenes to prop the system up from within, everybody has a role to play and a story to tell. Child Care Matters is committed to sharing those stories.

As a proud Wisconsinite, I’ve been hoping to feature someone from our state’s ECE ecosystem in this series at some point. Fortune smiled at me earlier this year at a conference, when a chance meeting at a shared table in a breakout session gave me an opportunity to connect with Dr. Heidi Luft, executive director of Thriving Wisconsin. 

I already knew a bit about Thriving Wisconsin’s role as the administering agency for CCR&Rs in the state, but it was only in my preparations for this interview that I realized how unique their model is. Not only does the organization support their members in traditional CCR&R roles, including building a stronger ECE workforce, delivering business coaching, and connecting families to care; they also administer the state’s Family Resource Centers, which provide holistic services to families throughout the state, including parenting support, community events, evidence-based programming, and much more. 

I met up with Dr. Luft and Thriving Wisconsin’s assistant director, Connie Dunlap, at historic Swan Park in Beaver Dam, WI to learn more about this innovative approach to comprehensive family wellbeing. We explored the park while discussing the organization’s priorities, challenges, and vision for the future. It was a delightful conversation that left me feeling hopeful for the direction of ECE and family health in our state. Enjoy!

Introduction and Background

John Jennings: Hello and welcome this installment of Faces of ECE from Child Care Matters! Would you mind letting us know a little bit about who you are, what your role is, and any details you can share about your experience in the early care and education space?

Dr. Heidi Luft: My name is Heidi Luft, and I’m the executive director of Thriving Wisconsin. I’m actually a public health nurse by trade, so I come to this field with a deep understanding that when we focus on early childhood and maximizing child health and development, we can see exponential returns on long-term health outcomes, public health, social wellbeing, and economic development. 

Prior to this position, I was an academic researcher with a focus on implementation research and systems building. A lot of that background in research and partnering with government entities and other nonprofits has really served me well. It helps me to guide our team and our network in determining the best strategies to cost-effectively implement programs, scale programs, and evaluate the impact of programs. 

Connie Dunlap: I’m Connie Dunlap, and I’m the assistant director at Thriving Wisconsin. Being a military spouse, I moved quite often, which allowed me the opportunity to explore a variety of career pathways on my journey to my current position. I started out in early care and education working in an afterschool program. I loved the children, but realized my passion was working with their families, so I shifted into child welfare and did parent coaching for several years to help families stabilize. After we moved to Wisconsin, I wanted to work more upstream to prevent families from ever getting to CPS, so I started working at a local Family Resource Center (FRC).

I began my career at Thriving Wisconsin in 2014 after moving again for the military, and got to spearhead many of our early FRC initiatives and services. Now, I have the opportunity to represent Wisconsin on many state and national committees to highlight the amazing work happening in our state to support families!

John: Tell us about the history of Thriving Wisconsin. When and how did it come to be?

John: What role does Thriving Wisconsin play in supporting Wisconsin’s ECE ecosystem today?

Heidi: As a recognized leader in systems-level coordination and policy advocacy, Thriving Wisconsin works closely with local and statewide partners to advance legislation and secure public investments that benefit young children, families, and the early childhood workforce. We maintain strong working relationships with members of the Wisconsin State Legislature and the Governor’s Office and are proud to play a key role in shaping state policy through informed, community-rooted advocacy.

As administrators of the CCR&R and FRC Networks, we offer critical infrastructure and expertise, including:

• Trusted fiscal agency and contract management
• Statewide, multi-site program implementation
• Quality assurance and continuous quality improvement
• Cost-effective resource sharing
• Statewide data system management and analysis
• Data-driven reporting and policy guidance
• Strategic advocacy at both the state and national level
• Collaborative fund development and innovation
• Training, technical assistance, and coaching for network partners

Landscape and Priorities

John: I would love to hear more about the Family Resource Centers. What are the responsibilities of FRCs and how extensive is that network?

John: How have Thriving Wisconsin’s priorities changed over time, and what are some of your biggest areas of focus right now?

John: Let’s talk about wins! What are some of the recent successes and milestones Thriving Wisconsin has been able to celebrate? 

Innovation and Future Planning

John: You’ve touched on it a few times already, but I’m curious if you can expand on the role technology plays in your work. How does it supplement (rather than supplant) your efforts, and how is it making Thriving Wisconsin more efficient? 

John: Wow, it sounds like there is a lot of great stuff happening. In closing, what’s next for Thriving Wisconsin and how can our readers stay up to date on what you’re doing? 

Heidi: I think, coming back to our history as an organization that administers both the child care resource and referral network and the family resource center network, that’s something we are really bringing back to the forefront and want to be working more intentionally on. We are exploring many ideas about how we can make more connections and improve the integration of those networks to get to kind of a “no wrong door” system for caregivers in Wisconsin.

Connie: I would add that we are now shifting more toward the federal funding discussions. A couple of our family resource centers are hosting Congressional Representatives in the near future to help advocate for federal funding for FRCs. We’re actively participating in national committees on both the child care and family support sides of our work and elevating the need for national, baseline funding. We’ve hosted several states to come visit our FRCs and we’re continuing to lead the efforts to help build those networks and infrastructure in neighboring states. 

Heidi: If you want to get in contact with us, we just launched our new website at https://thrivingwi.org/. You can also follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn, or just shoot us an email to info@thrivingwi.org.