More than a year ago, a Fond du Lac team presented in Madison at Wisconsin’s very first “Community Health Shark Tank”. The community health shark tank, led by the Wisconsin Community Health Empowerment Fund, brought business leaders and public health leaders together to solve local health issues in ways using approaches from both disciplines. The project focused on developing a system or infrastructure to support connecting locally grown, farm fresh foods with local early child care sites. This is referred to as “farm to ECE.” Since the initial presentation, the local project has grown to include a pilot with 1-2 local daycares and multiple local producers. A local Farm to ECE Coordinator has also been hired to lead the project. 

The Wisconsin Community Health Empowerment Fund has since approached the Fond du Lac County team to participate in a year-long Empowering Community Health Learning Collaborative. The Fond du Lac Area United Way, UW-Extension, and Public Health are leading the next phase of this project on behalf of the local team. 

The next step of this project, the Empowering Community Health Learning Collaborative, will provide monetary contributions towards the local project, connect the local team with evaluation and content experts, and help move the local projects further towards success.