Still Not Enough Money For Early-Childhood Program

Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center, 1220 W. Vliet St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

An important county program supporting agencies providing early childhood developmental intervention has an unsustainable level of funding.

Birth to 3, as the program is called, provides assessments and therapy for newborn babies to three-year-olds who may have developmental delays. The program was created to help children with developmental disabilities during the critical early years of their life, and it serves families regardless of their income.

However, lack of funding continues to strain the county’s ability to run the program, according to the county’s Department of Health and Human Services. The number of agencies providing Birth to 3 programs has dwindled over the years for lack of funding to just three agencies: Curative Care Network, Penfield Children’s Center and St. Francis Children’s Center.

In 2023, Supervisor Sequanna Taylor secured approximately $250,000 in the 2024 budget to help maintain the county’s existing Birth to 3.

DHHS Director Shakita LaGrant-McClain recently went before the Milwaukee County Board’s Committee on Finance for authority to use approximately $500,000 from the department’s end-of-year budget surplus to backfill the three agencies’ budgets. Typically, budget surpluses are returned to the county’s general fund at the end of the year and rolled into an account used to pay off the government’s debt.

State funding currently covers approximately 25% of the cost to run the Birth to 3 program, the county covers a majority of the funding and families or their insurance provider cover the balance. But the agencies, which collectively serve approximately 1,300 children a month, do not turn away any child that needs the program, according to DHHS.

DHHS plans to provide Curative Care Network with an additional $300,000, Penfield Children’s Center with $115,000 and St. Francis Children’s Center with $85,000.

As Taylor had done more than a year ago, DHHS is trying to hang onto the few agencies left that provide the program’s services. County officials plan to seek additional funding from the state through the upcoming 2025-2027 biennial budget.